| Luis Rafael Herrera Estrella |
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Born in Mexico City in 1956. He earned his bachelor's degree in biochemical engineering at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) [National Polytechnic Institute], a Science Master's degree at the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav) [Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute] and a doctorate at the Gante State University, in Belgium. Dr. Herrera is a Member of the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI) [National Researcher System], Level III. He heads the Laboratorio Nacional de Genómica para la Biodiversidad (LANGEBIO) [National Genomics Laboratory for Biodiversity]. His discoveries led to the development of technology used to produce commercial varieties of transgenic plants, which are now harvested in more than 80 million hectares in 17 countries around the world. Dr. Herrera and his research team managed to decipher corn’s genetic map. He established and organized the Departamento de Ingeniería Genética [Genetic Engineering Department] at the Irapuato Unit of the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav) [Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute], which UNESCO has designated as Centro de Educación y Entrenamiento en Biotecnología en América Latina [Biotechnology Education and Training Center in Latina America]. He was head of the Departamento de Ingeniería Genética de Plantas [Department of Plant Genetic Engineering] of the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav) [Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute]. Invited Researcher at the Long Ashton Experimental Station of the Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Bristol, England. He is a Member of the Consejo Consultivo de Ciencias de la Presidencia de la República (CCC) [Science Consulting Council of the President’s Office]. Dr. Herrera-Estrella received UNESCO’s Javed Husain Prize; the Premio de Investigaciones Científicas en Ciencias Naturales [Prize for Scientific Research in Natural Sciences] of the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias [Mexican Academy of Sciences]. He later received the Premio en Biología [Biology Prize] of the Academia de Ciencias del Tercer Mundo [Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)], the medalla RedBio [RedBio Medal] of the Red de Biotecnología Americana [American Biotechnology Network], and the WIPO Medal of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). In 2002, he was elected Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. He received the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes [National Award for Science and Arts]. He has supervised 9 undergraduate theses, 9 masters and 25 PhD dissertations. His research has produced over 150 publications in international journals and books, as well as 5 patents. |