Speakers at Recent developments in plant genetic engineering technology
Recent developments in plant genetic engineering technology
About the speakers
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Jan Kooter
EXPERTISE: Genetics, Epigenetics, Gene regulation, Molecular EvolutionSCIENTIFIC CAREER and ACADEMIC POSITIONS:- 1978-1983 Studied Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam: focus on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- 1988: Ph.D. of the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Thesis: Transcription of variant surface antigen genes in Trypanosome brucei. Supervisor: Prof.dr.P.Borst
- 1988-1990 Postdoc at The Salk Institute, San Diego (USA), Plant Biology, EMBO Fellowship
- 1990-1995 Fellow ‘Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen’ (KNAW) at the VUA dept. Genetics
- 1995-2020 Assistant professor, Senior Lecturer, at the dept. of Genetics and Molecular Cell Biology, VUA
- 2020- Retired; remained employed by the VUA as a Senior Lecturer and student supervisor
SCIENTIFIC SERVICES:- Editorial boards: Associate Editor of Epigenomics, and BBA-Gene regulatory mechanisms (till 2010)
- Referee for: Plant Cell, Plant Journal, Plant Molecular Biology, Plant Methods, Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, Plant Methods, BBA, Epigenetics, Epigenomics, Current Biology, BMC Cancer
- Evaluation panels: NWO-NL, STW-NL, IWT-Belgium, ANR-France, BBSRC-UK,
- Member of COGEM (Commissie Genetische Modificatie) subcommittee ‘Landbouw’, from 2008 -
- Participation in, and member of EU-Networks:
- EU Biotechnology framework IV in het kader van het European Gene Silencing Network: “Control of Gene Expression and Gene Silencing in Transgenic Plants” (1996-1999)
- EU Biotechnology framework V in het kader van het European Gene Silencing Network: “Improvement of transgene expression and gene silencing in transgenic plants” (2000-2003)
- Associate member of EU 6th Framework program “The Epigenome” Network of excellence (2004-2009)
OUTPUTPublications:- Number of publications in international refereed scientific journals according to WoS: 57
- Contributions to books: 4
- Number of citations according to WoS: 4,388 H-index: 35
Supervision of Ph.D. theses: 9Scientific teaching and activities:- Coordinator and/or lecturer of the following courses:
- Genetics, Biomedical Sciences BSc program
- Evolutionary Genetics, Minor Ecology and Evolution,
- Genomes and Gene Expression, MSc Biomolecular Sciences
- Extreme Biology, MSc Biomolecular Sciences
- Caput Epigenetics, MSc Biomolecular Sciences
- Caput RNA Biology, MSc Biomolecular Sciences
- Origin of life and its driving forces, FS-Honours program course
- Epigenetic Regulations, at the Amsterdam University College
- Lectures in various Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics BSc, MSc, and Ph.D. courses
- Coordinator Bachelor's Honours program, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Science
- Coordinator Master's program Biomolecular Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Science
- Supervisor of students during their BSc and MSc internships and writing their Literature thesis.
Outreach activities:- Contributed to an EU-funded film-documentary ‘The hidden life of our genes – the promise of epigenetics’, Directed by Hervé Nisic, HELIOX (2009)
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René Custers
Academic Education and Degrees
Msc in molecular sciences, Wageningen university, The Netherlands
Present Professional Position
René Custers is regulatory & responsible research manager at VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology), Belgium. He has more than 25 years of experience in regulatory affairs, biosafety, and the societal and ethical aspects of modern biotechnology. He is an expert in the legislation and safety of GMOs and genome edited organisms and has been very active in the European debate on the regulatory status of genome edited organisms. At VIB he coordinates the institutes’ policies on regulatory compliance, (bio)safety, ethics and integrity. He is also involved in science communication activities to a wider audience. He is a member of the Belgian Biosafety Advisory Council, and member of the board of EU-SAGE (European Sustainable Agriculture through Genome Editing).