Dr. Anne-Maria Pajari is the director and principal investigator of the Molecular Nutrition research group at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki. Her group studies the molecular mechanisms by which diets, foods, and diet-derived compounds mediate their effects on health and prevention of non-communicable diseases. The focus is on gut microbiome and metabolites, local and systemic inflammation, glucose, insulin and bone metabolism, and targeted and untargeted metabolomics on blood, urine and stool metabolites. Additionally, the group studies sustainability shift towards more plant-based diets including changes in critical nutrient intakes, associations with health effects, new sustainable food raw materials and their nutritional quality & safety, food design and development with optimised nutritional properties, and consumer acceptance and behaviour. Dr. Pajari is an expert in molecular nutrition, having a long-standing experience in conduction trials in humans and animals on the physiological mechanisms whereby diet and dietary compounds, including fibres, contribute to the development of non-communicable diseases such as colorectal cancer and type 2 diabetes. She has served as a scientific nutrition expert for governmental and other bodies, the latest contribution involving two background papers (fibre and protein) to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendation 2023 project. Research methodology in Pajari laboratory ranges from cell cultures and animal models to human clinical trials.