University of North Texas 
Advisory Board
Advisory Board
The BioDiscovery Institute's Board of Advisors comprises industry leaders and internationally recognized scholars. The institute works closely with its advisors for guidance in pursuit of research excellence, national funding and industry partnership opportunities. The board meets meet with the institute team on an annual basis, and interacts with individual institute members where possible. Board members, who serve three-year terms, may also participate in future public forums.
- Brenda Owens, Cotton Breeder, BASF, Chair
- Eric Moellering, Chief Executive Officer, Viridos, Co-Chair
- Joan Bennett, Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University
- Brandi Cantarel, Vice President of Bioinformatics at Form Bio and Bioinformatics Leader at Colossal Biosciences
- Dean Della Penna, Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University
- Richard Dixon, UNT Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus
- Paul Krueger, UNT Dean of the College of Engineering
- Maureen McCann, Director of the Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Center
- Richard Sayre, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Mercury Bio
Former Board Members:
- Gregg T. Beckham, Senior Research Fellow, Chemical Engineering; National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Pete Bowerman, Global Trait Business Partner Manager - Sunflower, Cereals, Lentils; BASF Corporation
- David Coorts, Natural Plant Protection; Head, NAM-UPL NA, Inc
- Narendra Dahotre, Center for Agile & Adaptive Additive Manufacturing
- Maud Hinchee, Chief Scientific Officer; Agricen Sciences
- Ken Keegstra, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University - East Lansing. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences
- Toni Kutchan, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
- Rob Last, Barnett Rosenberg Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Plant Biology, Michigan State University - East Lansing
- Maureen McCann, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
- Jon McCarry, Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of North Texas
- John Ryals, Founder, Chairman Emeritus, and Board Member, Metabolon, Inc.
- LeGrande Slaughter, Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, University of North Texas
- Vijay Vaidyanathan, Professor and Founding Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Texas
- Sylesh Venkataraman, Research Director; Lipotech USA
- Marilyn Wiley, Dean, College of Business, University of North Texas