2023 Speakers

Anouk Gijbels is a post-doctoral researcher working on precision nutrition and postprandial metabolism at the Division of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University & Research. She holds a PhD from the same university, during which she conducted a pioneering precision nutrition trial to test effects of a more personalised dietary intervention on cardiometabolic health outcomes. Combining human dietary intervention studies with extensive phenotyping, Anouk investigates inter-individual variation in dietary response to better understand why everyone responds differently to nutrition, mostly in the context of obesity and cardiometabolic health.

Antje Räuscher is the Co-Head and Partnerships Lead at the ProVeg Incubator, the world’s first and leading accelerator program for alt-protein startups globally. Driven by the challenges of our food system Antje joined the ProVeg in 2019, to build the ProVeg Incubator and has since worked with more than 90 startups to date. She has more than eight years of experience across startup innovation, strategy development as well as deep knowledge in the alternative protein industry.

Prior to joining Antje worked in business development and consulting for startups, corporates and for the German Agency for International Cooperation. She studied Business and Economics in Berlin, Seoul, Shanghai and Copenhagen.

Prof. Antonio Jesús Meléndez Martínez is a Standford University’s World’s 2% Scientist since 2020.

His main research interest deals with. the sustainable production of health-promoting foods, with a strong focus on carotenoids and derivatives in the context of agro-food, health and cosmetics.

He obtained his PhD in Pharmacy in 2005 at Universidad de Sevilla. He has also conducted research at University of Liverpool, Royal Holloway University of London (UK) and USDA-Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USA).

He was the coordinator of two large international networks on carotenoids, one Iberoamerican funded by the CYTED (IBERCAROT network) and another European funded by COST (COST Action EUROCAROTEN). Altogether scientists from more than 50 countries were involved.

Some awards and recognitions:

• Extraordinary Prize of Doctorate.
• International Carotenoid Society George Britton Award for Young Researcher.
• Fellow of the International Carotenoid Society.
• Manuel Losada Award to Excellence in Agro-food Research.
• Iberoamerican Academy of Pharmacy Award.
• Induction into the scientific honour society Sigma Xi.

He has been a fellow of very competitive programmes, such as Marie Curie, Juan de la Cierva and Ramón y Cajal.

He has published over 100 research papers, 10 book chapters and edited a free book on carotenoids (https://idus.us.es/xmlui/handle/11441/68953).

He has been an invited speaker at many scientific events (Pigment in Foods, Symposium of Carotenoids, Green Extraction of Natural Products Congress, Gordon Research Conference, Brain and Ocular Nutrition Conference etc.) and at industry-oriented events (Nutraceuticals Europe, Vitafoods Europe, Nutrevent).

He has been involved in the organization of communication activities such as the infoday “Raising awareness about the socioeconomic importance of carotenoids” in Brussels (2019).

He has also produced informative videos in non-technical lenguage about the importance of carotenoids (Informative videos about carotenoids).

Dr. Meléndez-Martínez has also delivered talks at R+D+I policymakers-oriented events.

Aurore de Monclin has over 15 years of global experience from Farm to Pharma with a specific focus in Nutrition, Health & Sustainability. Aurore is an expert in detecting the opportunities for growth and the elaboration of the corresponding roadmap for companies and brands that want to be the game-changers in their industry. She is a specialist in the vision and implementation of strategies to enable the right ideas to win. Aurore enjoys translating science into consumer language and delivering commercial value.

Healthy Marketing Team specialise in serving the change-makers in the food & nutrition industry. They are experts in enabling the right ideas to win. They have the knowledge, the ambition to be a partner in change and a speed-to-change formula from insights to activation.

Benoit Cudennec obtained his PhD in Marine Biotechnology and Physiology, focused on the valorization of proteins from fisheries co-products by hydrolysis and identifying bioactive peptides involved in regulating energy homeostasis. Associate professor at Lille University, he teaches biochemistry and carries out his research activity in the team “Health benefits of protein hydrolysates and agro-food co-products: production control, characterization and valorization” of the UMRT BioEcoAgro 1158. His multidisciplinary research focuses on studying specific physiological processes that lead to beneficial health effects and originate at the intestinal level following the digestion of proteins.

Bram Kerkhof: An innovator with an appetite, I specialize in food experimentation, fermentation, and sustainability; solving production problems to yield better taste, for less – effort, waste, or cost. I thrive when applying design thinking to the kitchen, and cultivating curiosity & creativity across team members. Equipt with a Bsc in Microbiology, Msc in Food Innovation, and 12 years of professional kitchen experience I’ve found my niche in leveraging microbes to create unique flavors. Led by deliciousness I use my knowledge to find solutions for a healthier, tastier food system.

Canberk is a farmer, management advisor, system thinker in agriculture, food systems and organizational agility subjects. He led many initiatives with pioneering organizations on a global scale, counting more than 82000 hours project portfolio management experience in environments such as banking, app and SaaS development, biotech, supply chain, retail, hospitality and agriculture. After witnessing environmental erosion and participating in group studies in the EU Commission, he helped to establish Rural PM (a farm to fork life cycle incubator and an educational organization) in 2016 with the aim of strengthening the management models of farm to fork system actors to improve their value creation in a regenerative way.

