Perttu Arkkila is a professor of gastroenterology at University of Helsinki and the head physician at the Department of Gastroenterology at Helsinki University hospital in Helsinki. He is an active clinical researcher. In recent years, his main research topics have been fecal transplantation and inflammatory bowel diseases. He has led several RCT studies on the efficacy and tolerability of fecal transplantation (FMT) for the treatment of various intestinal, neurological and metabolic diseases. He teaches medical students and is the responsible trainee for specialization for gastroenterology. He has organized several post-graduate courses in gastroenterology, endoscopies and liver diseases. He has written several chapters for text books, and has participated in the work of national guidelines (NAFLD, cirrhosis). His clinical work includes different endoscopic procedures, out-patient work at the department of gastroenterology, and on-call work at the emergency room and intensive ward.
Philip Calder is Professor of Nutritional Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton. He is an Internationally recognised researcher on a) nutritional immunology; b) the metabolism and functionality of fatty acids with an emphasis on the roles of omega-3 fatty acids. His research has both life course and translational perspectives. He has received many awards and prizes including the Nutricia International Award (2007), the Cuthbertson Lecture (ESPEN; 2008), the Normann Medal (German Society of Fat Science; 2009), the Ralph Holman Lifetime Achievement Award (American Oil Chemists’ Society; 2015), the prestigious Danone International Prize for Nutrition (2016), the DSM Lifetime Achievement Prize in Human Nutrition (2017), the European Lipid Science Award (2021), the Stephen Chang Award (American Oil Chemists’ Society; 2023), the GOED Lifetime Achievement Award (2024) and ISSFAL’s Alexander Leaf Lifetime Achievement Award (2025). He was President of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (2009-2012), Chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (2012-2016), President of the Nutrition Society (2016-2019), President of the European Branch of the International Life Sciences Institute (2019-2021) and President of the Federation of European Nutrition Societies (2019-2023). He is Vice-President of the International Society for Immunonutrition. Professor Calder was Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Nutrition (2006-2013) and has served on many other Editorial Boards. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Lipids and Associate Editor of Clinical Science, Journal of Nutrition and Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism. Professor Calder has published over 800 scientific articles excluding abstracts and is recognised as a highly cited author.
Gerard Clarke is Professor of Neurobehavioural Science in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioural Science and a Principal Investigator in APC Microbiome Ireland at University College Cork. His research interests include the impact of the gut microbiome on brain and behaviour across the life span, microbial regulation of tryptophan metabolism and translational biomarkers of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders. Gerard holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry, an MSc degree in Neuropharmacology (1999 and 2001; Both from NUI, Galway) and a PhD degree (2009) in Neurogastroenterology (Department of Psychiatry, UCC). With over 250 publications and a H-Index of 90, he was included in Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Group Highly Cited Researchers list for 6 consecutive years from 2019-2024. He has recently co-authored a book titled Microbiota Brain Axis: A Neuroscience Primer which provides a framework for understanding microbial regulation of brain function and behaviour.
Karl-Heinz Herzig studied medicine in Germany and the United States. He did his postdoc on intestinal peptides and their regulation at the University of Michigan Gut Peptide Center and the Nancy Pritzker Laboratory at Stanford University. Returning to Germany, he specialized in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Physiology at the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Germany. He became Professor of Internal Medicine (apl) at the University of Kiel, then moved to the A. I. Virtanen Institute of Molecular Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, where he worked as a Research Director of Molecular Physiology in the Dept. of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine and a Docent in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. In 2006, he became Professor of Physiology at the Medical School of the University of Oulu.
His research interest is the metabolic syndrome, investigating the effects of physical activity and nutrients. In national and international collaborations his team is using different model systems, human intervention trials and cohort studies (e.g. Northern Finland Birth Cohorts; NCD Consortium). The team belongs to the Biocenter of Oulu, the Medical Research Center of the University of Oulu, the ProNORD consortium on Personalized Nordic lifestyle to promote healthy ageing (NordForsk) and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) Nutriome.
Professor Julian R. Marchesi graduated from Cardiff University with a PhD (1992) and focused on the role bacteria play in biosystem and ecosystem function. After his Wellcome Trust Fellowship he obtained a Lectureship (2001) in University College Cork and in 2015 and 2016 he was promoted to Professor of Human Microbiome Research at Cardiff University and Professor of Digestive Health at Imperial College London, respectively. Currently, he is full-time at Imperial College London and his work uses multi-“omic” approaches such as metagenomics, cultureomics, metataxonomics and metabonomics to understand how the microbiota influences the initiation and treatment of NCDs, such as IBD, cancer and premature birth. He is also using Intestinal Microbiota Transplants (aka Faecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT)) to manipulate the gut microbiota in the intestines of patients with blood cancers, and renal and urological complications colonized by antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Emilia Nordlund is working at VTT as a Research Manager of Industrial Biotechnology and Food. Emilia’s ambition is to generate well-being to people and environment by innovative solutions based on food and biotechnology research. By education Emilia is DSc (Tech) for Bioprocess engineering from Technical Helsinki University of Technology and she is also acting as a docent in Food Biotechnology at University of Helsinki. Her scientific expertise is in plant-based ingredient and food technologies, especially bioprocessing, and development of novel food processing concepts for efficient and sustainable food chain. She has explored how cellular agriculture, i.e., biotechnical food production can be used for future food production. Related to her research work in the cellular agriculture and alternative protein field she was given the Research Council of Finland Award in 2024.
Julia is an interdisciplinary researcher combining intestinal and brain physiology and applying this to human intervention studies and translational science projects. She is trained in Nutritional Science and Molecular Biotechnology and holds a PhD in Medical Science. Julia works at the Nutrition-Gut-Brain Interactions Research Centre at Örebro University, which is a well-acknowledged research centre devoted to developing novel ways of improving gut and mental health by in-depth understanding of the interaction between diet, the gut and its microbiota, and the brain. One of the key methodologies Julia applies is functional magnetic resonance imaging at the Center for Experimental and Biomedical Imaging in Örebro. Aside her research, she is a lecturer in physiology, and acts as assistant director for Örebro University’s Food and Health Center.
I am a clinical neurologist and adjunct professor of neurology at the Department of Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki. I have led pioneering work on the microbiota–gut–brain axis in Parkinson’s disease (PD) since 2012. My landmark 2014 publication established the field of Parkinson microbiome research and continues to be cited extensively. My group integrates multiomics, epidemiologic, and clinical trial methodologies to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for PD. We translate discoveries into practice through patent-protected microbiome-based diagnostics and treatments and collaborations with industry partners. Supported by national and international networks, my research bridges fundamental and clinical science to improve the life of people living with PD.
Stine Marie Ulven is professor in nutrition and Head of Department of Nutrition, University of Oslo. The main aim of her research group is to get a comprehensive understanding of the role of diet and in particular dietary fat on biological processes in humans by applying transcriptomics and metabolomics in dietary intervention studies and meal studies. The goal is to integrate large-scale datasets to understand why people respond differently to diets and meals. She is currently coordinating an EU funded MSCA Doctoral Network called NUTRIOME aiming to train 10 PhD students in data-driven precision nutrition. They will be trained in how to develop algorithms based on postprandial responses to meals, and how to handle and combine multi-omics data to evaluate the response to foods, and design precision nutrition intervention studies.