By Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio
ST. LOUIS – The Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis has selected a new president.
James Carrington is currently a plant genetics professor at Oregon State University, where he directs the Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing.
He'll start his new job next May.
Carrington said he plans to add to the Danforth Center's pool of scientists and expand into new areas of genomic research. "We can apply new computing technology, new computing approaches, the integration of excellent biology, computation, quantitative science, even physics and chemistry."
Carrington also stressed that he plans to continue the Center's mission of applying what he called "great fundamental science" in plant research to improving global nutrition and developing renewable forms of energy.
He said he views the risks and benefits of genetically-engineered crops as similar to those of antibiotics, which have provided enormous benefits to society, but whose misuse can lead to the development of drug-resistant bacteria, with serious health consequences.
"Likewise," Carrington said, "use of genetically modified crops needs to be carefully managed, responsibly, so that unintentional and overuse problems don't occur."
He gave the example of agricultural pests resistant to pesticides or genetically-engineered controls.
Carrington succeeds Philip Needleman, who has served as interim president of the Center since October 2009, when Roger Beachy left the post to become the first director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Carrington has been at Oregon State since 2001 and recently was named a "distinguished professor," the university's highest academic honor.
The 12-year-old Danforth Center has more than 200 employees and a $20 million annual budget.