Developments in Potato Variety Commercialization and Licensing
In this educational session Dr. David Douches, Potato Specialist Chris Long, and Dr. Tom Herlache will educate you on MSU potato varieties currently under licensing agreements domestically as well as internationally. Building awareness of agronomic and production attributes of the most advanced varieties currently available to the commercial industry. Creating awareness of potato breeding advancements for a common scab, PVY, and late blight resistance.
Thursday, January 14th
3:00pm - 4:00pm
About The Speakers
Chris Long, MSU Potato Specialist
As Potato Specialist and Leader of the Potato Outreach Program (POP), Long serves as the liaison between the Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences Department at Michigan State University (MSU) and the Michigan Potato Industry Commission (MPIC). As Program Lead of the POP, Long works to cultivate the potato industry through applied collaborative research. This is achieved through on-farm research and demonstration trials, grower focused informational meetings, and industry directed publications. The Potato Outreach Program’s responsibilities include conducting on-farm variety trials, coordinating research with faculty, agri-businesses and potato growers to achieve the application of newly developed technology. The Potato Specialist coordinates the annual research farm field day at the Montcalm Research Center. Long also serves as the coordinator of the B. F. Cargill Demonstration Storage, coordinator of the MPIC Research Report, co-operator in the MSU Annual Variety Day and the project leader in a well logger data collection study. The Potato Specialist serves on the following industry related committees: Storage and Handling Committee, Research Committee and the Variety Release Committee. The POP also conducts the national, SNAC-International and National Fry Processing Trials in Michigan. Long is a program manager for the Potatoes USA National Chip Variety Trial Program (NCVTP) and a technical advisor to SNAC-International on potato production topics.
Dr. Dave Douches
David S. Douches, with over 37 years of experience in potato breeding and genetics, has an active potato breeding program directed toward the development of improved cultivars in Michigan for 32 years. The focus of the program is to develop new cultivars for Michigan’s potato industry by integrating new genetic engineering techniques with conventional breeding efforts. Key traits targeted for improvement Colorado potato beetle resistance, disease resistance to scab, late blight, PVY, and chip processing from long-term storage. Dave leads the Michigan State University potato breeding and genetics project and co-PI in the North Central Regional Potato Breeding and Genetics project. He is director of the USAID-funded Feed the Future Biotechnology Potato Project for Indonesia and Bangladesh and the lead scientist in developing four potato SNP arrays used by the potato breeding and genetics community.
Dr. Tom Herlache
Dr. Tom Herlache works with faculty and researchers in agriculture, natural resources, and natural science to protect intellectual property and engage in commercial partnerships to bring the technologies to market. Tom also facilitates screening of MSU’s technology portfolio, including coordinating the intern program and managing relationships with external service providers. He joined MSU Technologies in 2004.
Prior to working at MSUT, Tom was the intellectual property coordinator at a biotech start-up company in Madison, Wisconsin.
Tom holds a doctoral degree in plant pathology from Cornell University, where he was a USDA National Needs Fellow. He completed post-doc research at the University of Wisconsin, where he also received his bachelor’s degree in molecular biology. He is a 2012 graduate of the Michigan State University College of Law with a concentration in intellectual property law and a registered patent agent.
