FermenTwin Project Launch: A Fusion of Microbiology, Technology, and Taste

Published: Jan 25, 2024 by FME Lab

Today marked the exciting kickoff of the FermenTwin project, funded by INRAE DIGIT-BIO metaprogram and coordinated by Guillaume Gautreau, an innovative venture set to develop a food microbiota digital twins of fermented vegetable juices.

The meeting was a vibrant exchange of ideas, bringing together a diverse group of experts and enthusiasts. Post-discussion, the attendees had the opportunity to indulge in an array of fermented juices, including carrot, beetroot, and cabbage, offering a firsthand taste of what the FermenTwin project aims to enhance.

The highlight of the day was the tour of the mini-biofermenters, developped by Cyprien Guerin and Pierre Nicolas, a peek into the advanced technology that lies at the heart of the project. These mini-biofermenters are a crucial element in the FermenTwin initiative, providing a controlled environment for studying and optimizing the fermentation process.

cFMD workshop in Trento

Last February 23-24th 2026, at University of Trento, a workshop was organized by the CIBIO (Nicola Segata’s lab) for #DominoEU partners. The workshop aimed at learning to query & analyse data from the Curated Food Microbiome Database (cFMD). Thanks to the very efficient and skilled teaching team (vitor Heidrich, Hrituraj Dey, Francesco aniscar, Sergio Andrés Castañeda Garzon) and for the incredible hospitality of Frederica Pinto and Nicola Segata.

From food spontaneous fermentations to food designed consortia

Our new article entitled “Microbiome metabolic modeling as a tool for innovation in fermented foods” has been published in in Current Opinion of Food Science¹.

Elham Karimi, Julien Tap, Marie-Christine Champomier-Vergès, Stéphane Chaillou. Microbiome metabolic modeling as a tool for innovation in fermented foods. Current Opinion of Food Science. 2025 ↩

The FME lab communicates about the links between the microbiome, nutrition and health.

On Thursday 27 November, the FME lab took part in the Food System Microbiomes Conference in Wageningen during the session dedicated to the connections between microbiomes, nutrition and health. The session was co-chaired by Stéphane Chaillou (INRAE, Micalis) and Prof. Christophe Courtin (KU Leuven), and provided an opportunity to showcase advances from two major European projects: DOMINO and HealthFerm.