“He’s
certainly an outstanding young scientist with a tremendous
track record,” said Joe Key, UGA vice president
for research and associate
provost. “He’s a bright, aggressive, hard-working, around-the-
clock kind of guy, and
we’re exceedingly pleased to have him on our faculty. Andy
brings great strength and
intellectual leadership to the AGTEC initiative and the
application of genomics to crop
improvement.”

Paterson’s appointment is in both the College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, in the crop
and soil sciences department, and in the Franklin
College of Arts and Sciences, in the botany
and genetics
departments. Plant breeders and
geneticists in the two colleges developed the AGTEC
initiative.

The partnership across colleges and with the Georgia
Research Alliance made it possible to attract Paterson to
UGA from Texas A&M, where he held the
Christine Richardson
Endowed Professorship in crop and soil sciences.

“It was important that the state of Georgia, via GRA and
UGA, has made a major
commitment to plant gene discovery and utilization, in the
form of the new AGTEC
center,” Paterson said.

He officially joined the UGA faculty Jan. 1. A new genomics
research facility in the
Riverbend Research Labs is expected to be ready by April 1.
His research will eventually
expand into a new $8 million AGTEC building, which is still in
the planning stages, off
College Station Road at Riverbend Road.

Paterson joins a high-caliber team of scientists with
diverse specialties in plant
genetics. His proficiency in structural genomics provides a
vital link in the growing
synergy of the AGTEC research.

Simply put, genomics accelerates the rate of discovery of
genes. A new field based on
the technology of gene sequencing, genomics involves
sequencing whole genomes, or genetic
blueprints, of plants or animals by using newly developed DNA
sequence technology.

“Genomics is a growing area of basic genetics,” said John McDonald, UGA genetics
department head. “The
University of Georgia is a leader in plant molecular biology.
It makes sense to bring in
someone doing cutting-edge research in genomics.”

Paterson’s research had associated him with a number of UGA
scientists in previous
projects. With the assembly of the AGTEC research team, he
found “the intellectual
environment at UGA and potential for new collaborations …
attractive,” he said.

The focus of his research, too, became a natural attraction
to UGA. Much of his earlier
work has involved developing molecular maps for cotton,
peanuts, Bermuda grass and other
plants important in Georgia.

“Many of the plant species my lab has worked on in the past
are priorities in
Georgia, so our prior experience and tools are relevant here,”
he said.

Plant genomics is entering a “golden age,” he said, with
most genes in major
crops yet to be identified. “In the next 10 to 20 years, the
most important genes in
most major crops will be sequenced,” he said. “However, this
is only the
beginning, creating an informatic resource that will become
central to life sciences
research in the 21st century.

“As both an international leader in life sciences research
and the land-grant
institution that supports Georgia agriculture,” he said, “the
University of
Georgia must stay abreast of these new capabilities.”

Al Smith, department
head for crop and soil
sciences, said the state’s farmers will benefit greatly from
Paterson’s research.

“Our biggest gain will be in germ plasm and cultivar
improvement,” he said.
“But his research, as well as his intellectual leadership,
will help us in a number
of disciplines.”

Perhaps Paterson’s greatest strength, Smith said, is his
ability to put together
collaborative research and secure grants, gifts and contracts
($10.3 million over the past
eight years) to fund them.

“He sees critical research areas and how they fit together
and provides leadership
in getting the work done,” he said. “He’s able to attract
excellent postdoctoral
associates and graduate students and direct their work on
important research.”

That ability is a big reason the university sought out
Paterson, said John Ingle, UGA associate
vice president for research
and director of biological resources and the biotechnology
program.

“Part of the idea of putting AGTEC together was to hire
someone who could provide
this kind of intellectual leadership to the resource,” Ingle
said.

UGA molecular geneticist Rich Meagher said
Paterson also has a rare ability to stay at the top of both
basic and applied research.

“He has shown the practical value of genomics in an elegant
way in cotton by
finding a gene that makes stronger fibers in a species that
didn’t produce fibers,”
he said. “Few people would be solving such practical problems
and still be doing such
great basic research.”

Paterson said these apparently divergent interests arise
partly from the nature of his
scientific field.

“During the domestication of crop plants from their wild
ancestors, humans have
created excellent ‘model systems’ for aspects of plant biology
research,” he said.
“These model systems also happen to be economically important
crops. So our research
tends to apply cutting-edge technologies to agriculturally
important questions.”