Organising committee

Dr. Costas (K) Nikiforidis studied Chemistry at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, and performed a PhD in Physical Chemistry of Foods. After completing his PhD research, he moved to Wageningen University, Netherlands, where he is working for more than 10 years. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Biobased Soft Materials and he is leading a team of 10 Ph.D. candidates, 1 postdoctoral researcher, and several undergraduate students. His research activities focus on the bio-sourcing of molecules and molecular complexes and their use to create sustainable and functional materials. Dr Costas Nikiforidis has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles, has 1 patent, and is frequently invited to speak in conferences, universities, and companies.

Claire Berton-Carabin is currently Research Director (Senior scientist) at INRAE (the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment), in Nantes, France. Her research is focussed on understanding the interplay between the structure of food emulsions (in particular, at the level of the oil-water interface) and their functionality and chemical reactivity. Her research interests therefore range from the characterization of the early formation and stabilization of emulsion droplets, all the way to their subsequent physicochemical stability and final fate during digestion.

Dr. Marie Hennebelle’s research is focused on food lipids and lipid oxidation. Our main objective is to better understand lipid oxidation in food emulsions and develop natural and sustainable ways to prevent it. Part of our research focuses on the oxidative stability of natural oil bodies/oleosomes. By elucidating the role of their interfacial composition and structure on their oxidative stability, we aim at broadening their applications as natural food emulsions and at developing innovative nature-based food products, more resistant towards lipid oxidation.

Dr. Hubert Schaller is at the Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes in Strasbourg (‘Plant Isoprenoid Biology’ group). His research program is centered on deciphering the biosynthesis, function and cellular homeostasis of essential isoprenoids like sterols, steroids, terpenoid hormones.  The current specific approach on lipid droplet biology is linked to the oil storage in non-seed organs, in model and crop plants. Funding of the program is provided by CNRS (international cooperation action with UFPA, Amazonia, Brazil), Région Grand-Est (Biomatériaux-Biomolécules-Bioéconomie Régionale), and research contracts (industry).

Dr. David Gray’s research is summarised as follows: ‘A Biomaterials Approach to Sustainable Nutrition and Ingredients’; much of this work involves characterising the properties of selected lipid-rich organelles ex-vivo. For a number of years he, and his group, have established certain physico-chemical and properties of oil bodies/oleosomes from a range of seeds. Funding for this work has included BBSRC, EPSRC and collaborations with industry through LINK-type projects.

Claire Bourlieu-Lacanal (hal.science, researchgate) graduated from Montpellier Supagro as an engineer specialized in Food Science and Nutrition. After a PhD in Biochemistry, Chemistry and Food Technology in collaboration with NESTLE, she was trained as a post-doctorate on enzymatic modifications of vegetable oils and then started her career as an INRAE Research Associate in the Joint Research Unit “Science and Technology of Milk and Egg” (JRU STLO, Rennes, France). There, she led a research theme on the physicochemical characterization of dairy lipids, their interaction with dairy proteins and their applications in neonatal nutrition. She joined the JRU “Agropolymers Engineering and Emerging technology” (JRU IATE, Montpellier) in 2016, where she leads projects on the valorization and functionalization of vegetal lipids and lipoproteic assemblies, the nutritional characterization of seed-derived ingredients, their digestibility and inclusion in food matrices. After a chair in research and teaching in PPGAN (UNIRIO, Brazil) in 2018, she sat in her accreditation to conduct research and is now co-leading the team GRAINE(S) in JRU IATE and is an associated scientific partner of JRU QUALISUD. She is the author of more than 70 scientific articles and book chapters, is highly involved in lipids associations (SFEL, presidency of GLN, EUROFED LIPID board member) and co-leads a transversal action on structuring/destructuring bioproducts for her division TRANSFORM.

Dr. Gustav Waschatko received his Diploma in Biomedical Chemistry from the University of Mainz in 2009, followed by a PhD on “Oil Bodies – natural emulsifiers and their behavior at food relevant interfaces” at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (2013). After Postdocs with MPIP, AMOLF (Amsterdam) and Unilever R&D, he joined Cargill as “Oil Seed and Lipid Research Scientist” to perform ingredient research and product development at the Cargill R&D Centre Europe (Vilvoorde, Belgium). 

Dr. Thierry Chardot is in charge of the “Dynamic and Structure of Lipid Droplets” team at INRA Versailles (France). We are internationally recognized for our expertise in the purification and characterization of lipid droplets (LDs) from plants and microorganisms. Our main objective is to increase the knowledge of LD biology (structure, organization, function and dynamics). We use a wide range of techniques and developp tools to explore LDs dynamics (microscopies, specific antibodies, lipid analysis, proteomics…), identify associated proteins during life cycle (proteomics…) and understand their function and structure (protein solubilisation, dynamic light scattering, spectroscopies, structural proteomics, …)

Dr. Jason Hargreaves has a background in Chemistry (MSci, Nottingham 2005) and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of York in 2009. After Postdocs with Institut Pasteur and University of Calgary, he joined Botaneco as a Process Development Scientist in 2015 and now oversees all oleosome extraction and product development activities in Botaneco’s R&D group.