Christopher Cullis's Biography

Christopher Cullis, Professor & Chair, Case Western Reserve University

Dr. Christopher Cullis is the Francis Hobart Herrick Professor of Biology at Case Western Reserve University, where he has been for the past 32 years. Prior to joining CWRU he spent 14 years at the John Innes Institute in Norwich. He has more than 45 years of experience in plant molecular biology and genetics, including the writing of a text book on the subject. He has identified how the flax genome responds to environmental stress by making substantial, specific, but limited changes to the genome. In addition, he has been involved in the sequencing of the flax and marama genomes. He has a prolific publication record in internationally respected journals and has frequently been an invited speaker at international conferences. In addition to his scientific achievements Dr. Cullis is an education innovator who developed and directs the MS in Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Program, whose students have been responsible for generating significant resources for the region.