Channapatna S. Prakash

Dr. C. S. Prakash teaches biotechnology and plant biology courses, and oversees the research on food crops of importance to developing countries and training of scientists and students in plant biotechnology at Tuskegee University, Alabama, USA. He has also been actively involved in enhancing the societal awareness of food biotechnology issues around the world. His Internet website AgBioWorld has become an important portal disseminating information and promoting discussion on this subject among stakeholders such as scientists, policy makers, activists and journalists. He has earlier served on the USDA's Agricultural Biotechnology Advisory Committee for Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and on the advisory committee for the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Dr. Prakash has actively worked to promote biotechnology research and policy in developing countries of Asia and Africa through training of students and scholars, research collaboration, lectures and his website AfricaBiotech.com. He has been successful in impacting decision makers, the media and consumers in creating awareness of agbiotech issues especially on technology development and biosafety issues. He has been instrumental in catalyzing the scientific community in many countries to be more proactive in the biotechnology debate.

His outreach activities include writing commentaries, delivering public lectures, providing media interviews, and moderating a daily Internet discussion group and newsletter, 'AgBioView,' which is read by more than 5,000 experts in 65 countries. AgBioView is widely recognized as a premier news outlet on agbiotech issues because of its broad focus on technical, societal and ethical issues.