Good information is accurate and relevant. Science is a system of acquiring good information. It is based on the scientific method – the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.
opinion | staff presentations | staff publications
Letters, November 23, 2007: We need many tools for sustainability
David Harry, associate director of Outreach in Biotechnology, wrote a letter to the editor published in the Corvallis Gazette-Times. In it, he responds to a previous letter (GMOs sustainable?) that commented on the opinion piece As I see it: Rethink GMOs as sustainable agriculture (see link below). To view an Adobe Acrobat pdf of David's letter, click here.
Letters, November 21, 2007: Reject clichés about GMO technology
Steve Strauss, director of Outreach in Biotechnology, responds to a letter to the editor from the Corvallis Gazette-Times (read the letter by Robert Simms, Sustainability often a misused buzz word, here). Steve's letter appeared in the November 21, 2007 edition of the Gazette-Times. To view an Adobe Acrobat pdf of his letter, click here.
As I See It: November 15, 2007: Rethink GMOs as sustainable agriculture
Megan McKenzie, biologist, writer, and Outreach in Biotechnology employee, wrote an opinion piece for the Corvallis Gazette-Times. To view an Adobe Acrobat pdf of her article, click here.
Part of our mission is to provide information to diverse audiences, including students, farmers, the public, the media, companies, stakeholders, and government agencies. The following are examples of presentations made in this context.
Understanding biotechnology. Steve Strauss/Dave Harry. Oregon Seed Grower League annual conference, Salem, Oregon. December, 2007. 
GMOs and GMO woes – The controversy over genetically modified organisms. Steve Strauss. Tree School, Portland, Oregon. March 2007.
Forest Biotechnology: Grappling with Opportunities and Challenges. Dave Harry. Forest Science Seminar, Oregon State University, May 2007.
Gene modification in plants. Steve Strauss. Apprenticeships for Science and Engineering MidSummer Symposium Oregon State University, July 2007.
Transgenic domestication of forest trees: Collision of genomics and society. Steve Strauss. Botany Department Seminar, Oregon State University, March 2007.
Making cents of A, T, C & G's: Industry perspective on the chicken genome sequence. David Harry. Ancillary Scientists Symposium at the Poultry Science Association Meeting. July 16, 2006.
Plant-made pharmaceuticals and plant-made industrial products, a White Paper prepared by the ORB for the Oregon Senate Bill 570. 2005. Kirsten Carroll and Steve Strauss.
An Introduction to ORB - slides from an ORB presentation to the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). 2005
The ethical dilemmas presented by genetically engineered crops. Steve Strauss. Genomics and Biotechnology in the High School Classroom - Summer Workshop June 27 - July 1st, 2005.
Just say no (know) to GMO: scientific potential vs. marketplace reality. David Harry. National Breeders Roundtable Meeting. May 5-6, 2005.
Introduction to ORB. Kirstin Carroll. CSREES meeting. April, 2005
Future directions for agricultural biotechnology. Kirstin Carroll. CSS199 Issues in Sustainable Ag. February, 2005
DNA – The instruction manual for all life. Kirstin Carroll. Linus Pauling Middle School. December, 2004
There are thousands of scientists around the world performing credible studies of genetically engineered plants. Published papers and reviews cover numerous topics impacted by biotechnology, including safety and health impacts, agriculture in developing countries, agronomics, and coexistence.
The majority of our original work involves tree biotechnology and its environmental consequences
The following publications from the Strauss laboratory are relevant to biotechnology and its safety. A full list of Strauss's publications is available here.
Li, J., A.M. Brunner, O. Shevchenko, R. Meilan, C. Ma, J.S. Skinner, and S.H. Strauss. (2007) Efficient and stable transgene suppression via RNAi in field-grown poplars. Transgenic Res. DOI 10.1007/s11248-007-9148-1
Doty, S.L., C.A. James, A.L. Moore, A. Vajzovic, G.L. Singleton, C. Ma, Z. Khan, G. Xin, J.W. Kang, J.Y. Park, R. Meilan, S.H. Strauss, J. Wilkerson, F. Farin, and S.E. Strand. (2007) Enhanced phytoremediation of volatile environmental pollutants with transgenic trees. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104:16816-16821
Brunner, A., J. Li, S. DiFazio, O. Shevchenko, R. Mohamed, B. Montgomery, A. Elias, K. Van Wormer, S.P. DiFazio, & S.H. Strauss. (2007) Genetic containment of forest plantations. Tree Genetics & Genomes, 3:75-100 DOI 10.1007/s11295-006-0067-8 (Strauss is co-senior author)
Bradford, K.J., Van Deynze, A., Gutterson, N., Parrot, W., and Strauss, S.H. (2005) Regulating transgenic crops sensibly: lessons from plant breeding, biotechnology, and genomics. Nature Biotechnology, 23 (4) 439-444
Bradford, K.J., Gutterson, N., Parrot, W., Van Deynze, A., and Strauss, S.H. (2005) Regulatory regimes for transgenic crops. Nature Biotechnology, 23 787-789
Valenzuela, S., and Strauss, S.H. (2005) Lost in the woods. Nature Biotechnology, 23 532-533
DiFazio, S.P., Slavov, G.T., Burczyk, J., Leonardi, S., and Strauss, S.H. (2004) Gene flow from tree plantations and implications for transgenic risk assessment. In C. Walter and M. Carson (eds.) Plantation Forest Biotechnology for the 21st Century. Research Signpost, Kerala, India. 405-422
Slavov, G.T., DiFazio, S.P. and Strauss, S.H. (2004) Gene flow in forest trees: gene migration patterns and landscape modelling of transgene dispersal in hybrid poplar. In H.C.M. den Nijs, D. Bartsch, and J. Sweet (Eds.), Introgression from genetically modified plants into wild relatives, , Pp 89-106. CABI Publishing, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Strauss, S.H. (2004). Forest biotechnology – thriving despite controversy. New Phytol, 163 9-11
Strauss, S.H. (2004) GE Trees: The buzz is not from chainsaws. TimberWest, May/June, 2004 50
Strauss, S.H., and DiFazio, S.P. (2004) Hybrids abounding: Dangerous liasons? When cultivated plants mate with their wild relatives. A book review. Nature Biotechnology, 22 29-30
Strauss, S.H., Brunner, A.M., Busov, V.B., Ma, C., and Meilan, R. (2004) Ten lessons from 15 years of transgenic Populus research. Forestry, 77(5) 455-465
Strauss, S.H., and Brunner, A.M. (2004) Tree biotechnology in the 21st century: Transforming trees in the light of comparative genomics. In S.H. Strauss and H.D. Bradshaw (Eds.), The BioEngineered Forest: Challenges to Science and Society, Pp 76-97. Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C., USA.
