Wout Boerjan

Wout Boerjan is a VIB Group Leader and Full Professor at Ghent University, leading the Bio-Energy and Bio-Aromatics lab at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology since 1996 and 2013, respectively. His research focuses on engineering plant cell walls for sustainable bioenergy and biobased products, with an emphasis on lignin biosynthesis, metabolite profiling, and transgene-free genome editing methods in plants like poplar, Arabidopsis, and maize. He has pioneered techniques to enhance biomass conversion efficiency while minimizing environmental impact.

Education: Ph.D. in Plant Biology from Ghent University (1993). Research highlights include identifying genes critical for lignin biosynthesis and developing CRISPR-based editing tools for forestry applications. His lab’s work bridges fundamental plant biology with biotechnological innovation, addressing global challenges in renewable resources.

Notable achievements include the 2024 Marcus Wallenberg Prize for contributions to lignin research. The lab collaborates extensively, as seen in recent advancements like transgene-free poplar editing published in New Phytologist. Current efforts prioritize sustainable forestry and metabolite discovery to advance the bio-based economy.