Michael Lassner, Ph.D. Vice President, Trait Discovery Research and Development

As vice president, Trait Discovery, Dr. Lassner is responsible for biotechnology and genetic discovery research at Pioneer. Our Trait Discovery programs target the development of superior weed and insect control, disease tolerance and improved grain quality for Pioneer elite germplasm.

Mike joined Pioneer through the acquisition of Verdia in 2004. While at Verdia, he was vice president of Research and Development where glyphosate and insect tolerant genes were developed. Pioneer is now deploying these traits across multiple crops. Mike was named a Pioneer vice president in 2005.

He earned his doctorate in genetics at the University of California, Davis (UCD) and after completing postdoctoral research at UCD, Mike spent nearly 10 years at Calgene, developing modified oil traits for canola and initiating a nutrition-oriented genomics program. In 1999, he joined Maxygen and focused on the potential of DNA shuffling to improve crop traits. Mike was part of the management team that spun the agriculture business out of Maxygen to form Verdia in 2002.

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