22nd Century appointed Dr Paul Rushton vice president of plant biotechnology, where he will help develop modified risk tobacco products and cannabis technology, the company said.

Rushton designed the tobacco transcription factors database (TOBFAC) while at the University of Virginia and worked nearly 10 years at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding. The New York-based plant biotech company is preparing to ask US regulators to approve its low-nicotine cigarettes as modified risk tobacco products.