Catherine Lefranc-Millot qualified as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (from the National Veterinary School, Maisons-Alfort, France) and later obtained a French PhD in Biotechnology (from the University of Technology, Compiègne, France).

Prior to working for Roquette, she had managed for several years a research team in a French dairy company, working around milk peptides, proteins and hydrolysates with specific biological activities, compatible with food and nutraceutical applications.

She has been working for Roquette since 2005, first as the Corporate Scientific Communications Manager for Nutrition and Health (R&D), then (since 2016) as a Senior Research Manager Nutrition and Health. Her research is specifically focused on long-term, prospective and exploratory research, around plant-based proteins and their derivatives, interested in their potential impact on nutrition and health.

I study the interactions between microbial communities and their environment using genomic and experimental strategies. I mainly focus on the gut microbiota – the community of bacteria living in our gut – and its impact on our health. For that I use a variety of computational strategies revolving around statistics and mechanistic models to identify potential connections between the microbiome and host health and validate them in the wet lab.

I was originally trained in computational biology during my bachelor’s degree at the Free University in Berlin, and transitioned to systems biology during my PhD studies in the International Max Planck Research School for Computational Biology and Scientific Computing, where I worked on signaling pathways in yeast communities. I became interested in research operating on the interface of microbial communities and human health and dove deeper into each of those in my two following positions. In my first postdoctoral fellowship at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, I designed multifunctional antimicrobial peptides and in my second postdoc at the National Institute for Genomic Medicine in Mexico, I studied metabolic alterations in human cancers and the microbiome in type 2 diabetes. This ignited my passion for metagenomics and molecular ecology as an interface between microbes and human health and led to my current research position.

Christina Antonie Reh is a senior researcher at HSLU Lucerne in the field of consumer behavior, and sustainable consumption. After her studying at WHU, LMU, and Columbia University, and having worked in consumer goods for several years, Christina co-founded two companies that foster a more sustainable consumption, Aiko Pet Foods and Baybies. Aiko produces insect-protein based food for dogs. The larvaes used for their products are grown on food byproducts, which enables them to optimize the nutritional value for dog feed and produce in a highly sustainable, circular manner.

Colette (PhD, MBA) is an independent regulatory specialist and a registered public health nutritionist with over 30 years industry experience gained in European and Global scientific and regulatory leadership roles (SmithKline Beecham, Yakult, McNeil Nutritional and Johnson & Johnson). At J&J, she successfully coordinated one of the first disease risk reduction health claims in EU. She is active in scientific advisory boards focussed on innovation (NICHE, EC Microbiome Projects Masters, MicrobiomeSupport and the KTN Microbiome Network. As Global Regulatory Affairs Director Emerging Science & Open Innovation, working with both J&J Consumer Health, and World Without Disease Accelerator Janssen, Colette conducted due diligence on microbiome start-up propositions and early pipeline projects. Colette is a member of the European Council of the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Association for Nutrition.

I graduated at AgroParistech Paris Grignon in 1995 with a Master of Science in Agronomy & Lifesciences, and I did my final specialization in  Animal sciences.

I started to work as an R&D Monogastric Nutritionist & Project Manager and then became Head of Formulation Department (Trouw Nutrition, France –Nutreco group – during 11 years)From 2009, I have worked for international additives company to develop solutions for Animal Nutrition & Petfood, focusing on nutritional benefits, immunity & health strategies : I worked especially for Zinpro a world specialist of Organic Trace minerals and Perstorp a chemical specialist on role of  Acidifiers and SCFA on hygiene and gut health..

Since 2023, I joined Rettenmaier France (JRS group).

We are actively promoting Sustainable and Biosourced Fibers as functional or nutritional solutions : as a producer and a BtoB supplier, we are involved in new product development in different sectors such as Food, Pharma, Agriculture…
I’m Responsible for the BU Petfood, Aquaculture and Livestock.

Dr. Lafond has more than 45 years of experience in food research and development.  He is Chief Technology Officer for Healthy Ingredient Solutions, LLC, which is focused on launching new and novel healthy ingredient products, technologies, and business development services for clients in North America and Europe.  He is experienced in finding technologies or companies that can bring about new innovation opportunities or accelerate existing innovation programs by finding the missing technology or business solution.  This includes establishing and managing external development of that solution as well as licensing-in technologies, partnerships, and joint development ventures.

He has also founded and is CEO and Chief Visionary Officer of Celesta Company LLC, on a mission to improve sleep, relaxation, and the ways we think about both.  Together with his team of experts, he has developed clinically tested ingredients blended to help reduce stress during the day and get better quality sleep at night.  Prior to this Dave developed and led a technology scouting program for Kellogg Company where he was responsible for finding new technologies, validating those technologies from a technical and business standpoint, and recommending which to bring into Kellogg to support their 3-5 year innovation pipeline.

