Director of Iran Biotechnology Information Center is now appointed as the new Director of the ABRII.

Dr. Behzad Ghareyazie, who is considered as founder of the Modern Agricultural Biotechnology in Iran and the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII) is re-appointed as the new Director of the Institute. He had served as the director of the same institute from 1999 to 2005.

Dr. Ghareyazie is well known in Iran and abroad for his efforts for facilitation of access of developing countries to the benefits of modern agricultural biotechnology including genetically modified crop plants. He has produced and officially commercialized the first insect resistant genetically modified rice plant in Iran in the year 2004, coinciding with the international year of rice.

Since 2005 he worked as the head of modern technologies division of the Center for Strategic Research (CSR) under the supervision of Dr. Hassan Ruhani who is now the President of the country.

Dr. Ghareyazie received his PhD in Genetics from University of Philippines at Los Banos and IRRI. He then joined the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) as a Project Scientist in Genetic engineering of Rice plant.

In addition to academic achievements and positions such as Dean, College of Agriculture of a state University in Iran (Guilan University), he held several executive positions. He was Deputy Minister and Head of Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO) of Iran. He is currently serving as President of Biosafety Society of Iran, Agronomy and Plant Breeding Society of Iran and a member of Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) steering committee. He has been involved in several international negotiations on Modern Biotechnology and Biosafety regulations such as Cartagena Protocols on Biosafety and Codex Alimentarious.

He has supervised more than 60 graduate students in the field of Agricultural Biotechnology and has published/presented more than 260 scientific papers in peer reviewed scientific journals or in different congresses.

Since August 2010, when he established the Iran Biotechnology Information Center (IrBIC) -after signing an MOU with the International Services for Acquisition and Application of Agbiotech (ISAAA)-, he is directing the Center.