Karel Schubert is an Agritech Principle Advisor at Larta Institute; in this capacity, Karel provides one-on-one business mentoring to the innovative companies that participate in the Larta-managed USDA Commercialization Assistance Training Program (USDA-CATP). Schubert has been part of the Larta team since 2008.


With a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and master’s and doctoral degrees in biochemistry, Dr. Karel R. Schubert is internationally recognized for his academic and industrial work on plant and microbial biochemistry, molecular biotechnology, pathway engineering, nutritional biofortification and for his discovery of natural products and genes to control pests, pathogens and parasites. The latter discoveries resulted in more than 14 patents and/or patent applications with colleagues at DuPont-Pioneer. Dr. Schubert is also internationally known for his philosophy and approach to intellectual property management and best practices for IP licensing in agriculture, especially as related to translational research and development activities and the reservation of intellectual property rights for the benefit of those in the developing world.

He was an Assistant and Associate (tenured) Professor of Biochemistry at Michigan State University from 1976 to 1983. In 1983, he assumed a position of Research Manager with Monsanto, with responsibility for the Wheat Cell Biology, Stress Biology, Metabolic Profiling, and Soybean Improvement Programs and as liaison with Monsanto's soybean and wheat seed companies. Subsequently, he has held positions at Washington University and the Missouri Botanical Garden which include Assistant Director of the Center for Plant Science and Biotechnology and Director of the Plant Genetic Resources Center.

He has served as consultant for plant biotechnology companies, reviewer or panel member for federal granting agencies [NIH, NSF, DOE, USDA] and as a reviewer or coBiosketch: Karel R. Schubert editor for more than 20 journals. He has been the PI or co-investigator/director on more than $20 million in grants.