Previously, he managed product development in several business units around the world within the Kellogg Company and enhanced growth through many new global product launches.  Prior to his 22 year career at Kellogg Company, he spent 18 years in the product development/R&D area working for Kraft, Quaker Oats and Keebler companies. He has earned a BS in Biochemistry from Iowa State University, an MS in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Illinois, an MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School, and a PhD in Food Science from Michigan State University where he studied physical properties of fiber and related them in clinical work to hormonal signaling for appetite control.

Gaëtan is the Head of Impact of Five Seasons Ventures, a pan-European VC fund specialising in food-tech investments for a healthier and more sustainable system.

After 5 years of strategic and sustainability consulting, he now manages Five Seasons Ventures’ impact and ESG strategy, and helps the 17 portfolio companies on their sustainability journey.
Gaëtan holds a double master’s degree from Sciences Po Paris and the FGV of Sao Paulo.

Isabelle Guelinckx is the Executive Director at International Life Science Institute (ILSI) Europe, Brussel, Belgium. She received her MSc and Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven, BE. To specialize in nutritional research she completed a second Master at the University Maastricht, NL and a professional Bachelor in Dietetics and Nutrition at the Catholic College Leuven, BE. During her doctoral thesis on obesity management during pregnancy, she acquired experience with different methods to assess dietary intake and physical activity, and lifestyle interventions to induce behavioral change.

After 10 years within academia, Isabelle jointed Danone Nutricia Research, Palaiseau, FR where she managed R&D projects, an R&D Team and closely collaborated with Marketing, Strategy & Insights department on worldwide Liq.in⁷ surveys. Isabelle has over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Since 2019 she joint ILSI Europe, as she stronly believes in the power of collaboration between industry, academic and the public sector. As a mother of 2 kids and partner of an ambitious man, she considers herself a very lucky woman.

Ivan Stefanic is a business development and technology transfer specialist with more than 30 years of international experience in research and business. Ivan is also a Full Professor in the field of economics and entrepreneurship in agribusiness. He is passionate about deeptech and disruptive innovations, gamification of learning experiences, mentoring students and young entrepreneurs, and enterprising university.

As an EIC Programme Manager he proactively manage two portfolios of projects, Novel technologies for resilient and sustainable food supply chains and Precision nutrition.

Jerome Duramy is the Business Development Director for Europe at Nuritas. With a BSc Hons in Biochemistry from the University of St-Andrews, he has focused his career at the intersection of science-backed innovation, business and sustainability, building expertise over the past 15 years in biotech, nutrition, cosmetics, animal nutrition, and agriculture.

Before joining Nuritas, Jerome played a pivotal role in supporting new product launches within DuPont and an upcycling startup, driving growth in diverse sectors across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

At Nuritas, Jerome’s focus is to collaborate with partners and customers to bring to consumers the benefits of our unique AI-discovered unique bioactive peptides.

About Nuritas: Through cutting edge AI-precision technology, Nuritas is achieving what is currently not possible through traditional R&D: Creating a brand-new category of natural yet precise and science-backed ingredients. In partnership with Nuritas, companies now can truly innovate, by replacing or elevating their product portfolios and creating the next generation of healthier, safer and greener products.

Jessica studied biochemistry and received her PhD in enzyme technology in the laboratory of Professor Uwe Bornscheuer at the University of Greifswald, Germany. During her studies, she worked as a research assistant at Chirotech Dow Chemical Company (now Dr. Reddy’s).

Since then, Jessica has been working for the German biotech company BRAIN Biotech AG in various functions. After 7 years in R&D as a scientific project manager, she moved to BRAIN’s business development department where she is responsible for the enzymes, antimicrobials and probiotics business. During this time she completed an MBA course at the LSE in London, UK. Today, Jessica is Director Business Development Enzymes at BRAIN Biotech AG.

Joanna Moro is a clinical trial specialist for Ingredia since 2021. She works in R&D department, and she is in charge of the development of preclinical and clinical studies for bioactive ingredient to evaluate their efficacy and to better understand their mode of action.

She obtained her PhD in Nutrition Sciences in 2021, during which she worked on the impact of essential amino acid deficiency on protein and energetic metabolism.

After obtaining her PhD degree studying host-microbe interaction in Lactobacillus at Wageningen University & Research, Jolanda has worked in both pharma and food industry. In her current role as senior project manager at NIZO, Jolanda is involved in a wide range of R&D projects related to the application of microorganisms in food and health. Her expertise and passion lie in pre-, pro-, syn-, and postbiotics, gut microbiome, molecular biology, and fermentation research and development. Furthermore, she is well-versed in projects handling the data related to these areas of expertise, by the implementation of bioinformatics, data streamlining, and machine learning.

With a background in structural protein biochemistry and a passion for sustainability, Joni is a technical co-founder at De Novo Foodlabs. The startup, originally founded in South Africa, and now based in the UK, leverages precision fermentation technology in working towards improving population-wide nutrition by creating access to nutritionally valuable and difficult to access compounds. With a key focus on the effects of protein function on nutrition, the startup is currently focusing R&D efforts on commercialising recombinant production of bovine lactoferrin.

