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First Round of Abstract Submission Ends: Dec 31, 2026
Extended Early Bird Ends: Dec 28, 2026

Plenary Speakers

Prof. Didier DUPONT
French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE), France
Title: Food structure at different length scales drives the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of nutrients
Didier DUPONT is a Research Director at INRAE in France where he works on the mechanisms of food disintegration in the gastrointestinal tract and their consequences on human health, with a special emphasis on infants and elderly. He has developed a wide range of in vitro (static and dynamic) and in vivo models of digestion. He’s the scientific coordinator of the INFOGEST network on food digestion (800 experts from 60 countries). He has published more than 215 papers in peer-reviewed journals (h = 70) and has been nominated as “Highly Cited Researcher” (top 0.1%) between 2020 and 2025. He has given 75 invited conferences.
Prof. Alejandro Cifuentes
National Research Council of Spain (CSIC), Spain
Title: New applications of Foodomics
Alejandro Cifuentes is a Full Research Professor at the National Research Council of Spain (CSIC) in Madrid, Head of the Laboratory of Foodomics and Director of the Metabolomics Platform (International Excellence Campus CSIC + University Autonoma of Madrid). He has been Founding Director of the Institute of Food Science Research from CSIC. Alejandro's activity includes advanced analytical methods development for Foodomics (including lipidomics and metabolomics), food quality and safety, as well as isolation and characterization of natural bioactive compounds and their effect on human health. He is member of the Editorial Board of 21 international journals, Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Nutrition (Nutrition and Food Science Technology), Editor of TrAC-Trends in Analytical Chemistry and Editor-in-Chief of Exploration of Foods and Foodomics. He has published more than 400 SCI papers (plus 30 books/book chapters and 10 patents) that have received more than 36000 citations (March 2026). Alejandro has given more than 200 invited lectures in different meetings in Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania. He has defined for the first time in a SCI journal the new discipline of Foodomics. He has been continuously included in the Top 2% World Scientists by the Stanford University Ranking.
Prof. Ren-You Gan
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Title: Germination as a biofortification strategy for future food
Prof. Ren-You Gan is an Assistant Professor and Presidential Young Scholar at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Following his PhD from HKU (2016), he held key positions at SJTU, CAAS, and A*STAR. His research focuses on plant-based foods, probiotics, and the gut microbiome. He has authored 250+ SCIE publications and holds 20 patents, amassing over 32,000 citations and an H-index of 91 (Google Scholar). He holds key editorial roles in several academic journals, like Food as Medicine (Editor-in-Chief), iMetaOmics (Executive Editor), Current Research in Biotechnology (Executive Editor), and Fermentation (Section Editor-in-Chief). He has been awarded the Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2021-2023), Stanford Top 2% Scientist (2020-2025), and Adelaide University International Fellows Award (2026).
Prof. Jean-Francois Hocquette
INRAE, Université Clermont Auvergne, France
Title: The future of beef production
Since 1991, JF Hocquette has been a scientist at INRA (the French National Institute for Agricultural Research). He led the “Muscle Growth and Metabolism” research team from 1999 to 2006, working on muscle biology, genomics, muscle growth, and beef quality. He then served as Director of the Herbivore Research Unit (172 staff) from 2006 to 2010. Between 2012 and 2021, he worked for the French High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (HCERES). He is currently an “Outstanding Class Research Director” at INRAE (the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment), where he is in charge of international relationships with Australia and New Zealand. JF Hocquette is also President of the French Association for Animal Science and a member of the French Academy of Agriculture.
Prof. Dong Uk Ahn
Iowa State University, USA
Title: Lipid and protein oxidation and their implications on food quality, human health, and diseases
Dr. Ahn has been a professor in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University since 1994. He has devoted his professional career to research and education of Animal Products and Processing Technology. Dr. Dong Ahn’s research areas include 1) the mechanisms of color changes and characterization of color compounds in uncured cooked poultry meat products; 2) the causative mechanisms and control of lipid oxidation in muscle food systems and eggs; 3) assessment of the impact of irradiation of muscle foods on food safety, quality, and consumer acceptability; 4) developing separation methods of value-added components from the egg; 5) developing functional peptides and lipids and characterizing them for their commercial applications. These areas of study are critical in that they address questions that impact the ultimate commercialization of many products that will benefit society in nutrition, health, and food safety.

