NutrEvent

Rolf Bos (1963) - obtained his university degree in Biochemistry from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. In 1996 he received his PhD from the medical faculty at the same university. After working as an assistant professor, he joined FrieslandCampina research in 1999 as project manager of a multi-partner innovation project. In 2004 he became head of the Nutritional Sciences department. Currently he is also responsible for innovation programming of the Daily Nutrition portfolio. Throughout his career Rolf collaborated with various companies and knowledge institutes.

Ross Campbell has a joint honours degree in Chemistry and Management Science from Stirling University. Ross has worked for a number of different companies in various roles, including Dow Corning, 3M, Courtaulds all involving polymers for many industrial applications.

He then joined Unilever’s Quest food ingredient division to head up their hydrocolloids business unit which is now part of Kerry. Ross left Quest in 2001 and started up CyberColloids which has become a well recognized ‘contract research to business development’ company specializing in polysaccharide chemistry for food texture and nutrition. Ross is married to a very long suffering woman, Joy, has 4 children and loves sailing.

Claude Cavadini obtained his university degree in Human Nutrition at the University of Nancy, France. In 19 82 he joined the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland where he studied food habits and the role of nutrition in various population groups. In 2005, Claude joined Nestlé Nutrition where he was responsible for evaluation and in-licen-sing of new technologies providing nutritional benefits. Since 2011 he is responsible for innovation partnerships.

Shane Starling is Senior Editor of NutraIngredients.com, FoodNavigator and FoodNavigator- Asia.com. He has been writing about the global food industry since 2001 on matters such as health claims, food marketing, food science, ingredient innovation and market trends. He has a degree in History and Literature from Curtin University in Perth, Australia and works from William Reed Business Media’s Montpellier office.

Till 2009, Jeroen Willemsen, a graduated chemical technologist, worked for Wageningen University and Research Centre. As a manager business development at one of Wageningen-UR’s Contract Research institutes he supported food related SME’s in process- and product development. He observed that only a few of the innovations actually made it onto the market. The only way for Jeroen to understand this paradox was to become an entrepreneur himself. When two colleagues invented a method for producing the next generation meat analogues, he founded Ojah, producer of the ingredient Plenti®. Now, 4 years later, an 800 tones/year factory is running in the Dutch province of Gelderland, Plenti-based products are conquering the world and Ojah was rewarded ‘Most innovative SME of the Netherlands of 2012’. Key to success is the mix of a truly innovative ingredient and full-chain cooperation. In 2012 Jeroen founded ‘Het Planeet’ (‘the planet’), a worldwide unique trade organization of companies active in the area of sustainable protein-products. Jeroen, currently Commercial Director at Ojah, will present and illustrate his view on true open innovation in the area of food-ingredients by means of his experiences and inspiring examples.

Fred Bergmans is Founder and CEO of Carezzo.

Carezzo is a new company for protein enriched bakery products for patients suffering the (risk of) malnutrition. Carezzo business functions are facilitating scientific research, product development of ingredients and recipes, sourcing consumer bakery products and marketing & sales to hospitals and residential care.
Carezzo is partner in consortia ‘Cater with Care’ and ‘Topsector TKI’, where scientific research, product development and human intervention studies are integrated.

Carezzo is now entering the Dutch and Belgian market with protein enriched bread for hospitals and residential care.

Fred Bergmans made a career in marketing & product development FMCG with Nutricia, Heineken, Mars, Peijnenburg, Kraft Foods and was Corporate Marketing Director of Perfetti van Melle. He started in 2002 Freshbusiness as consultancy for innovation management in food. He facilitates teams of marketing, operations, sales and technology in crafting innovation strategies in food with SME+ and multinationals. He developed the Carezzo concept and founded the company in 2011.

Louise Dye is Professor of Nutrition and Behaviour in the Human Appetite Research Unit at the Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds. She has held MRC and Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellowships in the UK and Europe including a Marie Curie Professorial Fellowship in Jena, Germany. Professor Dye is a Chartered Health Psychologist and member of the British Psychological Society. She is an expert on women’s health and her research interests include functional foods for cognitive performance and wellbeing as well as hormone-food interactions and appetite/weight control.  She has received more than £2m in research funding from international industrial partners and UK research councils in the last 5 years. She is Associate Editor of Nutritional Neuroscience and a member of the Editorial Board of Human Psychopharmacology. Currently, Professor Dye sits on four expert groups for the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). These are Postprandial Carbohydrate Metabolism, Benefits of Satiety, Subjective mental performance and mood and Markers for Cognitive Function, for which she also represents the cognitive expert panel on the interdisciplinary Biomarkers scientific committee. She has supervised over 20 doctoral students and currently has 7 doctoral students under her supervision.

