Speakers Pre event

Group Health & Well-Being Director, Puratos

Sara leads Puratos’ mission to develop innovative, health-focused food solutions, partnering with start-ups, academia, and industry experts. A former innovator at Rousselot and Coca‑Cola, she holds a Ph.D. in Bioscience Engineering from Ghent University with a business development focus.

Professor of Food Microbiology, University of Turin

Luca Cocolin is a Professor in Food Microbiology at the Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino. His research interests lie in the study of microbial ecosystems with a One Health approach, looking at how microbiomes can improve the sustainability of food systems and can improve human health, development, optimisation and application of molecular methods for the detection, quantification and characterisation of foodborn pathogens, the study of the microbial ecology of fermented foods (mainly sausage, cheese and wine), as well as bioprotection: molecular characterisation of bacteriocin production and its study in vitro and in situ. He has over 10 years of experience in the application of omics methodologies in the study of microbial complex ecosystems in the context of One Health. He is the editor in chief of the International Journal of Food Microbiology and holds editorial positions in multiple academic journals and boards. He is the master contact for the University of Torino in EIT Food. From 2018 to 2021 he has been the President of the Italian Society of Agriculture, Environmental and Food Microbiology.

ERA Chair on Nutrigenomics, Polish Academy of Sciences

Prof. Carsten Carlberg is a world-class biochemist in the area of research on vitamin D. He is the leader of ERA Chair international research group that will lay basis for creation of an interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence exploiting the tools of nutrigenomics to assess the impact of nutrition on the genetic predisposition to diet-related diseases. Prof. Carlberg’s research has been focused on vitamin D for over 30 years. He studied the effects of vitamin D on changes of the epigenome (which are modifications to genomic DNA and histones that do not affect the genetic code) and the transcriptome (set of mRNA molecules present at a specific time in a cell, in order to encode for specific and appropriate amounts of proteins).

Senior Partnership Manager, EIT Food 

Paula is a molecular biologist with expertise in securing European funding. She joined EIT Food South in 2021 as Senior Partnership Manager, where she is responsible for managing strategic partners within the EIT Food network across Southern Europe. In addition to her core role, she contributes to the EIT Food Healthy Ageing Think & Do Tank and supports partners in developing and implementing their innovation de-risking roadmaps.

Director of EIT Food South, EIT Food

Begoña Perez Villareal , Director at EIT Food South, enjoys building partnership in the agrifood area for driving innovation, boosting the entrepreneurial spirit and engaging stakeholders to develop products and services that contribute to a healthy lifestyle and a sustainable circular bioeconomy. Trained as a pharmacist specialised in food microbiology and in Business Management of Food companies, she works identifying collaborative opportunities for innovation related to food & health, food safety, product development, authenticity, and sustainability of food systems, contributing to the health and well-being.

Head of Industrialisation & Financing, Bioeconomy for Change

Christophe Luguel has a Master of Engineering in Agronomy (AgroParisTech, France). During 17 years in industry (within large groups and SME), he occupied various positions in Research, sales, marketing and business development in chemical and biotech companies. In 2007, he joined IAR (now B4C), the French Bioeconomy Cluster.

Currently Director of European Affairs AT B4C, Christophe is also Vice president of BIC (Biobased Industries Consortium) and has been member since 2014 of the BBI/CBE JU Governing Board.

Lorena is the thematic leader for Biotech and Protein at EIT Food. A marketing and innovation strategist with 20+ years in FMCG/QSR, she focuses on protein diversification, agri-food biotech, and healthy ageing to drive food system transformation.

Director Portfolio Development, EIT Food

Samantha Gadenne is Director of Portfolio Development at EIT Food. Her mission is to build partnerships between start-ups, academia and industry to unlock innovation potential and bring new technologies and products to market, building a future-fit food system that produces healthy and sustainable food for all.

Director EIT Food West Region, EIT Food

Gulsah Uysal is Regional Director for Western Europe at EIT Food, the world’s largest food innovation community, co-funded by the European Union. She leads EIT Food’s strategy and partnerships across the region, working with corporate organisations, universities, RTOs, startups, SMEs and NGOs to accelerate food systems transformation. Gulsah is passionate about breaking silos and mobilising collective brainpower to tackle system level challenges such as food security, resilient agriculture, and protein diversification. She is also a strong advocate for advancing gender equality within the agri-food sector and beyond.

Scientific Coordinator on Regulatory Science

PhD in Food science and human nutrition and MSc in Biology and biomedical applications. I joined EFSA in 2018. Currently, I am task responsible of the services to support applicants during the preparation an application to authorise a novel food, a health claim or a new nutrient source.