Who are we: Plastomics’ management team collectively has more than 100 years of leadership experience in the agricultural industry, including in multinational industry leading companies and start-ups. Our lab team is exceptionally skilled and innovative with deep experience in cell biology, plant tissue culture, transformation and molecular biology. Together, we are dedicated to developing and commercializing the next generation of revolutionary trait delivery technology.
Management Team
Martha Schlicher, Ph.D.
CEO
David Duncan, Ph.D.
Executive Chairman
Jeffrey Staub, Ph.D.
CSO
Elizabeth Gallegos,
CFO/COO
Research Team
Alice Hui, Ph.D.
Maria de Oliveira, Ph.D.
Venkata Mangu, Ph.D.
Eric Vincill, Ph.D.
Murug Mookkan, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Ralph Bock (Co-Founder)
Ralph Bock is Director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, and a Professor at the University of Potsdam, Germany. He received undergraduate and MSc degrees from the University of Halle, and a PhD from the University of Freiburg. His research team uses a wide range of cutting-edge biochemical, physiological and genetic techniques to investigate plant cell organelles, with interests ranging from physiology and gene expression to metabolic and genetic interactions between organelles and other cellular compartments. In addition, his group is developing tools for biotechnology and synthetic biology to facilitate new applications in metabolic engineering, molecular farming and resistance engineering. The Bock group is also exploring the mechanisms of genome evolution in eukaryotes, and the genetic and evolutionary processes underlying the formation of plant species. Ralph Bock is a member of the National Academy of Science (Leopoldina), an elected member of EMBO, and a Highly Cited Researcher. In 2017, he received the Martin Gibbs Medal of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) for his pioneering work on experimental evolution and the discovery of horizontal genome transfer. He is a senior editor of Plant Cell, and an editorial board member of Plant Biotechnology Journal and Molecular Plant.
Dr. Charles Armstrong
Charles grew up on a small farm in central Illinois. He received a B.S. in Agricultural Science from the University of Illinois, followed by M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Minnesota. After graduate school, he led a corn transformation project for 3 years at Agrigenetics Advanced Science Company in Madison, WI, then moved to Chesterfield, MO in 1988 and began his current career with Monsanto (now Bayer Crop Science). His research career has focused on various aspects of crop transformation, primarily with corn but including work on wheat, sugarcane, soybean, cotton, and canola. Career highlights include contributing to the development of routine corn, wheat and sugarcane transformation technology, and playing key roles in the development of Monsanto's YieldGard and Roundup Ready corn products. He is currently a Senior Bayer Science Fellow on the Applied Genome Modification team in the Plant Biotechnology division.
Dr. Ralph Quatrano
Ralph is the Spencer T. Olin Emeritus Professor of Biology and Emeritus Dean at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), having retired in 2018 after 20 years at WUSTL. He previously served on the faculties at Oregon State University and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He is internationally known for his plant science research, and widely recognized for his significant and continuous contributions in the field of plant science. Ralph was one of the earliest investigators to apply the tools of molecular biology to the study of hormonal control of gene expression in plants. More recently he has applied the tools of genomics and systems biology to the study of drought tolerance in plants, using the moss Physcomitrella patens as a model system. He has published over 180 research papers over his career in higher education and elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For five years he was editor-in-chief of The Plant Cell and served for eight years on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science. He was also President and Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). and in recognition of his “outstanding service to the science of plant biology”, he was awarded the prestigious Gude Award, given by the ASPB. He was Co-Founder and Board Member of MOgene, LC, a genome services company, a Senior Partner with the Exeteur Group, LLC, a Venture Development Company, and a former member with Lewis & Clark Ventures, all in St. Louis.