Team

Hans Daetwyler

CEO

It is my responsibility to establish the Swiss Plant Breeding Center as the competence and innovation center that supports the translation of research outcomes for faster implementation in Swiss plant breeding entities. This ultimately serves the Swiss agriculture sector with plant varieties that are more adapted to Swiss environments and meet our high quality standards. In collaboration with the Board and the team, I lead the strategic, operational, and scientific aspects of the center.

I am a quantitative geneticist by training and over the years I have worked with more than thirty plant species. My expertise includes predictive breeding methodologies, genomics, bioinformatics, data science, novel phenotyping and breeding program optimization. Initially trained in animal breeding, I started working in plant breeding in 2012. I have led mid-teams in Academia and Industry and I am excited to be building the Swiss Plant Breeding Center together with all value-chain stakeholders. Please feel free to contact me to have a conversation about how we can support you.

scholar.google.com: Publications
research.wur.n: PhD Thesis

Contact

Dr. Hans Daetwyler
CEO Swiss Plant Breeding Center (SPBC)
daetwyler(at)spbc-plantbreeding.ch
+41 62 865 04 10

Short CV

Mathieu Deblieck

Scientific collaborator

I have been working at the SPBC since mid-April 2024.

My role is to provide both scientific and administrative support to the center during the starting phase. However, I am mainly responsible for the scientific monitoring of the innovation projects and the cooperation partners involved. One of the major challenges and chances will be to acquire and apply new knowledge from a wide variety of areas for the SPBC to handle the different and various tasks/innovation projects.

So far, I have been able to gain experience in the field of resistance breeding in a wide variety of projects and have dealt with both biotic stress factors (viruses and fungi) and abiotic stress (e.g. drought stress) and their effects on plants. My experience relates to the creation of genetic maps, the calculation of QTL regions, the identification and analysis of candidate genes, the development of different PCR-based molecular markers, the establishment of plant and crossing material as well as the implementation and evaluation of experiments in the greenhouse and in the field.

Contact

Dr Mathieu Deblieck
Scientific assistant
deblieck(at)spbc-plantbreeding.ch
+41 62 510 53 37
Monday to Friday, 9 am to 3 pm