Daniel Voytas
Daniel Voytas is an American geneticist who is Professor of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development at the University of Minnesota and Director of the Center for Precision Plant Genomics. He is also the Chief Scientific Officer of Calyxt, an agricultural biotechnology company focused on developing crops that provide consumer benefit. Biography Voytas earned a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard Medical School under the supervision of Frederick M. Ausubel. His graduate work focused on studying transposable elements in plants. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins with Jef Boeke; his work focused on several retrotransposons in yeast and helped clarify the molecular mechanisms by which retrotransposons select chromosomal integration sites. In 1992, Voytas joined the faculty at Iowa State University. He was promoted to associate professor in 1997 and to Professor in 2001. In 2008, he joined the faculty in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development at the University of Minnesota. Voytas is best known for his pioneering work to develop methods for precisely altering DNA sequences in living cells, enabling detailed functional analysis of genes and genetic pathways. Dan's work has enabled efficient methods for targeted genome modification of plants using sequence-specific nucleases. Using zinc