How Did Mary-Dell Chilton Shape Plant Biotechnology?

When you think of revolutionary inventions, advances involving plants might not be the first to come to mind. But innovators who work with nature and agriculture are essential to our health and the health of our planet.

One of the founders of plant biotechnology, National Inventors Hall of Fame^® Inductee Mary-Dell Chilton led the research team that produced the first transgenic, or genetically engineered, plants, making major contributions to agriculture. Read on to learn more about this unstoppable innovator.

A Lifelong Interest in Science

Chilton was born in Indianapolis in 1939. Driven by a constant curiosity and an enduring passion for science since her childhood, she enrolled at the University of Illinois to study chemistry in 1956. She became particularly interested in molecular biology when she took a course called “The Chemical Basis of Biological Specificity,” taught by Benjamin Hall, Sol Spiegelman and Noboru Sueoka, who were at the forefront of this growing field.

Majoring in chemistry, Chilton earned her bachelor’s degree in 1960 and her doctorate in 1967. While working toward her doctorate, she wrote her thesis on bacteria’s ability to manipulate DNA, sharing her research that showed that these bacterial capabilities needed a close match between the donor and recipient DNA. She was immediately intrigued when she learned of studies that showed a type of bacteria called agrobacterium could transfer its DNA to plants it infected.

A Transformative Career

Following her graduation from the University of Illinois, Chilton joined the faculty of the University of Washington. There, she began leading a research team that would shape the future of plant genetic research.

In 1976, Chilton’s team demonstrated that a bacterial cell could transfer DNA into a plant cell – a discovery that would advance the emerging field of agricultural biotechnology. Scientists raced to determine how the genes are integrated into a plant's genome, as well as the ways in which this could be used in real-world applications.

In 1979, Chilton moved to Washington University in St. Louis to continue her work. Her team then demonstrated that genes responsible for disease could be removed from the bacterium without taking away its ability to transfer other genes into a plant cell. In 1982, she led the first research team to successfully transfer a gene into tobacco plants with the application of agrobacterium. With the help of Andrew Binns of the University of Pennsylvania, the team then grew the genetically modified cells into the first transgenic plants, showing that the trait was passed on to their progeny.

Chilton moved to North Carolina in 1983, and she became the founding director and vice president of the Biotech Research Center within Ciba-Geigy, which later became Syngenta Biotechnology Inc., a global leader in biotechnology. Here, she built one of the world's foremost industrial agricultural biotechnology programs, leading to the development of crops with increased yields, resistance to insects and disease, and the ability to tolerate adverse environmental conditions such as drought.

A Legacy of Persistence

Chilton’s persistence in making scientific progress has never stopped. “You can’t stop me,” she said. “When I’m after something, I work on it endlessly until I get it.”

To encourage future innovators to practice the same kind of confidence and persistence, Chilton served as a mentor to many international science students. In fact, as she and her husband Scott Chilton hosted more and more students, their family home became known as the “Chilton Hilton.”

For her pioneering work in laying the foundation for modern scientific control over the genetic code, as well as crop improvement by genetic engineering, Chilton has received many awards. These include the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences in 2002, the World Food Prize in 2013, and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2023.

In 2018, Chilton retired from Syngenta, where her legacy continues through the Syngenta Seeds’ R&D program.

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