Sandra Einerhand holds a PhD in Biomedicine. She started her career as Assistant Professor at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam focusing on gut health & disease. Thereafter she got an associate professorship at the ErasmusMC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands leading a team of up to 20 scientists. Her research focused on drug and nutritional intervention to prevent or treat gut and infectious diseases.

In 2004, she joined the health ingredients company Lipid Nutrition. As Director Nutrition and Toxicology, she initiated new innovative research on plant-derived ingredients in the areas of weight management, heart health and gut health.

Since 2007, she is a Director Health and Nutritional Sciences at Tate and Lyle Innovation centre in Lille, France. She supervises the Innovation and Commercial Development team in Lille focusing on new product development and nutrition with a special emphasis on dietary fibres and health.

From 2012 Councillor at AAT SRL, spin off company of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and from 2008 to 2012 President of the Board of Directors of the same company.
Born in Piacenza in 1968, degree in Agricultural Sciences in 1993, PhD in Molecular Biotechnologies in 2000. Collaborator in the functional food sector at the Università Cattolica of Piacenza, from 1993 to 1996, and temporary researcher at Centro Ricerche Biotecnologiche of Cremona from 2001 to 2005. Contract Professor of Microbiological Techniques at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Piacenza in 2001.

Professional experience as food microbiologist at the Nestlé Research Centre of Lausanne (Switzerland) and in several food companies. Scientific consultant on probiotics and prebiotics for food and pharma companies. Founder partner in 2005 of AAT-Advanced Analytical Technologies SRL, company focused on the application of molecular biology techniques to the characterization of the complex microbial community of the gut and other body districts and on the scientific validation of probiotics and prebiotics.
Speaker in several national and international events. Author of 25 scientific publications on peer reviewed journals, 2 Italian patents and 2 international patents.

Ulla Freitas holds a Diploma in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Hohenheim in Germany. During her studies she worked as a freelance for the nutrition team of PowerBar. She graduated in 2002 and started her career in the kitchens of flavour maker Givaudan, before joining Lonza in 2003. Within the Marketing & Sales team of Lonza’s nutritional ingredients, she held changing responsibilities in the fields of scientific affairs, marketing, sales, strategic business development & IP.
In 2009 she took over the lead of the global science team, responsible for human nutrition.

Biography soon available

Kasper Hettinga received his PhD at Wageningen University, for a thesis describing a new method for pathogen identification in milk. After his PhD, he started to work on the human and bovine milk proteome. Kasper is currently working as Tenured Assistant Professor at the Dairy Science and Technology group of Wageningen University. His main research topics are the characterization of the milk proteome focussing on immune proteins and the quantification of milk protein quality in general.

Sophie Lafay obtained her PhD in Nutrition at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in 2005 and joined Actifs innovants business unit of Berkem company as Scientific Manager. In 2008, Naturex acquired Actifs innovants division which became Nat’Life division in which Sophie was in charge of scientific support of the range. In 2009, she joined Phythea company as R&D Manager. Phythea company develops dietary supplement for French and European market.

Arthur Ouwehand received his MSc in Biology from Wageningen University of Agriculture. He subsequently did his PhD at Göteborg University on inhibition of pathogen adhesion by probiotics. He was post-doctoral research fellow and senior lecturer at the Functional Foods Forum of the University of Turku where his main research was on mechanisms of probiotic action and the safety of probiotics.

Currently Arthur is R&D group leader of the microbiota research group at DuPont Active Nutrition, in Kantvik (Finland). He remains, however, Associate Professor at the Functional Foods Forum of the University of Turku. Arthur has focused his research on the interactions between probiotics, and other functional food ingredients, and the gastrointestinal mucosa and microbiota, and the health effects of probiotics. He has published over 200 articles, has co‐edited three books in this research area and is co-inventor on more than 10 patents. Arthur has and is supervising the research projects of several PhD students in the area of intestinal microbiota and functional foods.

