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26 SEEDWORLD.COM JUNE 2015 report from PG Economics shows that if crop biotechnology had not been availa- ble to the 18 million farmers who used the technology last year maintaining global production levels would have required additional plantings of more than 44 mil- lion acres. Through the years Chilton has received many accolades for her work including being named a 2013 World Food Prize winner. Most recently she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for patent No. 6051757 as part of the 2015 class. Those standing next to her included individuals responsible for the x-ray spectrometer graphical calcula- tor surgical needle and regenerated skin. Through the years she has authored more than 100 scientific publications. At the age of 76 Chilton shows no signs of slowing down. The scientists natural curi- osity about the world around her keeps her coming to the laboratory at Syngenta every day something shes been doing since 1983 when she started working for CIBA-Geigy a legacy company of Syngenta. Today Chiltons work focuses on gene targeting. Gene targeting means the ability or method of putting a package of genes into the plant chromosome in a place that you have predetermined Chilton explains. With present day technology the DNA goes random any place it wants to go. We would like to be able to put an address label on that DNA and send it to the same place every time. Chilton expects that by using this technology the gene expression will be more stable and more uniform over time. I think that will be of great value she says. The other reason for doing this is that we think the regulatory process will be more brief because you know a great deal more about the target site within the plant genome. Chilton recognizes that theres been a lot of debate about the safety and benefits of this technology. When asked why she believes transgenic plants and the fruits or products derived from them are safe she explains I know the methodology very well and what I know is that its a natural process that has gone on in nature for cen- turies. Weve just copied the process and do the same thing that a bacterium does in nature. So if its a natural process why should people be afraid of that Chiltons research didnt start with plants. She was interested in the bac- terium that infects plants. It was the bacterium that got me into plant science Chilton says. Plants just kind of hap- pened to me. The same can be said for science it came to Chilton naturally. She recalls her high school biology teacher telling her that she had scored so high on the sci- ence aptitude test that the text examiners had thought she cheated. He suggested based on that that I might want a career in science she adds. Looking back Chilton says her career in biotechnology has been an exciting journey. Im amazed to see the progress we have made over the years she says. My hope is that through discoveries like mine and the discoveries to follow we will be able to provide a brighter and better future for generations that follow us. Robb Fraley A familiar face within and outside of the seed industry Robb Fraley has chal- lenged himself to join public conversa- tions sometimes contentious about the very technology he helped to create. In 1983 Fraley along with Mary-Dell Chilton and Marc Van Montagu each conducted groundbreaking molecular research on how plant bacterium could be adapted as a tool to insert genes from another organism into plant cells which could produce new genetic lines with highly favorable traits. Thirteen years later Fraley helped to lead the successful commercial launches of the first genetically modified crops Roundup Ready soybeans and Bollgard insect-protected cotton. Today these crops are hailed by more than 18 mil- lion farmers in 28 countries as helping to improve productivity and ultimately their livelihoods. From 1996 to 2013 global farmer income gained from biotech crops was an estimated 133.5 billion according to PG Economics. Fraley who is from a small town in central Illinois has always been involved in agriculture and its something hes always been passionate about. Today Fraley serves as executive vice president and chief technology officer at Monsanto overseeing the companys global Robb Fraley serves as executive vice president and chief technology officer for Monsanto and is known for his work on commercializing biotech crops.