Dirk Inzé
VIB-UGent, Belgium
Dirk Inzé is a molecular biologist and the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology science director. His research interest is the molecular networks underpinning yield and organ growth under standard and drought stress conditions. He is also Chairman of the influential European Sustainable Agriculture Through Genome Editing network (EU SAGE).
Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid
GMI Vienna, Austria
Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid is a plant epigeneticist and a former Interim Science Director of the Gregor Mendel Institute in Vienna. Her research focuses on how environmental factors like heat, light, or genotoxic stress influence chromatin features, gene expression, and epigenetic inheritance within plants and between generations.
Michaela Šojdrová
European Parliament
Michaela Šojdrová is a conservative Czech politician and a European Parliament member. She actively participated in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, which will shape the future of European agriculture until 2027. She recently became interested in applying the new genomic techniques and has been actively involved in the efforts to speed up the legislative process to enable EU scientists and farmers to use the new breeding methods.
Daniel Voytas
Minnesota University, USA
Daniel Voytas is the Director of the Center for Precision Plant Genomics. His research group has developed efficient methods for targeted modification of plant genomes using sequence-specific nucleases and achieved targeted gene knockouts, replacements, and insertions in various plant species.
Susanne Dreisigacker
CIMMYT, Mexico
Susanne Dreisigacker is the head of the Wheat Molecular Breeding Laboratory of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. She seeks to understand the genetic basis of key traits in wheat and use this information in applying genomics-assisted breeding approaches in wheat improvement. She has been involved in key global initiatives in the area of molecular breeding, like the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium and the Genomic and Open-source Breeding Informatics Initiative.
Ueli Grossniklaus
University of Zurich, Switzerland
Ueli Grossniklaus is the head of the Plant Development Genetics group focusing on the developmental genetics of plant reproduction, including both the sexual reproduction and apomixes – a form of asexual reproduction through seeds. His studies have shown that genetic and epigenetic mechanisms play a crucial role in plant reproduction.
Viktor Korzun
KWS Lochow, Germany
Viktor Korzun is an expert in developing and applying molecular markers and novel breeding technologies in cereal crops. He has more than 20 years of experience developing and applying molecular markers and novel breeding technologies, establishing and coordinating national and international projects, and strategic evaluation of current and new plant research and molecular breeding development.
Mark Davey
BASF Innovation Center Ghent, Belgium
Mark Davey is a principal scientist involved in strategic decision-making, pipeline improvement, tool development for candidate lead gene discovery, engineering, and functional validation of lead genes.