Biography soon available

Cathy Signoret graduated from the Technology University of Compiegne (France) in 1998. After five years of experience in the field of animal nutrition at Inzo°, branch of Union InVivo, Europe’s leading agricultural supplies buying consortium, she joined Cosucra Groupe Warcoing in 2003, where she is in charge of the Regulatory & Nutritional Support for the whole ranges of ingredients (chicory inulin and pea protein) globally.

Connie M. Weaver, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Nutrition Science at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. In 2013, she was bestowed the honor of the Spirit of the Land Grant Award. In 2012 she was selected as the Herbert Newby McCoy recipient. This award is the most prestigious research honor given by Purdue University. In 2010 she was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of The National Academies, of which she is a member of the Food and Nutrition Board. Also, in 2010 the Women's Global Health Institute (WGHI) was formed at Purdue University with the mission of improving the health of women globally through research and training by proactively identifying the causes and prevention of diseases related to women. In 2008, she became Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health funded Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute. From 2000 to 2010, she was Director of the NIH Purdue-UAB Botanical Research Center to study dietary supplements containing polyphenolics for age-related diseases. Her research interests include mineral bioavailability, calcium metabolism, and bone health. Dr. Weaver is past-president of American Society for Nutritional Sciences. She is on the Board of Trustees of the International Life Sciences Institute, National Osteoporosis Foundation and Science Advisory Board of Pharmavite. For her contributions in teaching, Dr. Weaver was awarded Purdue University's Outstanding Teaching Award. Her honors include the Purdue University Health Promotion Award for Women (1993), the Institute of Food Technologists Babcock Hart Award (1997), USDA A.O. Atwater Lecture Award (2003), the NAMS/Glaxo Smith Kline Consumer Healthcare Calcium Research Award (2006), the Purdue University Sigma Xi Faculty Research Award (2006), the American Society for Nutrition Robert H Herman Award (2009), the Natural Products Association’s Burton Kallman Scientific Award (2010), and the Linus Pauling Research Prize Award (2011). Dr. Weaver was appointed to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for Americans. She has published over 350 research articles. Dr. Weaver received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in food science and human nutrition from Oregon State University. She received a Ph.D. in food science and human nutrition from Florida State University and holds minors in chemistry and plant physiology.

Biography soon available

Henkjan Verkade obtained his MD degree from the Erasmus University Rotterdam (1987, cum laude), and his PhD degree in Medicine from the University of Groningen (1993, cum laude) on the thesis titled "Lipid absorption and metabolism". From 1991-1992 Henkjan Verkade was a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr Dennis E. Vance (University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada), studying the assembly and secretion of Very Low Density Lipoproteins by the liver. Since 1992 Henkjan Verkade has been working in the Dept. of Pediatrics, Groningen University Medical Centre (UMCG). Initially he was a Clinical Research Fellow, combining fundamental and clinical research on intestinal lipid absorption and hepatic lipid secretion with a residency program in Pediatrics. In 2000, Verkade obtained his registration as Pediatrician, and became staff member of the Department of Pediatrics (Pediatric Gastroenterology). From 2000-2005 Verkade was a Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2005 Verkade was appointed Professor of Pediatrics at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). From 2008 - 2012 he was Head of Department of Pediatrics at the UMCG.

In his present research projects, Verkade concentrates on intestinal lipid absorption and hepatic lipid metabolism in health and disease, and on the potency of early life nutrition to promote or maintain health at adult age (metabolic programming).

Dr. Rob Winwood, C.Sci. FIFST has a doctorate and honours degree in Food Science and is currently the Scientific Communications Manager for Nutritional Lipids at DSM Nutritional Products Ltd. Rob was formerly Director of Scientific Affairs at Martek Biosciences prior to the acquisition by DSM in February 2011. He has held a series of senior technical and business development positions in various Global Food Ingredient Companies including Archer Daniels Midland, Kelco International and Tunnel Avebe Starches. He is a specialist in lipid nutrition, hydrocolloids and macromolecular fermentation. He is currently chair of the scientific committee of the trade organisation GOEDomega3 and vice chairman of the Lipids committee of the SCI (Society of Chemistry for Industry) in the UK. He has also previously served as president of Biopolymer International. He is also a member of ISSFAL (International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids), Food and Behavioural Research and the Nutrition Society (UK). Rob has written a book on the UK Food Manufacturing Industry and has authored numerous scientific publications. He has been an invited speaker at many conferences around the globe.

