Speakers

Plenary - Keynote Speakers

Michael Holick

Prof. Dr. Michael Holick


Boston University, USA

Talk Title: The D-Lightfully Controversial Vitamin D: Health Benefits from Birth Until Death



Prof. Dr. Michael F. Holick is an esteemed American endocrinologist renowned for his pioneering research on vitamin D. Holick's significant contributions include identifying calcidiol, the major circulating form of vitamin D, and calcitriol, its active form. His groundbreaking work has laid the foundation for diagnostic tests and treatments for vitamin D-related disorders.
Prof. Dr. Holick's academic journey began with a Ph.D. in biochemistry and a medical degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, followed by a residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is currently a professor of medicine, physiology, and biophysics at Boston University Medical Center, where he directs the Bone Health Care Clinic and the Heliotherapy, Light, and Skin Research Center. His clinical work focuses on metabolic bone diseases, including osteoporosis, osteomalacia, and various pediatric bone disorders.
A prolific researcher, Holick has published over 400 papers on the biochemistry, physiology, and photobiology of vitamin D. He has significantly raised awareness about vitamin D deficiency and its links to diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, and cardiovascular diseases. His work has been featured in prominent publications like The New York Times, Forbes, and Scientific American.
Holick has received numerous accolades, including the NIH Merit Award, the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research's Fuller Albright Award, and the Linus Pauling Prize in Human Nutrition, recognizing his invaluable contributions to the field of vitamin D research.

Mahmoud Ghannoum

Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum


Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, USA

Talk Title: The Future of the Microbiome: Harnessing Microbiome Data to Address Health Issues

Dr Mahmoud Ghannoum received MSc in Medicinal Chemistry and PhD in Microbial Physiology from University of Technology in England, and an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case. Presently he is a tenured Professor and Director of the Integrated Microbiome Core and Center for Medical Mycology, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center (UH) where he established a multidisciplinary Center of Excellence that combines basic and translational research investigating medically important fungi from the test tube to the bedside. More recently he pioneered the studies on the fungal communities residing in our body and coined the term ‘Mycobiome”. He is also a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and past President of the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas (MMSA). In 2016, Dr Ghannoum received the Rohda Benham Award presented for his continuous outstanding and meritorious contributions to medical mycology from the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas and he also received the Freedom to Discover Award from Bristol-Myers Squibb for his work on microbial biofilms. In 2017, he was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Beside his academic career Dr. Ghannoum is an entrepreneur-scientist who launched a number of companies focusing on the treatment of biofilm infections as well as microbial dysbiosis as it relates to gut health.

Anika Wagner

Prof. Dr. Anika Wagner


Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany

Talk Title: Nutrition and health – the impact of micronutrients on the immune system

Prof. Dr. Anika Wagner is a distinguished scholar specializing on the interplay between nutrition and immune function, with a particular focus on the role of plant bioactives in chemoprevention, inflammation, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and ageing. She is Professor of Nutrition and Immune System at Justus Liebig University Giessen in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, which is part of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Nutritional Sciences and Environmental Management. Dr. Wagner is also affiliated with the Center of Sustainable Food Systems which focuses on, among other things, understanding and current strategies to improve global nutritional health. Her expertise includes developing advanced test systems using Drosophila melanogaster and cell cultures to study health parameters associated with immune function, type 2 diabetes, obesity and nutritional imbalances.

Gene Bruno

Gene Bruno


Chief Scientific Officer, Nutraland, USA

Talk Title: Black Ginger Extract and Tomato Derived Melatonin: Nutraceuticals for Abdominal Fat, Physical Fitness, Erectile Dysfunction, and Sleep

