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Established in 2001, ISAAA has been an organization on a mission to contribute to poverty alleviation by facilitating the transference of agricultural biotechnology applications from industrial countries. By increasing crop productivity and income generation through such means, resource-poor farmers and developing countries benefit greatly, particularly through the adopting of proprietary technology from various sectors. The organization was established under an initiative by scientists and policy makers from developing countries to bridge the gap in technology between developed and developing countries in this respect. Among the many whom has pushed for the change is Dr. Hassan Mat Daud, Director General of the Agro-Biotechnology Institute Malaysia (ABI).

Dr. Hassan has been a prominent figurehead in the Malaysian biotechnology scene as ex-director of the Biotechnology Research Center MARDI (BRCM) before he stepped down to head the ABI upon the appointment by the government. When he stepped down in June 2008, he was offered to head ABI and was permanently appointed as DG to spearhead the growth of the budding institute. Dr. Hassan has gone far since his early days in MARDI as a research assistant during the 1970s. He then furthered his studies by obtaining a BSc and MSc in Genetics in the US. Upon his return, he continued work as a research officer at MARDI and began basic genetic research on rice. Upon obtaining a PhD in biotechnology, he returned to the country and served as a research officer at MARDI, dealing with molecular markers for crop improvement and DNA fingerprinting. When he was appointed Director of the Biotech Center in MARDI, despite the busy schedule, he coordinated research on cloning the Papaya Ring Spot Virus protein gene for transformation purposes. Today, he is in charge of establishing ABI as one of the nation’s foremost research institute for agro-biotechnology.


Agri-Biotechnology Institute: Leading Agriculture through technology


Established in 2001, ISAAA has been an organization on a mission to contribute to poverty alleviation by facilitating the transference of agricultural biotechnology applications from industrial countries. By increasing crop productivity and income generation through such means, resource-poor farmers and developing countries benefit greatly, particularly through the adopting of proprietary technology from various sectors. The organization was established under an initiative by scientists and policy makers from developing countries to bridge the gap in technology between developed and developing countries in this respect. Among the many whom has pushed for the change is Dr. Hassan Mat Daud, Director General of the Agro-Biotechnology Institute Malaysia (ABI). Dr. Hassan has been a prominent figurehead in the Malaysian biotechnology scene as ex-director of the Biotechnology Research Center MARDI (BRCM) before he stepped down to head the ABI upon the appointment by the government. When he stepped down in June 2008, he was offered to head ABI and was permanently appointed as DG to spearhead the growth of the budding institute. Dr. Hassan has gone far since his early days in MARDI as a research assistant during the 1970s. He then furthered his studies by obtaining a BSc and MSc in Genetics in the US. Upon his return, he continued work as a research officer at MARDI and began basic genetic research on rice. Upon obtaining a PhD in biotechnology, he returned to the country and served as a research officer at MARDI, dealing with molecular markers for crop improvement and DNA fingerprinting. When he was appointed Director of the Biotech Center in MARDI, despite the busy schedule, he coordinated research on cloning the Papaya Ring Spot Virus protein gene for transformation purposes. Today, he is in charge of establishing ABI as one of the nation’s foremost research institute for agro-biotechnology.

“Being appointed as Director-General, I was given the responsibility by the leadership (in the Government) to get the institute up and running,” said Dr. Hassan. “I have been put in charge of implementing and monitoring the whole progress of the institute, including the infrastructure, human resource, R&D programmes. At the moment we are up to date with our aims and are well ahead of our schedules for our projects. We are filling in gaps with expertise from other institutions, and have just concluded recruiting research officers for some of our projects.”

	Dr. Hassan Mat Daud

However, the hurdles and challenges of establishing a research institution, especially on the scale of government aspirations are numerous. At the moment, there is no infrastructure in place to serve as the location of the institute, however this is overcome through collaborations with various other established institutes and universities including MARDI who were gracious enough to host their research officers. By being able to access other labs and operate within and outside of the respective institutes, ABI research officers are generally given the keys to access whatever resources they need. “At ABI, what we’re doing now is looking at our own competitive edge in contrast to the world around us,” he said firmly. “We compare ourselves and how we stand with the many other players, then pressing our initiative in R&D and commercialization to fit where Malaysia stands to gain a foothold into the industry where competition is stiff.” Dr. Hassan believes that agriculture is the easier route for Malaysia to gain an edge, as he strongly believes that addressing diseases do not start and end with the clinic, but through preventative medicine and functional foods. ABI is investing heavily in the area of food supply as Malaysia imports a lot of food, and there is much area for growth so as to allow Malaysia meeting the demands in the nation, like the meat supply, where the ability to produce Malaysia’s own breed would give Malaysia the edge in filling up Malaysia’s supply quota just as we had done for oil palm. “However, Malaysia should be prudent and only pursue when a competitive edge is apparent,” he comments. “Big companies screening are almost throwing in the towel in their screening programs. Though we should not give up the effort, but we should be verifying the truth of findings and conduct experiments in a strategic manner.” On another note, Dr. Hassan has been instrumental in communicating science to the public for many years. Being a respected scientist in the region, he has been training and educating new scientists in the country. Being part of the initiative that established ISAAA, in his days as Director of Biotech Research Center of MARDI (BRCM), he was in the position to attend and organize various conferences and seminars, disseminate science through TV programmes, stimulating young minds by giving talks in schools and sharing the knowledge to the public. “I remember the establishment of ISAAA was out of the necessity for researchers and the public alike,” he commented. “The need came about when there was a need to understand issues, public and policy makers alike. However, at that point in time, it was the scientists who were bombarded by the press. For example, one major issue then was the utilization of GM soya beans mixed with non-GM soya. We were swamped by queries and bombarded by everyone, while being lacking in sufficient information ourselves. To get the true story, who could we turn to? Also, there were gaps in information and connections to the various stakeholders of agro-biotechnology which needed to be addressed. Hence, ISAAA was born, and the KCs were formed to help us link up with the scientists and on-goings in the scientific world.” Dr. Hassan mentioned that he is a man running out of time, as the average age of retirement for government servants is 58. He is 56 years old today, and still has 2 years to achieve whatever he has planned for ABI and the scientific community in Malaysia. “I am running out of time. Biotechnology is about to take off, and I hope to be able to play a major part in it before I leave (ABI). I have 2 years in the government, and I will strive to do my best to accomplish as much as possible,” he said determinedly. “I hope to implement what I have planned for ABI as much as possible, especially in commercialization and R&D. We have to start the ball rolling, as this opportunity that has been given by the government is not easy to come by.”

		By K. C. Liew for MABIC