John Howard has over 30
years experience in directing biotechnology groups in research, regulatory,
production, intellectual property, and business development for two Fortune 500
companies and two Start-up Companies. In addition to directing a number of
technology innovations, he also directed the commercial introduction of the
first plant biotechnology products for crop improvement and the first
industrial and human health products produced from transgenic plants. He is an
author on over 100 publications and patents in biotechnology. Dr. Howard is the Founder and President
of Applied Biotechnology Institute, a company focused on providing early stage research
and development for plant biotechnology products targeted to industrial and
pharmaceutical markets with minimal risk.
Prior to ABI, Dr.
Howard founded ProdiGene, a biotechnology company focused on biopharmaceuticals
and industrial products from plants. Before ProdiGene, Dr. Howard was director
of Protein Products at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., where he initiated
and developed a program to develop and produce recombinant protein products
from plants. From 1987 to 1994, he was director of the Biotechnology Research
Department at Pioneer which developed new traits and technology for a variety
of crops. He began his career at Stauffer Chemical Company in Richmond,
California in 1978 to1987, where he initiated and directed a biotechnology
research program focused mainly on corn and sunflower. Dr. Howard received his
Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California at Riverside.