Science and Technology for Meat and Dairy Analogues conference
Science and Technology for Meat and Dairy Analogues conference

Expert dating sessions

 

Prior to and following the STMDA event, we are delighted to offer Expert dating sessions, where you as a participant of the event have the opportunity to engage with one of the experts from Wageningen University & Research. Each session lasts half an hour and will take place on:

  • Tuesday, 2 July between 10:30-12:00
  • Wednesday, 3 July between 13:30-15:30

Find below the profiles of the experts available for discussion.

To schedule a meeting with one of the experts, update your registration form (green button below) and answer the question, "Would you like to schedule an appointment with one of our experts?" followed by the subsequent questions.

All sessions will take place at Novum restaurant located in Omnia.

 

Book an Expert dating session

 

 

Bekker, Martijn
Martijn is currently active as an Expertise Leader at Wageningen Food and Biobased Research. Here he leads projects that focus on optimization of microbial production processes ranging from food fermentation to probiotics production for a wide range of companies. He has worked in various roles as both Scientist and Team Lead at The Coca-Cola Company, a Contract Research Organization called NIZO and has led the initiation and scale-up of a start-up company called Photanol. Thanks to these roles Martijn has extensive experience with process optimization of microbial processes and in scaling these from the lab to industrial scale.

Berghout, Jacqueline

 With a background in food technology and specifically food processing, Jacqueline's research focuses on 1) more sustainable food processing and 2) structuring technologies for alternative protein ingredients, meat analogues or alternatives and dairy alternatives. She is happy to discuss with you about extrusion (dry or wet), shear cell technology, 3D food printing, mixing and shaping, or about sustainable food processing.

Blankestijn, Joost

Joost Blankestijn is the Programme Manager for "Sustainable Nutrition Foods" at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. In addition to this role, he is an integral part of the institute's Management Team. Furthermore, he actively contributes as a member of WUR's Business Development core-team, responsible for formulating the long-term strategy to secure WUR's impactful market position with a diverse client portfolio.

Within his programme, Joost collaborates with numerous Wageningen scientists spanning a wide range of expertise. Guided by the interconnectedness of food production, consumption, and environmental impact, he takes a leading role in supporting the food industry. His focus lies in facilitating access to applied science and technology, enabling the development of innovative manufacturing and processing technologies that enhance the safety, health benefits, and environmental sustainability of food products.

Boon, Floor

 Food technology, industrial chromatography, biorefinery

Bruins, Marieke

 Marieke Bruins is a process technologist with expertise in protein extraction, biomass fractionation and biorefinery. She worked with a wide variety of biomasses, ranging from food residues to legumes and leaves.

Esser, Diederik

Diederik Esser is a senior researcher at Wageningen University & Research. Diederik obtained his PhD at the department of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University. He currently works as a food clinical trial specialist at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, where he conducts clinical trials to scientifically substantiate health effects of food products and ingredients. He also leads the Gerrit Grijns Initiative (GGI), a Wageningen University, interdepartmental research initiative dedicated to study Food, Nutrition and Functional Health. 

Diederik is a specialist in food clinical trials and nutrition & health. Coordinated multiple complex human intervention trials. Performed various studies on postprandial AA uptake. 

Hua, Nam-Phuong

 Nam-Phuong received her PhD in Food Physics at Wageningen University & Research. For the last ten years, she has been working as a protein scientist at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. Her research focuses on the functionalities and chemical physical properties of new protein sources and their potential application in food products.

Jong, Catrienus de

Catrienus de Jong is a Senior Flavour Scientist with a background in Analytical Chemistry who is currently working at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), The Netherlands. For more than 40 years, Catrienus de Jong is involved in academic and application studies to resolve flavour related questions regarding: cross-modal interactions, off-flavours, masking, stability, in/on-line measurements and predictive modelling of a vast amount of food products including dairy, nutrition, coffee, confectionery, alcoholic beverages, and products from plant protein transition.

Furthermore, Catrienus is the originator of several unique analytical tools such as the dedicated PTI purge and trap injector, the Olfactoscan (masking & enhancing), the Composcent (multi-compound interaction) and the Mini Screen (flavour fermentation screening platforms for beer, wine, bread, yoghurt and meat analogues). This work has led to a contribution of more than 50 scientific publications and many oral and poster presentations on scientific symposia world-wide.

Logtenberg, Madelon

Madelon Logtenberg is an analytical food chemist interested in the fate of nutrients during digestion and fermentation:

-    Protein digestibility in complex food matrix on individual amino acid level
-    Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of minerals in food matrix

Matser, Ariette

Ariette Matser is expertise leader Food Processing Technology at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. She studied Food Science at Wageningen University.

