Colja Laane
Director Netherlands Genomics Initiative
Colja Laane graduated in Biochemistry from the University of
Groningen and did a PhD in Wageningen, The Netherlands, on the
bioenergetics of nitrogen fixation.
In 1986 he joined Unilever Research Vlaardingen to set up a new section on Bioorganic Chemistry. From 1990 to 1995 he was Director Biosciences at Quest International, Naarden, The Netherlands. In 1995 he went back to Wageningen University as full professor in Biochemistry. His main subjects of interest were molecular enzymology of flavin- and metal-containing enzymes, and microspectroscopy in living cells. In 2000 he joined DSM as science director and corporate scientist White Biotechnology.
From April 2008 he became director of The Netherlands
Genomics Initiative, which is a consortia of 16 public-private
partnerships in the area of genomics with a total budget of
approximately € 500 m. He is (co)author of over 120 papers and
about 20 patents, most of which are in the area of Industrial
Biotechnology. In addition he is member or chairman of several (inter)national
committees involved in Industrial Biotechnology and Life
Sciences.