Gene Bruno is Professor Emeritus of Nutraceutical Science with Huntington University of Health Sciences. Likewise, he previously taught complementary and alternative medicine at the University of Southern California, School of Pharmacy for second year PharmD students. Currently, he serves as Chief Scientific Officer of Nutraland USA, Inc. With undergraduate and graduate degrees in nutrition, a graduate diploma and master’s degree in herbal medicine, as well as being a 45-year veteran of the dietary supplement industry, Gene is universally recognized as one of the industry’s leading experts in nutraceutical science. He is a multiple award-winning formulator and has developed natural products across a range of categories for dozens of dietary supplement companies. Gene has educated and trained natural product retailers and health care professionals about the responsible use of evidence-based dietary supplements. He has written hundreds of articles on nutrition, herbal medicine, nutraceuticals and integrative health issues for trade, consumer and peer-reviewed publications, as well as authoring books and textbook chapters. Gene also hosts two podcast series, The Bioactive Nexus Podcast, and The Vitamin Professor Podcast, exploring nutraceutical related topics and other issues relevant to the dietary supplement industry.

Prof. Dr. Renyou Gan

Prof. Dr. Renyou Gan


Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Talk Title: Germination as a Novel Nutrition Fortification Strategy for Future Food

Dr. GAN Renyou received his medical bachelor degree from Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU), China, and Ph.D. degree from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), HK, China. He was previously an Assistant Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China, a Chief Scientist at the Institute of Urban Agriculture (IUA), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), China, a Principal Scientist at Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Food Science & Technology, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore. He will join the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Science, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), HK, as an Assistant Professor and Presidential Young Scholar soon. His research mainly focuses on plant-based foods, probiotics, gut microbiome and human nutrition/health, and related work has generated more than 200 SCIE-indexed publications, including more than 130 papers as the first/corresponding author and more than 20 ESI highly cited papers. He has also filed more than 30 Chinese patents, with 20 of them awarded. According to Google Scholar, his publications have been cited more than 19,000 times, with an H-index of 70. He serves as the editorial board member of several food and nutrition-related international journals, including Current Research in Biotechnology (Executive Editor), Fermentation (Section Editor-in-Chief), Frontiers in Nutrition (Section Associate Editor), International Journal of Food Science and Technology (Honorary Associate Editor), Nutrients/Antioxidants/Foods/npj Science of Food/iMeta/Discover Food (Editorial Board members). He has been selected as the Clarivate “Highly Cited Researcher” (Agricultural Sciences) in recent three years (2021-2023) and the Stanford University “World Top 2% Scientists” (Food Science/Nutrition & Dietetics) in recent two years (2022-2023).

Speakers

Dr. Jeyan A Moses

Dr. Jeyan A Moses


National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship & Management - Thanjavur, India

Talk Title: Nutraceutical Formulations and Key Considerations

Dr. Jeyan Arthur Moses completed his B.Tech. and M.Tech. from Karunya University, Coimbatore. For his outstanding academic performance in both degrees, he was awarded the Gold Medal and received the Best Outgoing Student Award and Food Processing Award. He completed his Ph.D. from NIFTEM-Thanjavur. His research work focused on the simulation and validation of three-dimensional airflow pressure patterns in grain beds, which he carried out at the Canadian Wheat Board Centre for Grain Storage Research, University of Manitoba, Canada.
Dr. Moses has received International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) Young Scientist Award, National Academy of Sciences India (NASI) Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award, Association of Food Scientists & Technologists India (AFSTI) Young Scientist Award, Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) - UK Seligman APV Bursary, Dr. V. Subrahmanyan Best Scientist Award, iCFP Young Scientist Award (Bangkok), Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB) Early Career Research Award, TN State Council for Science and Technology Travel Grant for Young Scientists and Grant for Dissemination of Innovative Technology, AFSTI Dr. K.R. Bhattacharya Memorial Travel Grant and SERB-ITS Grant.
Dr. Moses has handled multiple grant-in-aid and industry sponsored research projects in various capacities and serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for selected reputed journals. His research focuses on 3D printing of foods, nutraceutical delivery systems, food nanotechnology, and computational modeling of food processing systems, and he has authored over 300 publications and was ranked among the top 2% scientists globally by Elsevier - Stanford University rankings.

Dr. Michael Lindinger

Dr. Michael Lindinger


President, Nutraceutical Alliance, Canada

Talk Title: Nutritive antioxidants in foods and supplements to support animal and human health.

