LABIP Expert Workshop Microbial Diversity & Health

Published: Jun 9, 2023 by FME Lab

In Leiden, Netherlands, 7 – 8 June 2023, the recent LABIP¹ Expert Workshop on “Microbial Diversity & Health” brought together experts to explore this relationship. The workshop began with an objective to examine the impact of microbial diversity in food on health. Presentations covered topics such as the role of beneficial microbes, consequences of food processing on microbial diversity, and harnessing gut microbiome diversity.

Julien discussed how dietary habits, among other factors, can influence the symbiosis between the host and the intestinal microbiota. He shared an updated view of the human gut microbiome structural and functional landscape which can provides a conceptual framework for designing next-gen and sustainable fermented foods.

Insights into European consumers’ perception of probiotics were shared, highlighting the need for awareness. Other presentations covered the role of food microbes in shaping the human microbiome, the significance of bacteriophages, and emerging process solutions for selective inactivation of food microbes.

LABIP: Lactic Acid Bacteria Industrial Platform ↩

A seed meeting between INRAE Micalis Institute and Imperial College London

Last week on October 3rd, scientists from Imperial College London (ICL) and from INRAE Micalis Institute were hosted by the French embassy in London for a seed meeting around synthetic biology and synthetic microbial ecology as scientific strategies for biotechnology and food production. A special thanks to the organizer: Ludovic Drouin (French Embassy), Young-Kyoung Park (Micalis) and Rodriguo Ledesma-Amaro (ICL). Our several groups with complementary research discussed about perspectives of future collaborations on the field together with Ferment du Futur or Bezos Centre.

School of Artificial Intelligence Applied to Microbiomes

Earlier this month, Julien had the pleasure of participating as a lecturer at the School of Artificial Intelligence Applied to Microbiomes, hosted at AgroParisTech and organized by Aristeidis Litos, Daniel Garza, and Ariane Bize. The event brought together an exceptional group of researchers and students exploring how AI, data science, and mathematical modeling are reshaping our understanding of microbial ecosystems.

Consumers at the core of fermented food innovation

Yesterday on September 23rd, about 100 participants from academia, industry, NGOs and policy makers across Europe had joined the second Stakeholder Forum of Horizon Europe #DominoEU project. Four speakers Pr. Jutta Roosen from the Technical Universty of Munich, Dr. Emmanuella Magriplis associate professor from the Agricultural University of Athens, Dr. Michail Syrpas associate professor at Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania and Dr. Nikoletta Vidra Science Manager at Yakult Europe altogether spotlighted the central role of consumer research in advancing the field of fermented foods.