Zoltan Ivics's Biography

Zoltan Ivics, Head of Division, Paul Ehrlich Institute

Zoltán Ivics received his PhD in molecular biology. After postoctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in the USA and the Netherlands Cancer Institute, he was appointed as a research group leader at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany. He was appointed as Head of Division at the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen, Germany, in 2011. Dr. Ivics’ major scientific achievement is the molecular reconstruction of the Sleeping Beauty transposon. Technologies based on Sleeping Beauty gene transfer have been revolutionizing genomic manipulations in vertebrate species. Dr. Ivics has published >80 manuscripts in peer reviewed journals, with a total Impact Factor of >800 and >6000 citations (h-index: 39), and is co-inventor on 9 patents. Since 2000 his research efforts were supported by 16 research grants from the German Research Foundation, the German Ministry of Education and Research, the European Commission, and the Volkswagen Foundation. He received recognition of the “Molecule of the Year” in 2009 for developing a hyperactive Sleeping Beauty transposase that opened the door for clinical applications. He has been serving as Member of the Board of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) and as a faculty member of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy of the LOEWE (Landes-Offensive zur Entwicklung Wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz) program in Hessen, Germany.