Michael Lindinger is President of the Nutraceutical Alliance in Canada and a long-time muscle and exercise physiologist (University of Guelph from 1987 to 2012). Since 1999 he has examined the effects of nutraceutical ingredients and products on animal and cellular physiology and pathophysiology. Beginning in 2012 he worked in a leadership role in the Nutraceutical Alliance, helping clients design effective and safe products for commercialization for human and animal health. Regulatory expertise includes the Europe, North America and Australia. The topic of nutritive antioxidants continues to be of great interest. First, because of the importance of antioxidants in regulating physiological and pathophysiological processes. Second, because of the wide prevalence of important antioxidant molecules derived from plant and animal sources that are currently used in nutraceutical supplements.

Dr. Christine Bosch

Dr. Christine Bosch


University of Leeds, United Kingdom

Talk Title: Anthocyanins as activators of gut-brain axis – evidence in vitro and in vivo

Dr Christine Bosch is Associate Professor in Nutrition and Head of the Nutritional Sciences and Epidemiology division at the School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds. Her research is focussed on the health benefits of food bioactive compounds such as different types of polyphenols and bioactive peptides, considering structure-function relationships and interactions with the food matrix, and to determine efficacy of dietary bioactive supplementation strategies to improve human and animal health. Current focus is on anthocyanin pigments and their postprandial benefits to understand the links between glycaemia, satiety and cognition. She also has an interest in the sustainable recovery of phytochemicals from agrifood food waste streams and development of functional food and feed applications to benefit gut and systemic health.

Manfred Eggersdorfer

Dr. Manfred Eggersdorfer


University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Netherlands

Talk Title: Delivering prevention for a healthy life

Manfred Eggersdorfer holds the chair for Healthy Ageing at the University Medical Center Groningen (NL) and teaches nutrition for medical students. His scientific work focuses on the role of essential nutrients for health, vitality, and well-being, especially on the impact of inadequate intake and status of micronutrients over the life cycle with a focus on long term health and healthy ageing. Currently he acts as Board member of the Gesellschaft für Angewandte Vitaminforschung e.V in Germany. He is an Honorary Member of The Oxygen Club of California, and affiliate of various other organizations. He is author of numerous publications in the fields of vitamins, carotenoids, omega-3-polyunsaturated fatty acids for infants, adults, elderly, and risk groups and on innovation in nutritional ingredients.

Dr. Sinéad Ryan

Dr. Sinéad Ryan


University College Dublin, Ireland

Talk Title: Food sourced peptides for management of hypertension

Dr. Sinéad Ryan completed her PhD in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, Ireland. Later she completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in University College Dublin, Ireland where she moved to a new discipline – research area of drug delivery. Her research focused on the oral delivery of novel mucoadhesive polymeric peptide conjugates. She later joined The Irish Drug Delivery Research Network as Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow where she gained expertise in overcoming barriers for efficient delivery of peptides for oral, injectable, and intra-articular delivery for osteoarthritis. Currently, her research area is multidisciplinary, involving the design and assessment of formulations for peptide and food derived peptide (nutraceutical) oral delivery. Her current position is Assistant Professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine in University College Dublin.

Dr. Erika Cione

Dr. Erika Cione


University of Calabria, Italy

Talk Title: microRNA and nutrition

Dr. Erika Cione is an esteemed Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Pharmacy, Health, and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Calabria, Italy. With a robust academic background, she holds degrees in Clinical Pathology and Pharmacy from the same institution. She served as an Assistant Professor from 2008 to 2021 and achieved national scientific qualification as a Full Professor in 2021. Dr. Cione is the CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of the academic spin-out GalaScreen, focusing on transcriptomics. She holds several patent rights, underlining her contributions to innovative research. Her accolades include the Best Innovator Fellowship from the EIT in 2021 and several prestigious awards and grants. She has significantly contributed to biochemistry and pharmaceutical sciences, emphasizing translational research and technology transfer. Dr. Cione is also an active member of several academic and research committees, enhancing the scientific landscape at the University of Calabria and beyond.

Ahmed Snoussi

Dr. Ahmed Snoussi


University of Carthage, Tunisia

Talk Title: Encapsulation of bioactive compounds for food and nutraceutical uses.