Currently Chief of Staff at La Vie Foods, the leading European scale-up in plant-based pork, where she oversees strategy and financing, Judith Camarcat has dedicated her career to accelerating the plant-based revolution in the food industry. She started her career as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she worked for leading consumer goods and retail clients, before joining Five Seasons Ventures as an Associate in foodtech investment, where she led the raise of an €180M impact fund and invested Series A tickets in plant-based startups.

Julien Tap is a research scientist at INRAE Micalis Institute, settled in Paris-Saclay, where he notably works on projects related to the interactions between gut and food microbiomes from a nutrition and health perspective using synthetic and computational ecology approaches.

In Joel Doré’s lab, his PhD project was to study dietary fiber’s impact on human gut microbiota using notably metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches. Since his PhD, his research interest focused on interactions between food, gut microbiota, and human health. This allowed him to work with European and US clinicians from several disciplines. As post-doc did at EMBL in Peer Bork’s group and at INRAE Metagenopolis unit, as well as an industrial scientist at Danone Research, he used several approaches like numerical ecology and machine learning technics to untangle gut and fermented food omics data as a function of clinical and dietary data.

Juliette joined Capagro in 2021 after a first experience at Seventure Partners in their Health For Life fund. She has an engineering degree from AgroParisTech, and is now an Associate for the management company. As part of the investment team, she notably specialized herself in alternative proteins, alternatives to food packaging and agricultural robotics.

Karim holds a PhD in Marine Science and is a passionate windsurfer who started out opening a pizza business in London straight out of university. Since then, he has extensive leadership experience in Sales & Marketing and Management mainly in Health and Nutrition. He started his career in 1989 as Project Manager in R&D in Aquaculture for Trouw International (Nutreco). Between 1992 and 2001, he held different positions within F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. such as Country Manager, Regional Manager and Feed Industry Manager. He joined DSM as UK Country Manager in 2003 and developed to Vice President Western Europe in 2005. In 2007, he grew the business several fold as Vice President Asia Pacific & Indian Continent, and from 2017 to 2022 as CEO of Veramaris he helped build the start-up biotechnology company into a mainstream supplier of natural marine algal Omega 3 replacing fish oil, by adapting value chain marketing, from farmers to retailers, into its business model. Most recently within dsm-firmenich, he leads a multi-disciplinary task force to develop a net zero single cell protein for food, feed and companion animal sectors.

Karlis has acquired a bachelor degree in Economics from Tilburg University and a masters degree in Law & Finance from Riga Graduate School of Law. He started his career at renewable energy industry, becoming the manager of two municipal power plants. Later on switched to real estate, and having successfully finished the development of a multi-apartment complex in Riga decided to look for new endeavours. During the pandemic he co-founded a biotech startup – Elogium – together with a group of scientists from Ljubljana. For the last two years he is the CEO of Elogium and is looking to scale it into a successful science driven animal health & nutrition company. Their first product in development is a feed additive that significantly reduces campylobacter infection in broiler chickens.

Leonardo Alvarez is the CEO and Co-founder of Protera, an AI-driven biotech startup that has developed innovative and sustainable protein-based food ingredients using its proprietary madi™  platform. As a biotech entrepreneur, Leonardo also founded Aminotec, a Chilean-based AgTech company that produces fertilizers and agricultural chemicals. Leonardo has received numerous accolades, including being named one of the 100 young leaders to watch in 2015 by El Mercurio in Chile.

Protera:
As Protera continues to make strides in the industry, it is now launching the madi™ platform as a product, enabling others to harness its power and create groundbreaking, sustainable solutions in food and beyond. Our global partners, such as Sofinnova, SOSV, ICL, Bimbo, and others, believe in the spirit and unique end-to-end development of our team to deliver protein ingredients with unmatched performance. In 2021, ICL Food Specialties joined forces with Protera Biosciences. ICL Food Specialties is a member of the ICL Group, a leading global specialty minerals company that creates impactful solutions through R&D to address sustainability challenges in global food, agriculture, and industrial markets.

Lethicia Magno is an agronomist with a passion for innovation and sustainable development in the agrifood sector. As an Innovation Consultant and Agrifood Referent at G.A.C. Group, she helps companies with very diverse profiles to structure and finance their R&D and innovation projects. Lethicia obtained her PhD working on the impacts of climate change on agricultural production and has held leadership positions in international organizations such as Thought For Food and World Food Forum.

Louise Bennett is Professor of food chemistry at Monash University with interests in the physical-functional and health properties of foods. These research interests seek to transform foods into dietary tools that promote value-addition and nutritional security. Professor Bennett is the Director of the Monash Master of Food Science and Agribusiness and Co-director of the industry-facing, Monash Food Innovation. Prior to joining Monash University in 2017, Professor Bennett was a Senior Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO, working on researching and supporting commercial translation of food innovations. Professor Bennett’s research specialisations are in the spaces of proteins and phytonutrients and is supported by local and international industry funding. Professor Bennett has authored >110 publications and 1 patent, with a h-index of 27.

