Dr. Frans Houwen (1958) studied Biology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, and gained a PhD in anaerobic microbiology and biochemistry at the Agricultural University in Wageningen.
Passionate by Science he then worked for several years as a PostDoc at the Agricultural University of Uppsala (Sweden) and at the University of Ghent (Belgium). Back in The Netherlands he worked for Sanquin Bloodbank (Maastricht) as manager of the divisions Production, Laboratory & Distribution, including Quality, (international) guidelines, and software application management. Then, as a project manager he carried out several projects to initiate and improve processes and methods. In an industrial environment, he has contributed as microbiologist-biochemist / system developer to the creation of a number of innovative products at the interface of biology, engineering and software. Starting from innovation and the belief that (multidisciplinary) collaboration is exciting and needed, he started his own companies ScienceLynk B.V. in 2009 and Peracutus B.V. in 2013.