Dr. David Sands, in an alternate reality where plant cells are computers and he is a plant hacker, took decades to crack the code using fungi, with the goal of killing weeds and replacing chemical herbicides. Dave’s a global leader in biocontrol of weeds with a current emphasis on a bio-herbicide application for Striga, a parasitic weed on 40 million farms in sub-Saharan Africa.

For proof-of-concept for this project, called The Toothpick Project, he received Montana’s first Gates Foundation grant. This year, he received a second Gates grant for work on plasmid curing with an ancient Ethiopian barley. Dave is also a principal contributor to an international team of researchers on bioprecipitation. He loves research on nutritional foods to improve humanity.

In addition to being a biotechnology professor at Montana State, Dave is a disruptive innovator, avid reader, napkin poet, and tennis player.