Luca Bucchini is a food risk scientist, and an expert in food and food supplement regulation. After public health and food risk assessment studies at Johns Hopkins, in the US, he co-founded the Rome-based food consultancy Hylobates – 18 years ago. He and his team have helped register thousands of food supplements across Europe, and supported businesses comply with EU law.

He has worked with the sports nutrition and food supplement industry for years, with its intriguing scientific and regulatory challenges. In the food and food supplement sector, Luca routinely helps companies manage crisis situations and recalls. Luca is the Chair of ESSNA, the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), and a Director of EuroFIR, the non-profit food and food supplement composition organisation.

Docteur Marie-Claire Fichot is Chief Operating Officer at Mitocholine Ltd. Mitocholine Ltd is a UK- based company dedicated to the development of Mitocholine^TM, a novel composition of natural human metabolites and mitochondrial substrates essential for a healthy brain function. Prior to this activity, Dr Marie-Claire Fichot spent over 25 years in R&D management positions at Nestlé, focusing on infant, child and elderly nutrition products, as well as on nutricosmetics. Her experience spans  from the science substantiation (pre- and clinical studies) to global regulatory affairs, licensing/ partnerships, product development, and scientific communication. As a member of business executive committees, she developed strategic routes to market for several new products. She holds a PhD from Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique in Rennes (France) and an MBA from IMD Lausanne (Switzerland).

Martin Ham is a Business Development Manager at NIZO food research B.V,  an independent Contract Research Organization in the Netherlands, working with global companies in the food and ingredients area as well as personal care. Martin obtained a MSc. degree in Chemistry at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and has gained more than 25 years’ experience in business development, sales and marketing of science based CRO/CMO services in both the pharmaceutical, chemical and food market. His current focus is on foods and food ingredients with a health benefit or improved nutritional impact.

Mathias Brink Lorenz is Investment Manager AgriFood at Rockstart. Mathias comes from a M&A and corporate strategy position in the biotech company Novozymes. Prior experience includes 8 years in the banking sector working for SEB in London, Copenhagen and Oslo, advising large corporate clients on their financial strategy. He holds a Master in Finance and Strategic Management from Copenhagen Business School.

As a qualified physiotherapist and sports scientist Michael has over 20 years experience working across acute and chronic health care as well as elite sport, helping race drivers optimise their performance most notably working as Jenson Button performance director during his championship winning year in 2009 and working with him up to his point of retirement in 2017.

Over the last 6 years Michaels transitioned into a commercial and strategic role at Mclaren, looking at ways in which technology can be leveraged to amplify access to human expertise to help individuals better manage their own health and wellness needs.

Nutrition is a key pillar to unlocking human health and potentially and he’s been working closely with technology and nutrition partners to help them deliver personalised nutrition experiences that offer proven consumer and business benefits.

Mohammed holds a veterinary degree from the University Ibn Khaldun of Tiaret, Algeria, followed by a master’s in Toxicology and Food Safety from the veterinary school of Toulouse, France, and a PhD in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Angers, France. He has conducted research at institutions such as INRA and INSERM in France focusing on mycotoxins, intestinal health, mitochondrial disorders, and oxidative stress. In 2015, he entered the private research sector, working for Nor Feed and Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Europe. Since 2019, Mohammed lead the R&D team at Nor Feed, concentrating on plant-based solutions for animal health and nutrition.

Mohammed Gulrez Zariwala is a Professor of Translational Physiology and founder Director of the Centre for Nutraceuticals at the University of Westminster. The Centre is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the area of nutraceuticals, supplements, and functional foods that seeks to act as a global catalyst for improving health and wellbeing guided by research and innovation. His research expertise spans the diverse areas of metabolism, neurodegeneration, and sports nutrition, with a focus on the use of natural bioactives to formulate and validate novel ingredients and supplements products.  He leads a research team that includes over 20 academics and researchers and has published 70+ high impact international research articles, abstracts and book chapters in his field.

Professor Zariwala works with multiple commercial partners worldwide and was involved in the development of the UK’s leading liquid iron supplement (Spatone Apple^®), now marketed in 40+ countries. His most recent outputs include development of a range of high performance wellness and sports supplement products (Unity Ultra U^®) that was launched worldwide in July 2021 in partnership with the international footballers Mathieu Flamini and Mesut Ozil. He has been awarded research and innovation grants from the UK government (Innovate UK), and international awards from prestigious government bodies such as the LPDP (Indonesia) and TETFund (Nigeria).

Professor Zariwala is established as a global thought leader in the field of iron deficiency and supplementation and regularly speaks at world leading events. He has presented his research at prestigious platforms such as the UK Parliament to the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee and keynotes to the Australian College of Midwives. He routinely communicates to the media, and has made appearances on the BBC, BBC radio and various newspapers and publications.

Nard is an experienced innovator, networker, entrepreneur and strategic thought leader in personalised nutrition.

After his study of Human Nutrition at Wageningen University, he worked for the food industry in international positions for more than a decade as a successful liaison between business and science.

