Biography

After completing biology studies at Chulalongkorn University I was appointed as a research assistant at the University of Rhode Island, where I completed my MSc and PhD microbiology in 1977. Upon returning to Thailand, I was offered a lectureship at what is now King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), where I co-founded the School of Energy and Materials and the Division of Biotechnology, later transformed into the School of Bioresources and Technology and for which I served as dean. For over two decades at KMUTT I guided more than 100 postgraduate theses and dissertations. I was actively involved as member and executive of several regional and international scientific societies and organisations, and served on the editorial board of many international journals. From 2000 to 2008 I was executive director of the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC), during which time I also served as chairman of the ASEAN Sub-Committee on Biotechnology. Currently I am the senior advisor to the president of National Science and Technology Development Agency and to the KMUTT president.