Chassy, B., Carter, C., McGloughlin, M., McHughen, A., Parrot, W., Preston, C., Roush, R., Shelton, A., and Strauss, S.H. (2003) UK field trial evaluations answer the wrong questions. Nature Biotechnology, 21 1429-1430
Ronald, P., and Strauss, S.H. (2003) Moving the debate on genetically engineered crops forward. American Society of Plant Biologists Newsletter, May/June 30(3)
Skinner, J.S., Meilan, R., Ma, C., and Strauss, S.H. (2003) The Populus PTD promoter imparts predominant expression and enables high levels of organ ablation in Populus, Nicotiana and Arabidopsis. Mol. Breed., 12 119-132
Strauss, S.H. (2003) Genomics, genetic engineering, and domestication of crops. Science, 300 61-62
Strauss, S.H. (2003) Regulation of biotechnology as though gene function mattered. BioScience, 53 453-454
Strauss, S.H. (2003) Response: Democratization is more than higher prices. Science, 301 167
Meilan, R., Auerbach, D.J., Ma, C., DiFazio, S.P., and Strauss, S.H. (2002) Stability of herbicide resistance and GUS expression in transgenic hybrid poplars (Populus sp.) during several years of field trials and vegetative propagation. HortScience,37(2) 277-280
Slavov, G.T., DiFazio, S.P., and Strauss, S.H. (2002) Gene flow in forest trees: From empirical estimates to transgenic risk assessment. Paper presented at Scientific Methods Workshop: Ecological and Agronomic Consequences of Gene Flow from Transgenic Crops to Wild Relatives, March 2002, , Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Bradshaw, H.D., Jr., and Strauss, S.H. (2001) Plotting a course for GM forestry. Nature Biotechnology, 19 1104
Bradshaw, H.D., Jr., and Strauss, S.H. (2001) Breeding strategies for the 21st century: domestication of poplar. In D.I. Dickmann, J.GT. Isebrands, J.E. Eckenwalder, and J. Richardson (Eds.), Poplar Culture in North America, Part B, Chapter 14, Pp 383-394. NRC Research Press, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, Canada.
Meilan, R., Brunner, A.M., Skinner, J.S., and Strauss, S.H. (2001) Modification of flowering in transgenic trees. In N. Morohoshi and A. Komamine (Eds.), Molecular Breeding of Woody Plants, Pp 247-256. Elsevier Science B.V.
Strauss, S.H., Coventry, P., Campbell, M.M., Pryor, S.N., and Burley, J. (2001) Certification of genetically modified forest plantations. International Forestry Review, 3(2) 85-102
Strauss, S.H., DiFazio, S.P., and Meilan, R. (2001) Genetically modified poplars in context. For. Chron., 77(2) 271-279
Strauss, S.H., Campbell, M.M., Pryor, S.N., Coventry, P., and Burley, J. (2001) Plantation certification and genetic engineering: FSCs ban on research is counterproductive. J. For., 99(12) 4-7
Skinner, J.S., Meilan, R., Brunner, A.M., and Strauss, S.H. (2000) Options for genetic engineering of floral sterility in forest trees. In S.M. Jain & S.C. Minocha (Eds.), Molecular Biology of Woody Plants, Pp 135-153. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Strauss, S.H., Raffa, K.F., and List, P.C. (2000) Ethics and genetically engineered plantations. J. For., 98 48-
Thompson, P.B., and Strauss, S.H. (2000) Research ethics for molecular silviculture. In S.M. Jain & S.C. Minocha (Eds.), Molecular Biology of Woody Plants, Pp 585-611. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Strauss, S.H., Boerjan, W., Cairney, J., Campbell, M.M., Dean, J., Ellis, D., Jouanin, L., and Sandberg, B. (1999) Forest biotechnology makes its position known. Nature Biotechnology, 17 1145
Brunner, A.M., Mohamed, R., Meilan, R., Sheppard, L.A., Rottmann, W.H., and Strauss, S.H. (1998) Genetic engineering of sexual sterility in shade trees. J. Arboric., 24(5) 263-273
James, R.R., DiFazio, S.P., Brunner, A.M., and Strauss, S.H. (1998) Environmental effects of genetically engineered woody biomass crops. Biomass & Bioenergy, 14 403-414
Strauss, S.H., Knowe, S.A., and Jenkins, J. (1997) Benefits and risk of transgenic, Roundup Ready® cottonwoods. J. For., 95(5) 12-19
Strauss, S.H., Rottmann, W.H., Brunner, A.M., and Sheppard, L.A. (1995) Genetic engineering of reproductive sterility in forest trees. Mol. Breed., 1 5-26