He then joined Dutch innovation organisation TNO to lead their Nutrition and Health business line and set up the world’s largest public-private research consortium on personalised nutrition & health, together with Wageningen University and Research. This led him on a path of ‘personalised nutrition’, involving co-founding Happ (a personalised nutrition platform) as their Chief Science Officer, founding NCNC Nutritional Consultancy, many public appearances and working for Foodvalley NL as their Lead Personalised Nutrition.

Natanael Viñegra works as a project coordinator at CNTA. He obtained his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, focusing on seed germination and molecular biology. Later he moved on to study flowering regulation at the University of Cologne, working on a perennial model plant. After this academic period, he switched fields to project management, working at the start-up The Cultivated B in Heidelberg, covering all aspects of cellular agriculture and its biotechnology uses. Since a few months, he is a project coordinator at CNTA, where he is in charge of project tracking and deadlines, as well as contributing to the preparation of new proposals. His interests span the field of biotechnology and its potential applications.

With a Food and Health engineering background, Nathalie joined the agency Nutrikeo as a consultant in 2013.

Nutrikéo is a consulting & marketing agency specialized in nutrition and life sciences. For 15 years, scientists and marketing experts support the industry on international projects, according to a virtuous and sustainable vision. In Agri, Food, Nutra, Cosmetics & Health. Since 2018, Nathalie is the Head of Ingredients and Nutraceuticals division. She works on various projects for ingredient suppliers, food industries, contract manufacturers and dietary supplements labs. She brings her expertise on various projects from monitoring, market studies, marketing strategies, innovation to communication.”

Dr. Nico van Belzen is the founder and Director General of ScienceConsult.

From 2012-2018 he was Director General of the International Dairy Federation (IDF).

From 2003-2012 he was the Executive Director of ILSI Europe, the European branch of the International Life Sciences Institute.

From 1998-2003 Nico worked for DMV International, the business-to-business division of the dairy company Campina, where he set up and managed a laboratory to develop bioactive food ingredients, and subsequently became head of the department Research and Analysis.

From 1986-1998 Nico worked in universities and academic hospitals in The Netherlands as biomedical researcher specialised in molecular cell biology and cancer research, e.g. cloning the genes Drg1/NDRG1 and ICT1. He received a PhD in cell biology from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, in 1990.

Ninna is Green Spot’s CEO and co-founder, a pioneering Fermented and Upcycled food ingredients company headquartered in Toulouse & a demo plant in Carpentras France producing ingredients that allow food brands to appeal to modern consumers with fermented & upcycled, clean-label, nutritious, and plant-based flours. Ninna has a PhD in Biotechnology and from Brazil to New Zealand and now in France, she is on a mission to use science and technology to bring better and sustainable nutrition to all.

Orri has been working in the pharma and nutraceutical industries for nearly 20 years. He has extensive experience in building and starting up new plants, as well as in upgrading plants in many different countries. Orri has great competence in GMP, general quality, project management, recruitment, and operations, with an excellent track record in getting things done on time and budget.

Øystein Sæle is a senior scientist at the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway and holds a professor II position at the University of Bergen where he is teaching fish nutrition. He has been working with fish nutrition and digestive physiology since 2006, in various species, including salmon. He began his career at the University of Bergen before joining The National Institute for Nutrition and Seafood Research, which has since merged with IMR. In recent years, his focus has been on ensuring optimal fish nutrition using sustainable ingredients.”

Nutritionist specialised in marketing and product development for the food industry, wide experience in consumer analytics, strategic marketing and R&D
programs. BS Degree in Human Nutrition Univ. Autónoma de Madrid. MSc Food Consumer Marketing and Product Dev. Univ Sheffield Hallam, Programa Product Marketing ESIC Business School.

Philipp is a true bioeconomist combining scientific and business education and since years connecting industrial innovation needs with startup solutions. In 2020 he started in Hannover, Germany the RootCamp as Innovation Hub for AgTech and Bioeconomy combining Corporate Innovation and Startup Acceleration. He has gained extensive experience as early-stage LifeScience Investor at the High-Tech Gruenderfonds and has a background in industrial biotechnology. Philipp holds a Doctorate degree in Biotechnology from the University of Hohenheim, an MBA in Engineering Management from the University of Applied Sciences Mannheim and a Master in technical Biology from the University of Stuttgart.

Quentin is an accomplished Industrial Engineer with a passion for driving industrial processes toward new heights. Armed with a degree in Industrial Engineering, Quentin’s journey has been marked by his ability to tackle intricate challenges and drive innovations at scale.
Formerly at the head of Production for Made of Air, a pioneering carbon-negative biomaterial company, Quentin showcased his adeptness in advanced product development. His role was pivotal in contributing to the company’s success, helping them scale to their pilot stage and raise their seed round of funding.
Quentin’s background also includes a role as a Design Engineer at Pentatonic, a leading consultancy specializing in circular and sustainable manufacturing. Through this engagement, he honed his understanding of circular economy principles, carbon accounting methodologies, and Life Cycle Assessment strategies.
Quentin’s journey underscores his ability to blend technical proficiency with a fervent dedication to sustainable progress. As a bridge between industrial engineering and sustainability, he stands as a catalyst for shaping a more conscious and innovative future.

