SPEAKER'S PROFILES

Dirk Inzé


Dirk Inzé is Professor at the Ghent University and Scientific Director of the VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology (Ghent, Belgium).

Dirk Inzé graduated in 1979 in Zoology at the Ghent University and in 1984 he received his Ph.D. in Zoology from the same university with a thesis on the mechanisms by which Agrobacterium tumefaciens causes the proliferation of plant cells. In 1990, he was appointed Research Director of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) at the Ghent Joint Laboratory, where he initiated extensive research programs on the cell cycle and cell death in plants. In 1995, he became Professor at the Ghent University. In 1998, he founded the biotechnology company CropDesign, currently one of the most active players in high‑throughput analysis of yield related genes in cereals. In 2006 CropDesign was acquired by BASF. In 2006, Dirk Inzé founded Solucel, a biotech company dealing with the production of pharmaceuticals in plants. In 1999, he was appointed Deputy Scientific Director of the Department of Plant Systems Biology of the VIB and he became Director of the Department in July 2002.

In 1994, Professor Inzé was laureate of the Körber Stiftung Prize and in 2003 he became EMBO member. In 2005 he was laureate of the Francqui Prize and became elected member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. He has served on numerous scientific committees and science advisory boards. Currently he is the vice chairman of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO).

Prof. Inzé's research focuses on the understanding of the basic cell cycle machinery in plants and on the mechanism of orchestrating plant growth. Prof. Inzé is member of the editorial or advisory boards of Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant Physiology, The Plant Journal, Plant Cell Physiology and EMBO Journal. According to a recent ISI survey, he is one of the most cited and influential researchers in his field.

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Speaker's profiles