#Microbes4SustainableFoods cluster at the EFFoST conference in Valencia

Published: Nov 9, 2023 by FME Lab

Stéphane participated to the #EFFOST2023 conference in Valencia (6th to 8th of November) during which a specific session an EU project was planned.

This session was the first clustering activity of the #Microbes4SustainableFoods, a collaborative network of five European projects (#DominoEU, #HealthFerm, Pimento ca20128, #Wheatbiome and #Tribiome) with an overlapping interest in the use of microbes in the food system and in particular in plant-based fermented foods.

Stéphane gave an overview of DOMINO objectives whereas, Abelardo Margolles (WP4 leader) gave an introduction on our strategy to design microbial consortia based on synthetic ecology approaches. The session was concluded by a roundtable discussion with the audience.

Off the conference, all coordinators met for a friendly dinner which was also the kick-off for organizing and sharing communications, disseminations and results over the coming years between the different projects.

HoloGen symposium on microbial meta-community modeling

On October 21, 2026, Julien Tap participated as an invited speaker in the Microbial Meta-Community Modeling symposium, organized by Karoline Faust at the Rega Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium, as part of the HoloGen doctoral network retreat.

Fermented foods at the Fête de la science Paris-Saclay 2026

On October 3–4, 2026, Stéphane Chaillou and Alice Lima took part in the Village des sciences at ENS Paris-Saclay for the Fête de la science, France’s annual science festival. This year’s theme, “Saveurs savantes”, invited visitors to explore the science behind food and flavour.

From “synthetic” to defined microbial communities for clearer terminology

Stéphane Chaillou participated in a joint reflection with a group of international researchers, coordinated by the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), on the terminology used to describe certain microbial communities. The collective of experts proposes replacing the term “synthetic community” (or SynCom), sometimes perceived negatively, with “Defined Microbial Community”.