Speakers

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Nicholas A. Bokulich is an Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and the head of the Laboratory of Food Systems Biotechnology. He earned his PhD at the University of California, Davis, followed by postdoctoral research at New York University Medical Center and Northern Arizona University prior to starting his group at ETH Zurich in 2020. The Bokulich lab develops and uses computational and experimental “omics” approaches for studying microbial ecosystems at the interface of foods and human health, with the aim of establishing a predictive understanding of how complex communities develop and interact with each other and their host environment.

Arno Wouters is associate professor at the Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry. His research focuses on the extraction, characterisation and functionalisation of plant-based proteins. In the HealthFerm project, he is deputy leader of work package 2 and task leader for task 2.1.

Kristin Verbeke graduated as a pharmacist from KU Leuven, Belgium, in 1991 and obtained a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1995. In 2002, she started her own research group at the Department of Gastroenterology of the Medical Faculty of the Leuven University. Her team has developed advanced analytical techniques using mass spectrometry and stable isotope technologies to study intestinal metabolism and function in humans, including transit time, intestinal permeability, carbohydrate fermentation, protein fermentation, metabolome analysis. Her research focusses on microbial metabolism in the human colon. By designing dietary interventions that target the gut microbiota - such as prebiotics, probiotic or dietary fiber - she aims to elucidate how microbial metabolism influences host health. A key area of her research is the production, kinetics and physiological effects of short chain fatty acids, particularly their role in microbiota-gut-brain communication and on metabolic health.

Rikard Landberg is Professor of Food and Health and heads the Division of Food and Nutrition Science at Chalmers University of Technology. He is also Visiting Professor at the Wallenberg Laboratory, University of Gothenburg. His multidisciplinary research focuses on plant-based diets, bioactive food components and dietary patterns in relation to cardiometabolic disease and gut health. He has led more than 15 randomized controlled trials involving over 2,000 participants and currently coordinates large-scale personalised nutrition studies, including the SCAPIS2-HOME trial within the national SCAPIS cohort. Prof. Landberg has published over 240 peer-reviewed papers, is Editor-in-Chief of Nutrition Journal. He is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Riitta Partanen is an experienced research leader and expert in food technology, currently serving as Head of Research at Valio. She holds a DSc (Tech) in Bioprocess Engineering from the Helsinki University of Technology and the title of Docent in Food Technology at the University of Helsinki.

Her scientific background is in food materials science, with a strong focus on dairy and cereal systems. At Valio, she is responsible for overseeing the company’s research project portfolio and serves as Project Manager for Food 2.0, a flagship initiative (2024–2028) aimed at driving the sustainability transformation of the Finnish food system.

Dr. Maria Marco is a Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis. She earned her PhD in Microbiology at the University of California, Berkeley and completed her postdoctoral training at Wageningen University and NIZO food research in the Netherlands. Dr. Marco started her lactic acid bacteria and gut health laboratory at the University of California, Davis in 2008 focusing on fermented foods, probiotics, and dietary modulation of the gut microbiome. Dr. Marco’s research integrates microbiome science, microbial genetics and ecology and gastrointestinal physiology to investigate microbial effects on human and animal health. She has authored more than 135 peer-reviewed publications and leads multidisciplinary research projects funded by national and international agencies. She founded the ongoing Gordon Research Conference series on Lactic Acid Bacteria. Dr. Marco is a member of the HealthFerm External Experts Panel and has held numerous other scientific advisory roles for academic, foundation, and industry programs. She is currently the President of the International Society of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) and was recently inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

Rossana Coda is a university lecturer researching microbial biotechnologies for sustainable food systems. Her work focuses on harnessing microbial metabolism to enhance the nutritional value, functionality and processing performance of foods, especially plant-based products. She studies food microbiota in both traditional and novel fermentations, including strategies to produce bioactive compounds and reduce anti-nutritional factors.

Maxime Michaud is a socio-anthropologist, Research Group Leader at Institut Lyfe Research & Innovation Centre. His work focuses on social and cultural dimensions of food transitions, with mainly qualitative approaches. He is especially interested in the social conditions of the acceptance of food products and practices, and in the evolution of social relations around meals (commensality) and food in general.

Within the project Healthferm, he is deputy leader of the work package 4, focusing on consumer behaviour and acceptance of plant-based food products.