The Scottish Executive

Scottish Executive

PROFESSOR KARL JOHN OPARKA APPOINTED TO THE REGIUS CHAIR OF PLANT SCIENCE

HM The Q ueen has appointed Professor Karl John Oparka to the Regius Chair of Plant Science in the University of Edinburgh.

Prior to his appointment to this post, Professor Oparka (49) was Head of Cell Biology at the Scottish Crop Research Institute. He received his First Class B.Sc. Honours (Botany) as an undergraduate at the University of Aberdeen in 1976 and went on to receive his Ph.D. in Plant-Cell Biology in 1979, also at the University of Aberdeen.

Professor Oparka’s research interests include the physiological and developmental regulation of plasmodesmata, and modification of plasmodesmata by plant viruses. He has registered five patents (the last four of them collaboratively): Method of introducing molecules into plant cells; Manipulator (Oparka injector); Method of producing a chimeric protein; Use of a companion-cell specific promoter to express plant defence genes; Plasmodesmatal genes.

Professor Oparka has a strong record of securing research funding. He has also been published extensively. He is a member of the Royal Microscopical Society, the American Society of Plant Physiologists, and the Society for Experimental Biology, and has been member of numerous other scientific panels, committees and editorial boards. In 1995, he was awarded the first Peter Massalski Prize for Meritorious Research.