Duncan Maskell is Head of the School of the Biological Sciences, University of Cambridge, one of the University's most senior positions. He has been instrumental in founding several biotech companies and has extensive experience of advising companies on science and innovation. In the past, he has worked on new vaccines against Salmonella and Bordetella at Wellcome Biotech, and on bacteria that cause childhood meningitis at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford. He currently heads a large research group at Cambridge working on infectious diseases of livestock and people.

Lykele van der Broek has a Master of Science degree from the Agricultural University in Wageningen, the Netherlands. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of Bayer CropScience, a subgroup of Bayer AG, having held various international roles including Head of the Bayer CropScience BioScience division and President of the Bayer HealthCare Animal Health division.

Commenting on both appointments, Bob Lawson, Chairman of Genus, said: "We are delighted to welcome both Duncan and Lykele to the Board. Their impressive scientific knowledge and experience in international agricultural markets which they will bring to the Board will greatly benefit Genus as it continues to progress its strategy."