Date of Birth:     April 26, 1960
Place of Birth:     Leuven (Belgium)
Nationality:     Belgian

Education

1978     Graduation from High School in Leuven, Belgium with specialisation
Latin-Mathematics.

1983     Engineer in Agricultural Sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven
(KUL) Belgium, Specialisation: Phytopathology. Diplom thesis: Investigations on the applicability of Agrobacterium rhizogenes in the induction of roots in several crops.

1990     Doctor in Agricultural Sciences (KUL/Belgium). PhD Thesis: Large
conductance channels in peroxisomes from rat liver and the yeast Hansenula polymorpha.

1993     Nostrification Dipl.- Ing. BOKU Vienna, Austria (Sponsion). Nostrification Dr. rer. nat. BOKU Vienna, Austria (Promotion).

Career History

1983     Scholarship: Influence of transformation of tobacco and tomato with the
Ri-Plasmid of Agrobacterium rhizogenes on sensitivity for rootpathogens (Fusarium, Pythium and Verticillium spp.), KUL, Belgium.

1984     Military service: reserve officer (instructor).

1985     Starting up a waste water treatment plant in Saudi Arabia.

1986     University assistant at the KUL/Belgium (research and teaching).

1990     Co-operator and start of the Fusarium resistance breeding project at the Institute of Agronomy and Plant Breeding of the University of Agricultural Sciences (BOKU) Vienna (several grants).

1993     Assistant at the Institute of Agronomy and Plant Breeding of the BOKU
Vienna.

1994     University assistant at the present location. Group leader of the Laboratory for Resistance Breeding