Dr Rachel Shaw is a co-founder and CEO of Eden Bio, a UK biotech start up using machine learning to revolutionise microorganism-based protein production through maximising protein productivity. Within a year of launching, Eden Bio raised £1M and successfully delivered on its first commercial contracts. Prior to leading Eden Bio, Rachel worked for the world’s largest independent funder of cancer research, bringing in and stewarding key partnerships, high-value donations worth up to £40M and representing the company for mass fundraising through a range of media, including live telethons. Rachel also has a PhD from King’s College London and has published three books.

Raphaëlle is the Founder of inewtrition, a business development platform and specialised consultancy that helps companies explore, connect and innovate in customised nutrition. Inewtrition provides ideation, development, and commercialisation services by combining real option analysis tools and processes via a global network of domain experts.

Raphaëlle has worked in the product development and commercialisation of functional foods, beverages and dietary supplements for over 25 years and leverages her combined expertise in project management, business and research to create a more resilient food system at the intersection of nutrition, food and health.

Roberta has over 20 years’ Food and Drink experience across academia, industry and government. In her current role as Director of Cambridge Food Science, she provides expert support and knowledge to the global food and beverage sector with market relevant practical solutions throughout a product’s lifecycle, solving scientific, nutrition and regulatory challenges. Roberta now brings these skills, into her role as Food and Drink Investment Specialist, to the Department for Business and Trade.

In this role she supports Food and Drink businesses, navigate through the regulatory framework, as well as identify centres of expertise to facilitate market entry and expansion into the UK. She supports engagement among stakeholders and facilitates business networks through identifying contacts within Government agencies and Governments departments.

Roberta graduated with a Doctorate in Pharmacy in Italy, then moved to the University of California, Berkeley, and obtained her PhD in Biochemistry from Kings College London before joining the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research Unit (MRC HNR) in Cambridge. After several years in the academic research environment, Roberta then moved to Leatherhead Food Research in 2007 where she managed the Human Nutrition Research Unit providing scientific support to the global food and beverage industry for health claim substantiation. In 2015 Roberta became Director General of the World Sugar Research Organisation (WSRO). She was awarded an MBA from the University of Sussex at the beginning of 2015 and she is a Mentor for Accelerate Cambridge Entrepreneurship Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School.

Dr. Albers founded NutriLeads B.V. to develop and commercialize innovative, plant-derived functional ingredients with clinically proven health benefits. NutriLeads’ flagship ingredient, BeniCaros^®, is an award-winning, up-cycled prebiotic carrot fiber, scientifically and clinically proven to train immune responses to be smarter and faster through targeted gut microbiome modification. Earlier in his career, Dr. Albers held several leadership positions during 14 years at Unilever, where he built and led the global expertise group on nutrition, immunity and gut health. Dr. Albers received a doctorate in immunomodulation from Utrecht University and studied intestinal metabolism at Rockefeller University in New York.

Professor Karboune is the Associate Dean of Research at the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill University and the Scientific Director of The Consortium for Research, Innovation and Transformation of Agrifood (RITA). Her main research expertise is in the design and development of new “green” approaches to the synthesis of novel functional food ingredients of great interest that can improve the quality and the functionality of food products. Her research work contributes to the sustainability of the Agri-Food sector by developing technologies to generate highly added-value functional ingredients from food-processing by-products. Her multidisciplinary research program bridges the gap between food chemistry, food science and enzyme technology and provides access to new well-defined food ingredients that cannot be obtained by conventional methods. She has also expertise on the development of integrated approaches to new food product development and for extending the shelf-life of food products. Her multidisciplinary research program has garnered national and international recognition and has been published in more than 135 peer-reviewed journal articles and presented at world-wide known conferences. She currently leads the RITA Consortium at McGill University that aims at promoting innovation in the Agri-food sector and deploying effective solutions for food transformation. Professor Karboune is passionate about science and active learning, and she places a high value on creation through innovation and dissemination through translation of the knowledge into real practices.

Siddhartha Kunti is currently co-founder & GM at Curafyt, a company that leverages plant science (Phytotherapie) to improve health in animals. Prior to Curafyt he set up Flvrlab, a company with a mission to digitize the human sense of smell. Before his entrepreneurial ventures he gained 10 years of experience in high-tech growth firms & startups covering verticals such as 3D printing, automotive, healthcare & public transport. As recognition for his achievements the Belgian Embassy in London elected him Honorary Consul & technology attaché in 2017 to promote the Belgian tech ecosystem. He holds an MBA from IMD, don’t hold it against him!

Father of 2, sports-enthusiast, master procrastinator, passionate about food & crafts’

Signe Causse, Global Innovation Marketing Lead at IFF, has 18+ years of experience in the food ingredient industry within Marketing and Innovation. She has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School and has worked on pressing topics from plant-based alternatives, to sustainability, to health and wellness – with a strong focus on personalized nutrition. Signe is currently driving the go-to-market efforts around IFF’s personalized nutrition offerings, focusing on key food and beverage players looking to take health and wellness to the next level.

