Dr Tom McKeon is a research chemist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service at the Western Regional Research Center in Albany, CA. He received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. His research area is the biochemistry of castor oil biosynthesis and he is involved in aspects of agronomy, toxin detection and chemurgy of castor to promote its reintroduction as a US crop. Dr McKeon is active as a member and biotechnology division Board member of the American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS) and served on the AOCS Governing Board and numerous committees. He serves as a co-organizer of the USDA-ARS sponsored US-Japan Natural Resources (UJNR) Food and Agriculture Panel. He is also a Board member of the International Society for Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology, has served as Guest Editor for the ISBAB special issues of New Biotechnology and as Editor of Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology (BAB) published by Elsevier.