Biologicals in Action: Nitrogen Fixation

Manish N. Raizada received his B.Sc. from the University of Western Ontario (Genetics) and Ph.D. from Stanford University (Plant Molecular Genetics). He held fellowship positions at The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre in Mexico City (Cereal Genomics) and at Caltech (Chemical Engineering). He is currently a Professor and the International Relations Officer in the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph, Canada. The focus of the Raizada Lab is to develop low cost technologies that reduce the use of nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides to grow corn and other crops including legumes, replacing them with beneficial microbes and the use of biosensors, with a focus on North Ame rica, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Meadows-Smith Marcus holds a degree in Biological Sciences, Genetics from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. He is currently CEO of BioConsortia, a discoverer of microbial crop protection and crop enhancement products. Prior to that, he turned around the biopesticide business AgraQuest Inc. over a four-year timeframe, signing partnership agreements between a bio-ag company and several big agchemical giants, culminating in Marcus’ company being acquired by Bayer CropScience for over $400 million. Following Bayer’s acquisition of AgraQuest, he became head of biologics for Bayer CropScience. Previously, Meadows-Smith had a 14-year career at Chemtura Corporation.