In his spare time he is a keen folk musician, connoisseur of fine ales and heavy duty gardener!

Doctorat (Ph.D.) en Sciences et Technologie des Aliments.
Professeur-Chercheur spécialisé en électrotechnologies membranaires. Chercheur affilié à l’Institut des Nutraceutiques et des Aliments Fonctionnels (INAF). Université Laval, Département de Sciences des Aliments et Nutrition, Faculté des Sciences de l’Agriculture et de l’Alimentation, Québec.

Biography soon available

Federica Camin (Trento, Italy, 06/09/1972) graduated cum laude in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology (1998) and specialised in Chemical Methodologies for Survey and Analysis (2001) at the University of Padua. Since 1998 she has been working as a researcher at the Agricultural Institute of San Michele all’Adige, now Fondazione Edmund Mach, where she is currently the head of the ‘Stable Isotope and Traceability’ unit. Her main areas of research concern the application of stable isotope ratio analysis of bio-elements to food, aimed at characterising geographical origin and controlling and protecting quality and authenticity. Federica Camin has been involved in several projects funded by European agencies (recently the TRACE FP6 project, and CORE ORGANIC II ERA NET) and by national, regional and private agencies. She is the scientific coordinator of the Italian wine isotopic data bank (EC Reg. 555/2008; from 2007) and a member of five Italian analytical methods boards (wine and derivates; honey; fruits and vegetables; milk and cheese; oil and fat). She is the author of over 60 scientific papers (39 IF) and over 100 communications at national and international conferences and a regular reviewer for J. Agric. Food Chemistry, Food Chemistry and Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.

René Crevel works as a Science Leader at Unilever’s Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre at Colworth House, Bedfordshire. He qualified initially in mammalian physiology and has postgraduate qualifications in Immunology and Toxicology. His principal responsibilities include providing scientific advice and guidance on possible adverse effects of materials and their use, arising from their interaction with, or modulated through the immune system. He is responsible for advice and guidance on food allergy and allergen management to Unilever Companies, and for leading Unilever’s food allergy research programme.

Luis Fernandez is currently Vice-President of Global Applications at Tate & Lyle, based in Europe.

He leads the worldwide application family dedicated to creating customer value with Tate & Lyle single ingredients and systems. The application teams formulate, process and evaluate finished products in the categories: bakery & snacks, beverages, convenience foods, dairy, confectionery, fruit, meat and culinary.

Born in Argentina and married with three daughters, Luis has graduated in biochemistry and has completed a post-degree in food science at the University of Buenos Aires. He has worked on various R&D leading positions for 25 years in the global food ingredient industry (Sanofi Bio Industries, DuPont Protein Technologies, Rhodia, Danisco and Cargill).
Luis is fluent in Spanish, English and French, with working knowledge in Portuguese and Russian.
He is a Fellow –and Board member– of the Institute of Food Technologists and a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology.

Giovanni Gallerani (born in Finale Emilia -MO- Italy, on June 23, 1961) hold a Ph.D. in Plant Biochemistry from the University of Bologna and the University of California at Davis and a specialization in Food Chemistry and Technology from the Faculty of Industrial Chemistry (University of Bologna).

Until 1993 he worked as an assistant researcher at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Bologna where his activity focused mainly on plant antioxidant extraction and its effect on fruit cell damage. Later he joined the Agricultural Institute of San Michele all’Adige (Italy) as a researcher where he worked on cheese technology and sensory evaluation of food, developing a combined approach to instrumental and human evaluation of sensory profile of food. In this contest he worked on one of the first PTR-MS (proton transfer reaction mass spectroscopy) food analysis vs. panel test discrimination of food characteristics. In 1995 he became coordinator of the Food Technology group of the San Michele Institute where both sensory analysis and new product development activities where his mainly interests.

In 1997 he participated to the foundation of Alintel SRL, a power electronics company aimed to the development of power solution for food process (microwave and laser technology), and in 2000 he joined the Pivetti group as cofounder and R&D director of Macè SRL, an innovative fruit food company. His activity now focus on non thermal fruit stabilization techniques (high pressure technology, pulsed electric fields) for the development of fresh tasting fruit and vegetable products having a shelf life more than 30 days and a capacity to sustain temperature abuse in the cold chain.

