The Biotechnology Coordinator for the State Government
University Professor Dr. Eckhard Thines, Dean of the Faculty of Biology and member of the Senate of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), has been the Biotechnology Coordinator for the State Government since June 1, 2023. As a member of the Advisory Board for Biotechnology, he has already accompanied the activities of the state's biotechnology initiative over the past two years.
Prof. Dr. Thines completed his diploma thesis and doctorate at the Technical University Kaiserslautern in the Department of Biotechnology. After returning from his time as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Exeter in England, he completed his habilitation at the Chair of Biotechnology at the TU and received the Venia Legendi for the subject of biotechnology in 2006. Subsequently, he was employed at the Institute for Biotechnology and Drug Research (IBWF) in Kaiserslautern, which he still heads as Scientific Director. Since 2012, he has been a professor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), teaching biotechnology and microbiology.
Since 2020, Prof. Thines has been Dean of the Department of Biology, member of the Senate of JGU and he is part of the Coordination Comimssion of the Forthem Initiative for Internationalization. In addition, he is a member of the DECHEMA Expert Committee on Small Molecules.
The State Coordinator for Biotechnology is supported by an office in the Ministry of Science and Health of Rhineland-Palatinate. The staff will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
The Advisory Board for Biotechnology of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate
The Biotechnology Advisory Board is composed of high-profile representatives from politics, industry and science. As an advisory body to the state government, it provides interdisciplinary and cross-sector expertise for the further development of the biotechnology initiative in Rhineland-Palatinate. The Biotechnology Advisory Board serves to exchange perspectives in the necessary regional breadth to address potential throughout the state. In addition, the committee advises the state government on the biotechnology study with roadmap Rhineland-Palatinate commissioned by it.
The members of the Biotechnology Advisory Board of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate are:
Government: Minister President Malu Dreyer, Minister Clemens Hoch, Minister Daniela Schmitt, Lord Mayor Nino Haase.
Industry: Dr. Sabine Nikolaus (Boehringer Ingelheim), Dr. Frank Heinricht (Schott), Dr. Melanie Maas-Brunner (BASF), Dr. Hendrik von Büren (AbbVie Germany), Jesper Wenzel Larsen (Novo Nordisk), Prof. Dr. Özlem Türeci (BioNTech), Peter Hähner (Rheinhessen Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Peter Adrian (Trier Chamber of Commerce), Francesco Grioli (IG BCE).
Science: Prof. Dr. Christoph Huber (Innsbruck), Prof. Dr. Josef Puchta (German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg), Prof. Dr. Ulrich Förstermann (University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz), Prof. Dr. Antje Krause (Bingen Technical University of Applied Sciences), Prof. Dr. Tanja Weil (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research Mainz), Prof. Dr. Helle Ulrich (Institute for Molecular Biology Mainz), Prof. Dr. Andreas Dengel (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence Kaiserslautern), Prof. Dr. Klaus Lieb (Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research Mainz).
Prof. Dr. Eckhard Thines - Biotechnology Coordinator of the State Government
© Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz
"I see my task particularly in networking competencies, technologies, resources, and players in the field of biotechnology in Rhineland-Palatinate. This promotes the already good conditions for Rhineland-Palatinate to become an even more attractive location and creates an environment in which companies and start-ups can become competitive and sustainably successful. In this context, it is important to me that we, as players in biotechnology in Rhineland-Palatinate, enjoy finding biotechnological solutions together in order to make contributions to pressing societal challenges. Fun also in opening up new perspectives for the next generation together in training and by creating jobs."