Ronald Plasterk

(1957, The Hague) was appointed Minister of Education, Culture and Science in February 2007 for the Dutch Labour Party in the Cabinet of prime minister Balkenende. Plasterk is a biologist, specialised in molecular genetics and has won various prizes in biology, including the EMBO-award for Communication in the Life Sciences in 2002 and the Prix Louis D of the Institut de France in 2005. Between 1993 and 2003 he was among other things professor at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Universiteit van Amsterdam and the Universiteit Utrecht. Before his appointment as minister Plasterk was director of the Hubrecht Laboratorium, Nederlands Instituut voor Ontwikkelingsbiologie (KNAW) in Utrecht. As a columnist for tv, de Volkskrant and Intermediair Plasterk was noted for his outspokenness. A number of his columns were published in Leven uit het Lab (Living from the Lab) (2000)