In 1987, Dr. Robert Thornburg at Iowa State University (ISU) prepared transgenic tobacco plants expressing a gene that was derived from potato plants.

In 1987, Thornburg’s laboratory conducted the first field trial of transgenic plants ever conducted at a public institution in the U.S. In 1988, Thornburg and his group trumped this project by preparing transgenic poplar trees and conducting the very first ever field trial of transgenic trees.