In collaboration with the McDonald’s corporation he participate to the development of the fresh fruit format for delivery fresh cut fruit in a “ready to eat” contest, like the kiwi on a stick (European patent), the pineapple and melon segment and the peach fruit bag.

He is giving lectures on fruit process and new product development at the United Fresh Association courses.

Dr. Gerhard Gerstner holds a PhD in Food Biotechnology from Technical University Munich where he worked on his doctorate about the safety assessment of genetically modified food (Chair Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Engel, member of EFSA CEF-Panel).

In 2000, he started at Jungbunzlauer Ladenburg GmbH as Technical Service Manager for Special Salts. In this position, Gerstner focused on technological, nutritional and legal aspects of organic mineral salts which are produced by Jungbunzlauer for the pharmaceutical and food industries in dedicated facilities. In 2005, he was appointed Senior Technical Service Manager to lead the TechService team for all Jungbunzlauer products (Citrates, Gluconates, Xanthan Gum, Special Salts, Specialties and Sweeteners). In 2008, Gerstner was promoted to Business Development Manager Health & Nutrition. His main responsibility is to strengthen and develop Jungbunzlauer’s position in the health and nutrition field by establishing strategic cooperation towards key customers and partners in industry and institutions globally and by developing and realizing new business opportunities. Prior to his doctorate at TU Munich, Gerstner worked for SIEMENS Medical Solutions in Forchheim, Germany and for the Bavarian Federal Office of Analysis in Erlangen, Nürnberg and Würzburg. In 1993, he mastered in food chemistry at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg. Since working for Jungbunzlauer, his projects, publications and presentations mainly focused on nutritional, regulatory as well as technological aspects of mineral fortification, salt substitution and sugar reduction as well as food safety. One of his recent scientific contributions is a European patent on acrylamide reduction in French fries, crisps and cereals treated with CITROMA®, a special sodium citrate.

From 2007-2009, Gerstner was ad-hoc member at the Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU (CIAA) in the Expert Group “Claims” which coordinated the food industry’s contribution to the list of EU health claims. In this context, he also filed several claims dossiers on minerals together with food and food supplements manufacturers as well as food associations.

Current memberships:
- Bund für Lebensmittelrecht und Lebensmittelkunde (German Federation for Food Law and Food Science), BLL
- Working Group Dietary Supplements, BLL
- German Food Additives Working Group (GDCh/LChG)
- Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (German Chemical Society), GDCh
- International Society of Beverage Technologists, ISBT
- Leatherhead Food Research (UK)
- Lebensmittelchemische Gesellschaft (German Food Chemistry Society), LChG
- Working Group Food Science and Food Law at Wirtschaftsvereinigung Alkoholfreier Erfrischungsgetränke (German Association of Soft Drinks), wafg

The PerfoTec concept of Online Film Perforation has been developed by Ing. Bas Groeneweg, together with Mundi Technology, a laser specialized company. Bas Groeneweg used to be a grower of Brussels' sprout and is the former Product Specialist Vegetables of The Dutch Central Bureau of Vegetables and Fruit Auctions and former director of a Dutch vegetables processing and packaging company.

Biography soon available

Graduate of a French high school of Agronomy and Food Industry, Sandrine MILESI is an Engineer and a PhD specialized in natural active ingredients.
Since 15 years, Sandrine has been working in the research of plant secondary metabolites and then in the development of actives ingredients for the cosmetic and food supplement sectors, in particular in YVES ROCHER R&D department. She has to her credit various patents and publications in those sectors.

In November 2010, with industrial and financial shareholders, she established PURIFUNCTION, the R&D center specialized in extraction, purification and characterization of natural ingredients and processes associated. She is now the Scientific Director and CEO of this young promising company, that already have more than 25 development projects for cosmetic and food sectors.

Wayne has a degree in Chemistry from Imperial College, London and a Ph. D. in Physical Chemistry from Salford University. He joined Leatherhead Food Research in June 2009 to manage the Food Innovation team following over 22 years in Unilever.

Wayne’s career started at Unilever Research at Colworth House where he worked on background emulsion science and the control of stability by emulsifier selection. He then moved to the Elmlea factory in Needham Market near Ipswich where he was responsible for the product development of UHT non-dairy creams. His next move was to Crawley to work on the product development of dressings products, including Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Colman’s mustard, and Amora ketchup. He then worked on savoury wet sauces in Crawley for a couple of years before returning to Colworth to lead the Drinks Packaging Group.

