Mark Tester
{{Short description|Australian botanist}}
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{{Infobox scientist
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| name = Mark Tester
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| birth_name = Mark Alfred Tester
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1963|03|06}}
| birth_place = Tasmania, Australia
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| fields = Botany
| workplaces = King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, University of Adelaide
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| education = University of Adelaide, University of Cambridge
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| thesis_title = Studies of ion channels in Chara corallina
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| thesis_year = 1988
| doctoral_advisor = Enid MacRobbie
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| awards = Recognized by the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2010 for "publishing the most influential science"
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Mark Alfred Tester (born 6 March 1963 in Tasmania) is an Australian botanist and professor of plant science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, where he is also associate director of the Center for Desert Agriculture.{{cite journal | title=Saudi university backs slow road to modernization | journal=Nature News | date=5 February 2015 | author=Butler, Declan| volume=518 | issue=7537 | pages=18–19 | doi=10.1038/518018a | pmid=25652976 | doi-access=free }}{{cite web | url=https://www.kaust.edu.sa/en/study/faculty/mark-tester | title=Mark Tester | work=King Abdullah University of Science and Technology | accessdate=21 May 2017}} Prior to joining King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in February 2013, he was a professor of plant physiology at the University of Adelaide and the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics from 2009 to 2013.{{cite web | url=https://cda.kaust.edu.sa/Documents/TesterCV-November2013[2].pdf | title=Mark Tester CV | accessdate=21 May 2017}}
Education
Tester received his BSc with honours in plant sciences from the University of Adelaide in 1984, and his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1988, also in plant sciences. For his PhD, he worked with Enid MacRobbie to study potassium ion channels.{{cite journal|title=Interview with Mark Tester|journal=Trends in Plant Science|date=October 2016|volume=21|issue=10|pages=805–806|doi=10.1016/j.tplants.2016.08.004}}
Research
Tester's research aims to understand the molecular processes that allow plants to survive in suboptimal conditions. In 2017, he and his colleagues sequenced the entire genome of quinoa, which he originally started studying to determine how it can tolerate high levels of salt.{{cite web | url=http://www.popsci.com/quinoa-genome-sequenced | title=The quinoa genome could help scientists get it out of the health food aisle | work=Popular Science | date=8 February 2017 | accessdate=21 May 2017 | author=Zhang, Cici}} He has also researched ways to develop genetically modified plants, and he and his colleagues have developed a plant that can tolerate high levels of salt.{{cite web | url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news34361.html | title=Scientists closer to developing salt-tolerant crops | publisher=University of Adelaide | date=8 July 2009 | accessdate=21 May 2017}}
Views on genetically modified crops
Tester supports the use of genetically modified crops to reduce poverty.{{cite web | url=http://www.abc.net.au/site-archive/rural/content/2011/s3343523.htm | title=Scientists debate genetically modified food | work=ABC Rural | date=19 October 2011 | accessdate=21 May 2017 | author=Condon, Michael}}{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2009/jul/08/gm-crops-povery | title=GM crops are another tool in the struggle against poverty | work=The Guardian | date=8 July 2009 | accessdate=21 May 2017 | author=Tester, Mark}} In 2002, he worked as a scientific advisor for a BBC1 drama about GM crops. He subsequently criticised the drama's directors, Alan Rusbridger and Ronan Bennett, stating that they had ignored his criticisms of the piece and produced a documentary "to inflame uninformed anti-GM hysteria". Rusbridger replied by claiming that Tester had changed his mind since he had been shown a copy of the piece's script the previous July, when, according to Rusbridger, his view of the piece was much less critical.{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1396304/GM-foods-plot-a-myth-says-critic-of-TV-show.html | title=GM foods plot a myth, says critic of TV show | work=The Daily Telegraph | date=5 June 2002 | accessdate=21 May 2017 | author=Leonard, Tom}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Google Scholar id|FTvzOtkAAAAJ}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tester, Mark Alfred}}
Category:20th-century Australian botanists
Category:Academic staff of the University of Adelaide
Category:University of Adelaide alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Academic staff of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology