Dr. Gabriel Vinderola graduated at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering from the National University of Litoral (Santa Fe, Argentina) in 1997 and obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2002 at the same University. He served for a year as a visiting scientist in Canada at the University of Moncton and joined several research teams in Europe (Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Finland). He is presently Principal Researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and Associate Professor at the Food Technology and Biotechnology Department of his home Faculty. He participated in the development of the first commercial cheese carrying probiotic bacteria from Latin America, released in the market in 1999. In 2011, he was awarded the prize in Food Technology for young scientists, by the National Academy of Natural, Physic and Exact Sciences from Argentina. He published more than 130 original scientific publications in international refereed journals and book chapters. From 2020 he serves as member of the board of directors of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP). Dr. Arthur Ouwehand is Technical Fellow and Digestive Health Platform leader at International Flavors & Fragrances in Kantvik, Finland. He has a research background in both academia and industry. His main interest is on functional foods and dietary supplements, in particular, probiotics and prebiotics and their influence on the intestinal microbiota. He is active in the International Life Sciences Institute Europe, the International Dairy Federation, the International Probiotics Association and the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics. Dr. Ouwehand received his M.S. degree (1992) in cell biology from Wageningen University (the Netherlands) and his Ph.D. degree (1996) in microbiology from Göteborg University (Sweden). In 1999, he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor in Applied Microbiology at the University of Turku (Finland), and he is the author of more than 300 journal articles and book chapters. Prof. Seppo Salminen is professor at the Faculty of Medicine and director emeritus of the Functional Foods Forum, University of Turku, Finland. He has been visiting professor at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia and BOKU University, Vienna Austria. His main research interests are probiotics, prebiotics and intestinal microbiota modulation as well as functional foods and health and regulatory issues in novel foods and health claims. Member of EFSA NDA scientific panel for two terms. He has been active in the International Life Sciences Institute Europe, the International Dairy Federation, and the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP, past president and current member of board). He received his MS at Washington State University (USA) in 1978, MSc from the University of Helsinki (1979) and PhD from the University of Surrey (United Kingdom)1982. He has around 500 journal articles and several textbooks and book chapters and he has received several international awards including the IDF-Institute Pasteur Metchnikoff Price, Swiss Price on Modern Nutrition and the Grand Prix du Yoplait. Prof. Atte von Wright graduated from the University of Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland) in 1975 and obtained his Ph.D. in microbiology in 1981 at the University of Sussex, UK. He has a professional background both in industry and academia with research interests spanning from food toxicology to molecular biology and safety aspects of lactic acid bacteria. From 1998 to 2016, Atte von Wright was Professor of Nutritional and Food Biotechnology at the University of Eastern Finland (before 2010 University of Kuopio), Kuopio, Finland, acting today as Professor Emeritus. He has also served in many expert functions of the EU (a member of the Scientific Committee of Animal Nutrition, 1997-2003; a member of the EFSA Scientific Panel on additives and products or substances used in animal feed, 1996-2009; and a member of the EFSA Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms 2009 - 2012).
