The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, a federal agency, presented Ray Wu, professor of molecular biology and genetics at Cornell, with a $50,000 Frank Annunzio Award in science and technology Oct. 14 in Washington, D.C. The prize honors Wu's pioneering work in genetic engineering, especially in discovering the first method of sequencing DNA and in the production of new cereal crops.
The awards ceremony took place following the capital's 90th annual celebration in honor of Christopher Columbus. Wu is one of four recipients of the 2002 Frank Annunzio Awards.
Wu has been a member of the Cornell faculty since 1966. In 1971 he made DNA sequencing analysis possible with a novel, location-specific primer-extension strategy. (Sequencing involves determining the base sequence in a DNA molecule.) "His strategy has been incorporated into subsequent generations of rapid procedures, including the use of automated instruments, which has led to the decoding of entire genomes of many living organisms. Information on these sequences is essential for improving health care and increasing food security in the next several decades," the foundation announcement said.
In the mid-1990s, Wu and his group genetically engineered and successfully field-tested improved rice plants. Technology for the transgenic rice plants, which incorporates genes from potato plants to resist insect damage and genes from barley plants and other living organisms to make the plants salt-and drought-tolerant, has been given to developing countries under provisions of a Rockefeller Foundation grant. Rosalyn Queen Alonso, chair of the Columbus foundation, noted: "Dr. Wu's research in developing new cereal crops may lead to the end of hunger worldwide."
The Christopher Columbus foundation is an independent federal government agency established by the U.S. Congress in 1992 to "encourage and support research, study and labor designed to produce new discoveries in all fields of endeavor for the benefit of mankind."
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