Sinda is the Chief Science Officer at Nutrinomics and holds a Ph.D. in Health Sciences, with a specialization in Nutrition and Cancer. With over a decade in nutritional research, she has deep expertise in the study of gene-diet interactions and the identification of dietary solutions to minimize metabolic disorder risks. She initiated her career in fundamental research at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Transitioning from academia, she ventured into the dynamic world of start-ups, with a primary focus on R&D. Notably, she co-founded a start-up dedicated to the digital monitoring of chronic patients. At Nutrinomics, her responsibilities include curating and validating content for the patient-centric application, ensuring its scientific accuracy and overall quality. She leads a team of dietitians, monitors scientific advancements, and actively participate in the implementation of clinical studies in collaboration with research teams. Additionally, she is involved in the development of the company’s proprietary algorithm.

Introducing KetoM+- Revolutionizing Ketogenic Nutrition for Optimal Health

Discover the visionary behind Sybille Kraft Bellamy  a leading provider of high quality ketogenic medical food, supplements, and food products. 

With a strong dedication to research, development, and production Sybille the founder and president, has led a remarkable journey to transform the lives of individuals in need of specialized nutrition.

At the heart of KetoM+ mission lies a deeply personal story. Sybille ‘s son Maxent faces the challenges of epilepsy and poly-handicap on a daily basis. Inspired by Max’s struggle, KetoM+ was born with a noble purpose: to revolutionize the nutritional landscape by empowering individuals to take control of their well-being and embark on a transformative journey towards a better quality of life.

Join KetoM+ and Sybille on their quest to redefine nutrition and unlock the potential of ketogenic living. Experience the unrivaled quality, expertise, and compassion that lie at the core of KetoM+ innovative offerings. 

Together, let’s embrace a new era of wellness, where tailored nutrition meets exceptional results.

Tiago, graduated from the University of Lisbon School of Sciences with a Masters in Microbiology and Genetics, followed by a PhD in Chemistry from Princeton University where he worked on metabolic engineering of algae for the production of Fuels and other high value products.

In 2013, he returned to Portugal to join the A4F – algae for future’s R&D team, where he led several R&D projects with the goal of developing technology and know-how for industrialization of algae biomass production for applications in biofuels, cosmetics, food and feed. He was directly involved in the development of 2 of the largest algae production units in Europe. He later became the head of the R&D department which he accumulated with leading a team writing applications for national and international competitive R&D calls.

In 2021, Tiago completed The Lisbon MBA program leaping into starting Algikey which is a trader and developer of algae products and solutions for several sectors including food and nutraceuticals.

Victória del Pino is a chemical engineer and innovation economist with more than 15 years of experience in driving growth and expansion in the microalgae biotechnology industry.

She has been the business manager of the algae business unit of Necton S.A. This company is the oldest microalgae producer still in operation in Europe. Necton is a benchmark in aquafeed and cosmetics markets.

More recently, Victoria has been invited to be a board member of Allmicroalgae. This company is one the biggest players in the Spirulina and Chlorella European market. The main customers of Allmicroalgae are food industries and dietary supplements manufacturers.

In all her career, Victória del Pino’s dedication to microalgae has been a driving force, fostering innovation and sustainable growth in the dynamic field of biotechnology.

A pharmacist and microbiologist, Vincent has spent his career working at the interface between different public and private organisations on a variety of subjects: drinking water network microbiology (SUEZ group), infectious risk management (STERIS company), research into the human microbiome (Enterome start-up). From 2015 to 2022, he worked at the IRT BIOASTER, where he was responsible for defining and leading collaborative R&D projects in the field of microbiome research. Vincent joined Lallemand Health Solutions at the end of 2022 as R&D Innovation Director. In this role, he is responsible for identifying the latest innovations (new technologies, new micro-organisms, new applications) and integrating them into the company’s R&D strategy.”

Wilfried Sire is CTO and co-founder of Revobiom. Wilfried received his PhD in biotechnologies from the PSL Research University (ESPCI Paris) in 2020, before going on to found Revobiom in july 2022.

Revobiom offers an innovative solution, based on a disruptive technology (MEM: Microbial Evolution Machine), for developing stable and effective microbial products, evolved on demand and in a natural way, for the sectors of agri-food, agriculture, ecology, energy, and health.

In the agro-food sector, Revobiom’s goal is to help developing the new generation of microbe-based fermented products by combining microbes’ functional powers, like nature does.

Dr. Yoghatama Cindya Zanzer is Manager Nutrition Science at BENEO, Germany. He is also appointed as an expert member in several scientific activities of International Life Sciences Institute – ILSI Europe task force. He received Ph.D. in Applied Human Clinical and Molecular Nutrition from Lund University, Sweden. For more than 8 years, he has been leading cross-functional strategic projects from the interface between industry and academia in the field of prebiotics, functional carbohydrate and bioactive compounds on gut/digestive/gastrointestinal health, gut-brain-axis, appetite regulation, weight management, glycemic regulation as well as nutrigenomics in human clinical interventions.