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.

Board of Advisors:

Brenda Owens

Chair Cotton Breeder, BASF

Eric Moellering

Co-Chair Chief Executive Officer, Viridos

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. National Academy of Sciences member.
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