Jan Pen (1955) – CEO
Jan holds a PhD in biochemistry and has more than 20 years of experience in life sciences as scientist, project manager, business development manager and commercial manager for MOGEN, Zeneca, Syngenta and Pharming. He was General Manager of PlantZyme, a joint venture of MOGEN and DSM, and CEO of Orynova a joint venture of Syngenta and Japan Tobacco. As an independent consultant he has, since 2001, done e.g. business development, strategic planning, due diligence and interim management for various life sciences companies.
Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey(1955)- Scientific Founder
Kirsi-Marja holds a PhD in pharmacy and is currently Head of the Department for Medical Biotechnology. Metabolic engineering of secondary metabolites in plant cells, characterization of plant bioactive compounds, and utilization of plants as production factories for novel compounds are of her special research interest. Furthermore her department has strong expertise in cancer biology including HTP screening platforms using cell-based assays. She has a long career in plant science in academia and several years of experience in the Swiss pharmaceutical industry. Kirsi-Marja received the Egon Stahl Award, which is highly ranked in the field of medicinal plant research, and also recently LeTourneau award from the University of Idaho (USA). She has established a large international collaboration network and contributes her expertise to several international organizations such as EPSO (European Plant Science Organization) and PSE (Phytochemical Society of Europe), as well as to companies and committees.
Dirk Inzé (1957) - Scientific Founder Dirk holds a PhD in biology and is currently the Scientific Director and Head of the VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology. In addition he is full professor at Ghent University. His current research interests are cell cycle regulation, growth control and secondary metabolites in higher plants. The impact of his research is best illustrated by the fact that he is the 4th most cited author in the field of both plant and animal sciences over the last ten years. Dirk has been awarded the prestigious Francqui and Körber prizes. He is an elected EMBO member, editorial board member of several high-impact plant science journals and has also been vice-president of EPSO (European Plant Science Organization). He has established a highly productive international collaboration network and has been a scientific founder of Belgian plant biotechnology company CropDesign (now part of BASF).
|