Wayne has 25 years’ experience of working with emulsified food products from concept development through to factory implementation, including innovation, cost saving, and trouble-shooting activities. He has led many technical projects and managed project portfolios.

Biography soon available

Joel Pincemail has a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Liège, Belgium. Since more than 30 years, he has been involved on research about the role of oxidative stress and antioxidants in human medicine. All researches have lead to the publication of more than 100 papers in national and international peer and non peer reviews and invitations to scientific congress all around the world. Actually, he works as scientific collaborator in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of Liège CHU (Pr JO Defraigne). In collaboration with the Department of the Life Sciences of Liège University (Pr J. Dommes), he has developed in vitro and in vivo studies about the protective role in human health of fruits and vegetables, known for their high content in antioxidant polyphenols. On 2006, he has conducted the Etude Liégeoise sur les ANtioxydants (ELAN study) on 897 healthy persons living in the Province of Liège. Correlations were made between the concentration of plasma antioxidants and lifestyle behaviours. Joel Pincemail is also the Manager of antiOXinfo that is a consultancy society in order to inform all health professionals but also the public about the role of natural antioxidants for a better health. He is the co – author of the book “Les secrets de la cuisine antioxydante” published in May 2008 inF. Blouard Editions.

Timothy Wallace is a Marketing Manager, Dairy Enzymes at CHR Hansen A/S where he is Responsible for Management of a diverse portfolio of enzymes including market launches. A native Canadian, he has graduate degrees in Microbiology & Immunology and Business Administration from the University of Ottawa and McGill University, respectively. Residing in Denmark for 2.5 years, he previously worked in the biotechnology industry in Canada and the US.

Doris has got a Ph.D. in biology and a second degree in marketing. She has been working in the agro-food sector for 20 years. She has hold various positions in application technology, marketing, business development and R&D. Most recently she has been Research Fellow and Group Leader in the food ingredient industry for 5 years, before accepting her current position as Senior Scientific Officer and Advisor for European research policy and research funding in the Life Sciences.

Doris is holding several patents and has published in peer review and trade magazines, while acting as invited speaker at international conferences in the agro, nutrition & health area. With her longstanding experience as liaison body in academic, public and private institutions she adds valuable expertise re Open Innovation. 

Dr. Nico van Belzen joined the International Dairy Federation (IDF) as Director General in May 2012.

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.

Isabelle de Cremoux (43, 4 children, graduated from Ecole Centrale de Paris, DECF and ISEB in London) has joint SEVENTURE PARTNERS (currently 500 million Euro under management) in July 2001 as General Partner, Director of Life Sciences Department to develop the Life Science activities.

She was promoted CEO in October 2011.

She started her career in 1991 at ARTHUR ANDERSEN Detroit, USA, then at PFIZER France and PFIZER Europe where she hold several positions during 6 years in the field of management accounting, clinical research then Business Development and Acquisition.

Since 1998, she was Associate Director of Business Development at FOURNIER (now ABBOTT) in charge of licensing products and technologies as well as acquisitions and signed quite a few deals in Europe and in the USA.

Isabelle de Cremoux is board member of Polaris, Nutrionix, Biophytis, ABA, Enterome, and manages the investment in Biomatlante, Noxxon (Allemagne), Vivostat (DK) and Santaris pharma (DK). Her track record also includes Metabolic Explorer, Bioalliance and OPI Pharma.

Bruno Géhin has a more than 25 year experience in the   Agro-industry.
He worked in the Animal Nutrition business for 15 years then acquired a 10 year experience in the Food Business.

Today,he is in charge of the protein range in the Strategic and Marketing direction of ROQUETTE. Besides this role he is leading the PROTEIN  INNOVATION project of the group.
Before taking this position he was global market development manager  in the NUTRITION Business Unit of ROQUETTE where he headed up  pea protein projects on a global scale .

He received degrees in FOOD SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY at the National Institute of Agronomy Paris-Grignon (AgroParis Tech), and in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA-IAE Paris Sorbonne).

