Distinguished Professor James Dale is a ‘Queensland Great’

These esteemed awards publicly recognise extraordinary Queenslanders whose remarkable long-term or lifetime achievements have made a significant contribution to the history and development of Queensland.

As a Queensland Great Professor Dale is recognised with commemorative plaque displayed at Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane.

Distinguished Professor James Langham Dale AO is an outstanding entrepreneurial and humanitarian Australian scientist with an international reputation. He has been at the forefront of specialist plant and medical biotechnology research, including genetic modification and disease resistance, for more than two decades.

Responsible for several world firsts, he has also been remarkably successful in commercialising his technology.

While much of Professor Dale's research career has been dedicated to the understanding and control of diseases, particularly of tropical fruit crops, he was a trail blazer in making very significant advances in generic techniques for genetic manipulation that led to important applications in both medical and agricultural biotechnology. His work has benefitted, and will continue to benefit, Australian industry, the Queensland community, and people in developing countries.

In 2005, Dale and his team at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) gained the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to grow genetically modified bananas that will address vitamin A deficiency in the population in developing countries such as Uganda and India. If successful, this advance, currently being tested in human trials, is predicted to ease the suffering of millions for whom vitamin A deficiency can cause blindness or death.

Significant achievements and contributions to Queensland
Professor Dale's contributions to Queensland, Australia and the world span several areas: international research; sustainable agriculture for developing nations; protection of Queensland's crops against disease; and world-first advancements in medical/agricultural biotechnology. All of these bring attention, world-class scientists and international funding to Queensland and its economy.

Genetically Modified "Super Bananas"
As leader of the QUT-Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project, Dale was asked to produce a cooking banana, acceptable to East African palates, with greatly increased levels of betacarotene which the human body converts to vitamin A.

Taking a gene from a banana with high levels of beta-carotene and putting it into Cavendish and East African highland bananas, Dale created the "Super Banana" and after nine years of work this banana, which has the potential to dramatically reduce infant mortality and blindness in children across Africa, was tested in its first human trials in 2014.

Dale's work with bananas has been extended to India, with an enhanced focus on disease resistance and put Queensland on the world stage when the "Super Banana" was named one of Time Magazine's 25 Best Inventions of 2014.

Medical Biotechnology
Professor Dale was project leader for "GeneCo" which led to the development of the "First Nucleotide Change" or FNC technology. This is now the world leading technology for SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) detection.

Disease Resistant Papayas (Papaw)
Funded by the Australian papaw growers, and in collaboration with the Queensland
Department of Primary Industries (now the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries), Dale developed a method for genetically transforming Australian papaya and generating transgenic cultivars that are resistant to Australian strains of the papaya virus.

Molecular Farming
Professor Dale was instrumental in establishing Farmacule Bioindustries Pty Ltd, a molecular farming company, which produces high value proteins in plants. These proteins include diagnostic, therapeutic and industrial proteins.

Media contact: Rose Trapnell, QUT media team leader, 07 3138 2361 or 0407 585 901 rose.trapnell@qut.edu.au