Meagher Laboratory Cytoskelton Research

Richard Meagher is an internationally recognized authority on plant molecular genetics, the plant cytoskeleton, and phytoremediation. He is presently a Distinguished Research Professor in theGenetics Department at the University of Georgia, where he has been teaching and performing research since 1976. He served as Head of the Genetics Department from 1996 through 1998. He is currently teaching in both graduate and undergraduate Genetics courses.

Dr. Meagher’s research received great international attention in 1996 with his publication of the first plants engineered to clean up the environment, in this case mercury pollution. Several more outstanding papers including three in Nature Biotechnology refined this phytoremediation research and helped to define the field of phytoremediation itself. This month (Oct. 7, 2002) his research group published an additional Nature Biotechnology article on the first plants engineered to extract and accumulate arsenic in above-ground tissues for later harvest. Because of its relevance to the hundreds of millions of people suffering from arsenic contaminated soil and water worldwide, this article was written up or discussed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Reuters New Networks and Radio, the National Geographic Television network, the NATO News Networks, and in several hundred newspapers in the USA, France, India, and Bangaladesh.

Over the past 26 years Dr. Meagher has lead a progressive and well-funded research program at the University of Georgia, receiving grants from various federal agencies including continuous support from both Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health for the last 17 years. He is the Principal Investigator on approximately three million dollars in active grants at UGA at this time and 20 million total, while at UGA. Dr. Meagher has published more than 130 peer-reviewed basic research articles in prestigious journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cell, Nature, Genetics, Plant Cell, Plant Journal, Nature Biotechnology, Plant Biotechnology, J. Virology, and Virology.

In the past several years, Dr Meagher co-founded two biotechnology-based startup companies in the Athen’s area and one located in Korea. Applied PhytoGenetics, Inc. (APGEN) is a phytoremediation company using plants to clean up toxic wastes from soil and water. APGEN is three years old and the company was cash positive in 2001. APGEN holds options on licenses to UGA’s phytoremediation patents based on Dr. Meagher’s research. Abeome, Inc. has developed a new strategy for making monoclonal antibodies based on proprietary research (patents applied for) from Dr. Meagher’s laboratories. Monoclonal antibodies are powerful reagents that are essential to the new field of functional genomics and the biomedical industry. Abeome is close to completing its second round of financing. PhyGen is a Korean-based phytoremediation company with a branch in Athens. PhyGen is utilizing the latest research from Dr Meagher’s laboratory and licensing UGA patents.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Meagher co-founded and directed the University’s Molecular Genetics Instrumentation Facility for automated DNA and protein sequencing and synthesis for plant, animal and bacterial applications. He also co-founded the Biological Scientists Computation Resource (currently the Research Computing Resource) one of the first computing networks in the world to analyze DNA, RNA, and protein sequences. RCR now serves over 200 laboratories.

Dr. Meagher received his B.S. with Honors in Biology from the University of Illinois in 1969. He received both his Master in Biology and Bacterial Physiology in 1971 and his Ph.D. in Biology and Enzymology in 1973 from Yale University working on the degradation of aromatic compounds with Dr. L. Nicholas Ornston. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow on detecting carcinogens as mutagens with Dr. Bruce Ames in 1973-1974. In 1975, during his postdoctoral research with Drs. Herbert Boyer and Howard Goodman at UC San Francisco, he was the first person to clone and express plant DNA in bacteria.

	Biographical Sketch Sept, 2007 Richard B. Meagher, Professor Department of Genetics Life Science Building University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602 Link to RBM's Curriculum Vitae
Richard Meagher is an internationally recognized authority on plant molecular genetics, the plant cytoskeleton, and phytoremediation. He is presently a Distinguished Research Professor in theGenetics Department at the University of Georgia, where he has been teaching and performing research since 1976. He served as Head of the Genetics Department from 1996 through 1998. He is currently teaching in both graduate and undergraduate Genetics courses. Dr. Meagher’s research received great international attention in 1996 with his publication of the first plants engineered to clean up the environment, in this case mercury pollution. Several more outstanding papers including three in Nature Biotechnology refined this phytoremediation research and helped to define the field of phytoremediation itself. This month (Oct. 7, 2002) his research group published an additional Nature Biotechnology article on the first plants engineered to extract and accumulate arsenic in above-ground tissues for later harvest. Because of its relevance to the hundreds of millions of people suffering from arsenic contaminated soil and water worldwide, this article was written up or discussed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Reuters New Networks and Radio, the National Geographic Television network, the NATO News Networks, and in several hundred newspapers in the USA, France, India, and Bangaladesh. Over the past 26 years Dr. Meagher has lead a progressive and well-funded research program at the University of Georgia, receiving grants from various federal agencies including continuous support from both Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health for the last 17 years. He is the Principal Investigator on approximately three million dollars in active grants at UGA at this time and 20 million total, while at UGA. Dr. Meagher has published more than 130 peer-reviewed basic research articles in prestigious journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cell, Nature, Genetics, Plant Cell, Plant Journal, Nature Biotechnology, Plant Biotechnology, J. Virology, and Virology. In the past several years, Dr Meagher co-founded two biotechnology-based startup companies in the Athen’s area and one located in Korea. Applied PhytoGenetics, Inc. (APGEN) is a phytoremediation company using plants to clean up toxic wastes from soil and water. APGEN is three years old and the company was cash positive in 2001. APGEN holds options on licenses to UGA’s phytoremediation patents based on Dr. Meagher’s research. Abeome, Inc. has developed a new strategy for making monoclonal antibodies based on proprietary research (patents applied for) from Dr. Meagher’s laboratories. Monoclonal antibodies are powerful reagents that are essential to the new field of functional genomics and the biomedical industry. Abeome is close to completing its second round of financing. PhyGen is a Korean-based phytoremediation company with a branch in Athens. PhyGen is utilizing the latest research from Dr Meagher’s laboratory and licensing UGA patents. Earlier in his career, Dr. Meagher co-founded and directed the University’s Molecular Genetics Instrumentation Facility for automated DNA and protein sequencing and synthesis for plant, animal and bacterial applications. He also co-founded the Biological Scientists Computation Resource (currently the Research Computing Resource) one of the first computing networks in the world to analyze DNA, RNA, and protein sequences. RCR now serves over 200 laboratories. Dr. Meagher received his B.S. with Honors in Biology from the University of Illinois in 1969. He received both his Master in Biology and Bacterial Physiology in 1971 and his Ph.D. in Biology and Enzymology in 1973 from Yale University working on the degradation of aromatic compounds with Dr. L. Nicholas Ornston. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow on detecting carcinogens as mutagens with Dr. Bruce Ames in 1973-1974. In 1975, during his postdoctoral research with Drs. Herbert Boyer and Howard Goodman at UC San Francisco, he was the first person to clone and express plant DNA in bacteria.