Pairwise CEO Tom Adams Gives First Roger Freedman Award Lecture
The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) welcomed Dr. Tom Adams, CEO and co-founder of Pairwise, to deliver its inaugural Roger Freedman Award Lecture at the Norwich Research Park.
This prestigious award lecture highlights both discovery science and real-world impact in plant research. It is delivered each year by a leading scientist whose academic or industrial work significantly impacts agriculture or biotechnology. For the first award lecture, TSL selected Tom in honour of his long-standing leadership across both sectors.
Tom brings over 25 years of leadership experience in global biotechnology companies, including serving as Vice President at Monsanto prior to co-founding Pairwise in 2017. Beyond his executive background, Tom’s journey from academia to industry has made a distinct impression on researchers in the field. Professor Nick Talbot, Executive Director of The Sainsbury Laboratory, highlighted how he was "hugely influenced" by Tom's research during his own career as a postdoc. Nick shared fond memories of their early interactions during Tom's tenure as a faculty member at Texas A&M University, where Tom’s lab set the standard for research in developmental biology in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus.
"The thing that epitomized Tom's work was his wonderful way of embracing genetics to tell us some really creative developmental biology and to provide insights into complex developmental processes," said Nick. "He's been continually innovative throughout his career. It’s been a great pleasure to have Tom Adams here in Norwich, visiting TSL, and giving our first Roger Freedman Award Lecture."
In his lecture, Tom presented the latest advances at Pairwise, focusing on the company's proprietary CRISPR gene-editing platform, Fulcrum, and its applications in crop transformation and agricultural innovation. The packed auditorium at Norwich Research Park reflected how deeply impressed our scientists are by his achievements.
From left to right: Dr Tom Adams, Dr Roger Freedman and Prof. Nick Talbot.
Photo by Steph Bornemann
Translating plant science discoveries into commercial solutions for farmers, consumers and the environment remains a surprisingly uncommon achievement for many in the field. Long development times and uncertain financial returns have historically made the ag-biotech sector less attractive to investors. However, this appears to be changing with the recognition that we need more agricultural solutions to sustainably secure our food supply in a rapidly changing environment. Seeing a colleague successfully deliver the (literal) fruits of their labour sends a wave of inspiration across the scientific community to pursue bolder, more creative innovation.
From everyone at The Sainsbury Laboratory and our colleagues at Norwich Research Park, we sincerely thank Tom for dedicating so much time to us during his visit. His generous nature left a lasting impression on every one of us who had the pleasure of interacting with him.
About the Roger Freedman Award Lecture
This new annual lecture series was created by The Sainsbury Laboratory to celebrate and honour Dr. Roger Freedman’s visionary leadership in advancing research on genetic resistance to crop diseases and his commitment to translating scientific discoveries into real-world agricultural solutions. In his advisory role at the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, Dr. Freedman was pivotal in the establishment of The Sainsbury Laboratory and in shaping our research mission and trajectory.
