Inge Pietersen is a microbiologist with a background in biotechnology and plant pathology. She has spent the past three years as head of R&D at a plant pathology start-up, developing diagnostic assays to detect important grapevine pathogens. Prior to that, she completed her Masters in Molecular Biology at the University of Cape Town, during which she produced Bovine papillomavirus pseudovirions in tobacco as potential vaccines.