High Honors For Rutgers University Molecular Biology Professor

A Rutgers molecular biology professor has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon an American scientist or engineer, according to the university.

Joachim Messing is the director of Rutgers University’s Waksman Institute of Microbiology and is considered one of the world’s experts in molecular genetics, according to a news release from the university.

Messing was one of 84 new members elected to academy on Tuesday. He will be inducted next year.

“I am glad and honored that I got elected,” Messing, the Selman A. Waksman Chair in Molecular Genetics, said in a prepared statement.

According to the news release, Messing “developed the shotgun sequencing approach which was used in the Human Genome Project and has been instrumental in deciphering the genetic code of crop plants.

“The genetic engineering technique he gave away to scientists throughout the world – for free, instead of patenting – has been critical for the agricultural biotechnology industry and also in the development of new pharmaceuticals and the diagnosis of diseases,” the news release said.

“As one of the world’s leading molecular geneticists, Joachim Messing has been instrumental in creating disease-resistant crops that are feeding the world,” Rutgers University-New Brunswick Chancellor Richard L. Edwards said in a prepared statement. “The Rutgers University community is proud of Dr. Messing’s induction into the National Academy of Sciences and his many accomplishments on behalf of humanity.”

Messing has been at Rutgers since 1985 and he has worked to find ways to develop superior crops that have higher yields and nutritional quality.

“His work today focuses on providing more sustainable, healthy and productive sources of food for the world’s population and extracting biofuels for energy from plants that grow either on water or marginal land and do not compete with land use or food production,” according to the news release.

The news release also listed his other awards and honors:

• election to the American Academy of Microbiology
• 2014 Promega Biotechnology Research Award
• member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the oldest continuously existing scientific association in the world
• 2013 Wolf Prize in Agriculture, awarded by the Wolf Foundation of Israel

“When you receive recognition for your work like this, the day becomes a little hectic,” Messing said in the statement. “But when the day is over, this research will go on.”

Photo courtesy Rutgers University; Joachim Messing