Knowledge Based Bio-Economy towards 2020

Mr. INGELBRECHT IVAN 

Program Manager, International Industrial Biotechnology Network - UN Industrial Development Organization/University Gent

Biography

Dr Ingelbrecht obtained his PhD in Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Ghent, Belgium in 1993. As a PhD student he published one of the first cases of transgene silencing in plants. As a Research Associate at Texas A&M, TX, USA he produced virus and herbicide resistant transgenic sugarcane plants and developed, together with colleagues, a genetic transformation system for a commercial grapefruit variety. At Texas A&M, he isolated novel proteins involved in RNA interference from sugarcane, that were patented and licensed to the private sector.

In 2000-2001, he worked as a Patent Liaison at CropDesign, Zwijnaarde, Belgium. He has over 12 years working experience in Sub Saharan Africa, first as a post-doc and later as Head of the Biotechnology Laboratory at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria. At IITA, Dr Ingelbrecht was Principal Investigator on several research projects to develop genetic transformation systems for the tropical crops cassava and black eye pea.

As Project Coordinator and member of the Research-for-Development Council at IITA, he was also involved in research management and priority setting for the Institute. In 2010, he joined the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Belgium and the University Ghent as Program Manager of the International Industrial Biotechnology Network. He is Associate Editor for the journal In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology-Plant.

Programme

Panel member, Part III Working together to address the NEEDS - SESSION 1: Feedstocks for the KBBE