Edwin Palsma is the Managing Partner of The Food Agency. The Food Agency is an innovation and marketing agency with a focus on food and agriculture. It helps companies in the sector innovate into the future. The company also publishes a well-read blog (www.foodforfood.info) in which it shares its vision on the developments in the sector. The company is based on Wageningen.

Edwin studied Business Administration in The Netherlands and in the US. After his studies he worked for large corporates such as Unilever, Numico (now Danone) and Philips but also as an entrepreneur. In these companies he was mainly Responsible for Marketing / Brand Management, Business Development and General Management. In food as well as non-food categories. He has worked in The Netherlands, but also in Singapore (7 years) and Shanghai where he was based in 1997 and in 2005.

Biography soon available

2005 - Masters degree from University of Giessen in Nutritional Science
2009 - PhD. from the Technical University of Munich in Food Chemistry
2005 and 2008 - Research Terms at the Burnham Institute for Biomedical Research, La Jolla, CA and University of Wisconsin, Madison, Food Science Department, WI
2005 – 2012 - Scientific Career at the German Research Center for Food Chemistry with focus on coffee and gastrointestinal physiology as well as regulation of satiety

Since 2012 - Project Leader at the Competence Center for Nutrition at the Bavarian State Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry and Network Coordinator at FoodDACH – an initiative of research institutes, universities and enterprises to foster innovation in the food & nutrition sector in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Jean Savigny is Keller and Heckman's Senior Partner in the firm's Brussels office.
Mr. Savigny, a French national and member of the Paris Bar, founded Keller and Heckman's Brussels Office in 1992 following a 20 year career as a European law practitioner. He has extensive experience in food and drug law and international trade and regulatory affairs.
Mr. Savigny currently serves as General Counsel to an International food industry trade association and is a member of the Board of the European Food Law Association (EFLA).
Following an internship with the European Commission's Directorate General for Agriculture (1970), Mr. Savigny served as an associate in the Paris office of Clifford Turner (1973-1976), General Counsel for John Deere France (1976-1984), General Counsel Europe for Corning Incorporated (London, 1984-1988) and a partner in Jeantet et Associés (Paris-London-Brussels)(1988-1992).
Mr. Savigny is a frequent speaker on food and drug law to audiences of European, Asian and industry associations and companies.

Biography soon available

Kate Trollope edits EU Food Policy, the leading online news service and newsletter which she set up last year.

She has more than 16 years' experience writing about European food policy, reporting on health claims, food labelling, advertising to children as well as food additives, GMOs, cloned food and a host of other hot topics including nanotechnology.
She also moderates and speaks at food conferences concerned with these issues.

EU Food Policy is online at www.eufoodpolicy.com. It has a breaking news service as well as the weekly report which comes out on Friday morning. It focuses on the latest developments from the European Commission, European Parliament and Council. It also reports on developments from key member states and gives the reactions of key stakeholders.

Kate has a degree in English Literature from the University of Exeter and has worked for major magazine publishers as well as a freelance for national newspapers.
She is married with two teenage daughters.

Prof. Dr. Hans Verhagen (1957) studied chemistry at the Universities of Nijmegen (NL) and Paris (FR). He did his PhD on food toxicology at the University of Maastricht (NL; thesis in 1989). From 1990-2000 he worked at the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in Zeist (NL). From 2000-2005 he worked for Unilever in Vlaardingen (NL). Since May 2005 he is employed at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, NL (www.rivm.nl/en), until 2012 as Head of the Centre for Nutrition and Health, from 2013 as senior scientific advisor nutrition & food safety. He is a regular member of international scientific committees and is editorial board member of various scientific journals. From 1999-2004 he was editor-in-chief of “Food & Chemical Toxicology” (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchemtox). From 2011 he is Chief Editor of the “European Journal of Food Research & Review” (http://www.sciencedomain.org/journal-home.php?id=1). He is a board-certified nutritionist (since 2005) and a board-certified toxicologist (since 1990). Since July 2006 he is a member of the EFSA-NDA panel (European Food Safety Authority: Nutrition, Dietetic products and Allergies; http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/ScientificPanels/efsa_locale-1178620753812_NDA.htm) and several working groups. Current scientific interests are scientific substantiation of health claims, integrated benefit-risk assessment, novel foods, nutritional safety, food fortification, biomarkers, antioxidants, food reformulation, nutrient profiles and logo’s. Since November 2009 he is a visiting professor at the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland).