Primary Job Title Founder Primary Organization 
Ventria Bioscience
Location Sacramento, California, United States Regions West Coast, Western US Gender Male
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Dr. Rodriguez is one of the early pioneers of biotechnology. Dr. Rodriguez was an A.P. Giannini and NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Herbert Boyer at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, from 1974-77. At UCSF Dr. Rodriguez developed technologies that now serve as the foundation of the modern biotechnology
industry. Dr. Rodriguez joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis in 1977. In 1988, Dr. Rodriguez was a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the International Center for Biotechnology at Osaka University, Japan, and in 1991, he was a Visiting Scientist with the Human Genome Project at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He was also founder and chairman of the International Rice Genome Organization from 1989 to 1992. In 2000, Dr. Rodriguez co-founded the Center for High Performance Computing and Bioinformatics at UC Davis. Dr. Rodriguez currently serves as Director of the NIH-funded Center of Excellence for Nutritional Genomics at UC Davis.
As a professor in the Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Dr. Rodriguez is actively involved in research and teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level. Dr. Rodriguez also is a member of numerous scientific organizations and serves on several advisory committees including serving as an advisor to the NIH since 1988. He has published nearly 100 articles and books on genetic engineering and biotechnology and currently holds 16 biotech patents.
In 1991, Dr. Rodriguez formed Davis Bioscience Associates, the predecessor of Davis Bioscience Group. In 1993, he founded Ventria Bioscience Inc., a plant-based life sciences company producing genetically enhanced foods with novel health and medical benefits. He served as chairman of Ventria’s Board until 1999.
Dr. Rodriguez lectures widely on biotechnology, and is regarded internationally as an opinion leader on biotechnology. Dr. Rodriguez received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1974.
