New CEO for plant genomics centre

Dr David Mitchell has been appointed chief executive officer of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG), which is located at the University of Adelaide’s Waite campus.

Mitchell is a molecular biologist by training and has extensive experience in leading and developing cross-disciplinary teams in the public and private sectors. He has co-founded three successful businesses, including two in biotechnology.

Mitchell spent seven years with CSIRO leading the development of bioinformatics capabilities. He also held roles responsible for due diligence on commercial transactions and identifying business opportunities for spin-outs.

As well as the biosciences, Mitchell also worked successfully in the energy sector, co-founding a company providing energy services to the resources sector.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr Mitchell to ACPFG. ACPFG is a group of world-class people doing world-class research with the goal of improving the tolerance of cereals, particularly wheat and barley, to environmental stresses such as drought and salinity and enhancing nutrient use,” said Emeritus Professor Helen Garnett, chair of ACPFG, in a statement.

“This is an area where Australian growers are looking for successes that will sustain their businesses. We believe David has the experience and capacity to work with the team to develop a sustainable future path for ACPFG, building on its research excellence and pipeline of useful know-how to industry.”