Dr. Ahmed Snoussi is a Professor at the Higher School of Food Industries of Tunis (ESIAT). With a profound dedication to academia and research, Dr. Snoussi's expertise lies in the valorization of phytochemicals and the enhancement of food quality processes. Throughout his career, Dr. Snoussi has passionately pursued avenues to incorporate natural compounds with notable biological activities into food formulations. His research endeavors have been centered on the integration of these compounds to not only enrich food products but also to elevate their nutritional value and health benefits while ensuring more sustainable practices in food production and processing. Dr. Snoussi is actively engaged in academic discourse and collaborative ventures, contributing significantly to the advancement of food science and technology. His multifaceted contributions reflect a steadfast commitment to excellence, paving the way for a more sustainable and nutritious future in the realm of food industries.

Prof.  Mário Roberto Maróstica Junior

Prof. Mário Roberto Maróstica Junior


University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil

Talk Title: Health properties of jabuticaba peel bioactive compounds

Mário Roberto Maróstica Junior is Full Professor from the Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP). Undergraduation in Food Engineering (2002), PhD in Food Science (UNICAMP, 2006), PhD stay in Leibniz Universität Hannover (2006), Pos-doc at UNICAMP (2007), Brazil. Professorship stay at Lund University (2009). Best PhD Thesis in Food Science in Brazil, 2007. Publications: 3 patents (2 licenced), around 200 publications including papers in international journals, books and book chapters. Around 100 supervisions of undergraduation, graduation and pos-docs as the main supervisor. Research topics: bioactive compounds and its roles on health and diseases prevention, focusing on obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, cognition. Among the 1% most cited authors in the Dietetics field according to Clarivate. CNPq Research Fellow 1B. Associate Editor of Journal of Functional Foods.

Dr. Todd Rideout

Dr. Todd Rideout


University at Buffalo, USA

Talk Title: Maternal programming of disease risk in offspring: impact and intervention.

Dr. Rideout’s research program examines how early life in utero and postnatal factors influence metabolic disease risk adulthood. He has specific expertise in how pregnancy conditions such as maternal obesity and dyslipidemia influence fetal development and later-life cardiometabolic disease. Further, with a history of training in nutrition and dietary supplements, his research aims to explore the utility of natural health products to improve metabolic health and the molecular mechanisms through which they work.

Dr. James M Mullin

Dr. James M Mullin


Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, USA

Talk Title: The Ability of Supplemental Levels of Specific Micronutrients to Reduce Paracellular Transepithelial Leak in Epithelial Mucosal Tissues.

Dr. Jim Mullin is a Professor at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania (USA) and the Kimmel Cancer Center of Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Mullin’s specialty is the study of transepithelial permeability with a sub focus on the tight junctional (zonula occludens) complex. He is specifically interested in the dysregulation (transepithelial paracellular leak) that occurs in a variety of disease situations, the role of such leak in disease morbidity, and the ability of specific micronutrients to partially prevent or reduce such leak. Dr. Mullin has utilized human epithelial cell culture models, animal tissue models and patient-based clinical studies in his work. His published work on transepithelial leak reduced by micronutrients has included zinc, Vitamin D, Vitamin A, quercetin and berberine, among others. While the majority of his work has focused on the gastrointestinal epithelium, recent work has also included the airway epithelium and the blood brain barrier.

Prof. Jenny Gunton

Prof. Jenny Gunton


University of Sydney, Australia

Talk Title: Vitamin D, muscles & weakness.

Professor Jenny Gunton completed her medical training and then a PhD in Molecular Biology with University of Sydney. Her post-doctoral studies were in the laboratory of Prof C Ron Kahn at Joslin Diabetes Centre and Harvard Medical School. Professor Gunton is currently the Treasurer for the Endocrine Society of Australia. She is the Director of the Centre for Diabetes and Obesity Research at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research and is Chair of Medicine at Westmead Hospital, The University of Sydney. Prof Gunton’s research interests include diabetes, obesity, and vitamin D. She is particularly interested in the intersection of transcription factors and their regulation by nutrients including iron and Vitamin D.