Her main research focus is on improving sustainability and health in food processing, together with partners that span the entire chain from ingredients towards food products. This includes mild preservation & processing, resource efficient processing, protein structuring and focusses on understanding ingredient-process-product interactions. Her activities include project acquisition and coordination of national and international projects.

Participants are very welcome to discuss topics related science and technologies for plant-based foods, from ingredients towards consumer products, and including technologies for ingredient production, structuring and preservation.

Nierop Groot, Masja

 Masja Nierop Groot is Senior Scientist leading the expertise field Applied Food Microbiology at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. She obtained her MSc degree in Food Science at Wageningen University and a PhD degree in microbiology at Wageningen University. Her research activities focus on control of foodborne spoilage and pathogenic micro-organisms in food products and food production chains.

Nieuwland, Maaike

'I love food, I love to cook, but what I love even more is understanding how it works on a microscopic or even molecular level. How can we use understanding of microstructure to improve texture and flavour of meat replacers? How is the folding of the proteins influencing texture? And how can we use novel technologies to reduce the formation of process contaminants?' That is what Maaike Nieuwland says. 

In the past years, Maaike has worked on proteins and their functionality, in model systems and products. Her chemistry background allows her a unique molecular approach to understanding problems and finding solutions. Next to that, she has built experience in imaging a wide range of products with XRT. The structural understanding of the microscopic scale of products helps in improving products and processes. Furthermore, she has been working on the reduction of process contaminants, in relation to product development and novel processing technologies.

These topics allow her and her colleagues to develop new products with innovative technologies, using microscopy insights and sustainable proteins that are also safe to eat.

Pawlik, Aleksandra

Aleksandra Pawlik is a colloid scientist with interest in:

-food matrix multiscale interactions caused by reformulation and process changes.

-fats and oils (upstream and downstream processing, alternative sources, contaminants)

Pouvreau, Laurice

 Laurice Pouvreau is a research scientist ‘protein technology’ with a focus on alternative protein sources at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). Laurice trained as a protein chemist in France, after which she acquired her PhD in the Food Chemistry chair group of WUR, studying potato proteins. Laurice further pursued interest in plant proteins at NIZO, a contract research institute, and subsequently at Cargill, where she gained experience in (mild) fractionation, structuring and application in food products using a broad range of plant proteins. Laurice is driven to contribute to improving the quality of new sources of protein and delivering sustainable and tasty food products.

Rosa Spierings, Karen de
 Karen de Rosa Spierings works in the Food Consumer Behaviour Group at WFBR and is an expert in sensory science. She works with the trained sensory panel who has a lot of experience in profiling meat analogues. She works together with flavour scientists to link analytical measurements with sensory data and she has experience in consumer research.

Tian, Bei

Bei Tian is a scientist with expertise in plant protein structuring, 3D printing and neutron/x-ray scattering. Her current research activities include development of plant-based dairy alternatives as well as 3D printing of healthy, on-demand nutritional snacks. She is happy to discuss with you her experience in designing clean label plant-based food formulations, processing technologies to improve the functionality of plant proteins and methods to characterize the textures of plant-based food.

Trained as a food scientist, Bei obtained her PhD degree in Applied science at Delft University of Technology after accomplishing her Master at WUR.  

Vos, Paul

 Paul Vos is Senior Researcher and Expertise Leader Nutrition Quality & Health at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (part of Wageningen University & Research). The Nutrition Quality & Health team focuses on in vitro research in relation to gut health, digestion, fermentation and gut-immune interactions, connecting directly with human studies and working across disciplines. Paul also coordinates the EU GIANT LEAPS project that focuses on filling knowledge gaps in relation to alternative proteins across health and sustainability domains. Before joining WUR, he has worked in industry R&D and not-for-profit organization Access To Nutrition Initiative. He has a background in biology, holds a PhD in food immunology and has a broad interest in contributing to healthier diets and a more sustainable food system.

Werten, Marc

 Marc Werten is a scientist and project leader Precision Fermentation at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. He is active in a wide variety of research involving molecular biology, microbial fermentation, and protein chemistry, with particular focus on protein engineering using the yeast Pichia pastoris (ranked #1 Pichia expert in The Netherlands by Expertscape). He did his PhD in Wageningen at the intersection of biotechnology and soft matter science, on the topic of so-called protein-based polymers (collagen, silk, elastin, etc.). He has been active in the field of protein expression for about 30 years, with increasing focus in recent years towards food applications (gelatins, beta-lactoglobulin, caseins, heme proteins, etc.).

Wit, Nicole de

 Dr. Nicole de Wit is a senior research scientist at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research with major expertise in gut physiology and human health. For many years she was active in molecular science, studying the metabolic effects of food along the intestinal tract. Nowadays, she focusses more on food clinical trials to acquire up-to-date knowledge on the interaction between ingredients (e.g. on dietary fibre), food products, diets and human health.