Dr. Ahn has authored or co-authored 365 refereed journal articles and 29 book chapters, with H-indices of 82 and 27,020 citations, respectively. Dr. Ahn received 80 research grants from the university, industry, governments, and commodity groups. He also has been actively collaborating and helping the egg industry in the U.S. and the world, and graduated 20 graduate students, supervised 12 Postdocs and 42 visiting scholars, and evaluated thesis of 46 foreign Ph.D. students as an external examiner, served as a panel member of promotion and tenure of 35 scholars, and worked as an external reviewer or review panel of numerous national and international funds and funding organizations.
Prof. Pasquale Ferranti
University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Title: Effects of technological processing on the nutritional quality of food plant proteins
Pasquale Ferranti is full professor in food science and technology, and research head at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples, Italy. He has carried out full-time research at the Department of Biochemistry, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London (UK). He is scientific responsible for international research projects in the field of food science and technology. The most recent research activities are focused on the application of the omic techniques in the study of food proteins and their modifications in consequence of technical processes. Further activities are concerned with the study of the protein digestibility carried out by coupling of in vitro digestion models and foodomics. He has authored over 350 publications in peer-reviewed international journals. He has developed ongoing collaborations with international research institutes in research projects of multidisciplinary interest. He has been an invited speaker at international meetings in proteomics and food technology, fellow teacher in international schools, and scientifically responsible for international conferences. He has served as editor of journals in the sector of food technology, and is at present member of several journal editorial boards, such as Current Opinion in Food Science (Elsevier). He has been Editor of the Encyclopedia of Food Security and Sustainability (Elsevier) in 2018 and 2026.
Prof. Gianluca Picariello
National Research Council, CNR, Italy
Title: Advancing Food Protein Digestomics: Time to Step into Human In Vivo Studies?
Research Director at the Institute of Food Science of the National Research Council (CNR) of Italy. Adjunct University Professor of Food Chemistry. Associate Editor of International Journals in the field of Food Science.
Dr. Laetitia Canabady-Rochelle
Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France
Title: Metal-Chelating Peptides: original approach for their screening, separation processes, and identification for various food-related applications
Laetitia Canabady-Rochelle is CNRS senior research scientist since 2011, and Habilitated to Direct Research since 2018. In her CNRS research project, she developed an interdisciplinary and federative research thematic around “metal-complexing peptides” involving a team of 15 scientists from Université de Lorraine (Nancy, France). Laetitia obtained several grants on this topic as coordinator, notably an ANR JCJC and an ANR PRC as WP leader, which involve several scientists of this consortium. She has 54 international publications, mainly as first or last author. To date, Laetitia has directed or co-directed 10 PhD students and 8 PhD students in doctoral mobility under her supervision and 3 post-doctorates. She also supervised numerous M2, French engineers and Bachelor students. Besides, she organized with P. Faller (University of Strasbourg, UdS) the “First international conference on Metal-Binding Peptides: methodologies and applications” (5th-8th July 2022, Nancy, France). The MBP’22 international conference (> 140 scientists, 27 countries) is from now on biannually perpetuated. The Sd MBP’2024 occurred in Toulouse (July 2024). For this event, Laetitia belonged to the international scientific committee. The third MBP’2026 will be in Dresden (Germany) in September 2026. Also, L. Canabady-Rochelle was in the international scientific committee of the 4th International Symposium on Bioactive Peptides (4th ISBP) in Kyoto, in June 2025 and she is in the core-member committee of the 5th International Symposium of Food Protein and Peptides conference, chaired by Pr. Dick Fitzgerald, and held in Limerick, Ireland, in 2027. Besides, since January 2025, L. Canabady-Rochelle is in the editorial board of two Elsevier journal: Journal of Functional Foods and Food Bioscience. To date, Laetitia had received three research excellence awards. She is evaluatress of some national and international projects notably for Global Food Institute (USA).
Prof. Peer M. Schenk
Global Sustainable Solutions Pty Ltd, Australia
Title: Industrial microalgae production for healthy food and nutraceuticals
Professor Peer Schenk has over 30 years’ experience in R&D in Plant and Microbial Biotechnology. After holding positions in Germany (Max Planck Institute) and Australia (Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, CSIRO Plant Industry), he worked as a full Professor in Plant and Microbial Biotechnology at the University of Queensland and the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is the founding Director of the Sustainable Solutions Hub (www.susolhub.com), a joint venture between industry and academia, to fast-track the commercialization of sustainable technologies, including the use of microalgae for food, feed and fuel. Peer is passionate about using plants, algae and beneficial bacteria to provide sustainable solutions to industry. His work in Plant Biotechnology, Bioprocess Engineering, Regenerative Agriculture, and large-scale algae cultivation has led to four commercial algae farms, seven patents and >250 scientific papers with ~2,500 citations per year.
Prof. Beraat Özçelik
Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Title: To be confirmed
After receiving her Ph.D. from the Department of Food Engineering at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in 2000, Prof. Dr. Beraat Özçelik completed her postdoctoral studies with a scholarship at Ohio State University's Department of Food Science. She became an associate professor in 2006 and a full professor in 2012.
From 2009 to 2012, she served as Vice Head of the ITU Department of Food Engineering. In 2013, she was appointed as a Rector's Advisor, and from 2013 to 2015, she chaired the ITU Department of Food Engineering. Between 2013 and 2020, she served as Dean of the ITU Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering.
Prof. Dr. Özçelik has authored numerous international articles on functional foods, bioactive components, encapsulation, antioxidants, bioavailability, sensory analysis, and plant-based meat and dairy analogues. Additionally, she has contributed to international and national book chapters and serves on the editorial boards of national and international journals. She has been actively involved as both coordinator and researcher in numerous projects funded by the European Union and Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.
She is Co-Editor in Chief of “Food Chemistry International” (Wiley )and Associate Editor of “European Journal of Food Research and Technology”, Springer Nature, New York. She has also contributed to both international and national book chapters and serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. She currently serves as Editor in Chief in Forest Food –(Wiley), Co-Editor-in-Chief of Food Chemistry International (Wiley) and as Associate Editor of the European Food Research and Technology (Springer Nature, New York). She is the holder of one international and two national patents. In 2011, she was awarded the Achievement Medal by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In 2025, she received the Mediterranean Researchers’ International Award of the MEDNIGHT Mediterranean Researchers’ Night. In the same year, she was honored with the “Power of Women in R&D Award” at the BEETECH Technology Awards 2025.
In 2016, she founded the “DOKAM-Natural Additives, Functional Components, and Health Excellence Center” and established BIOACTIVE, a research company at ITU ARI Teknokent. She continues to work as a full-time faculty member at Istanbul Technical University.
Prof. Gianfranco Mamone
Institute of Sciences, National Food Research Council, CNR, Italy
Title: Gluten Proteins: Toxic Triggers in Human Health
Dr. Council (CNR) Gianfranco Mamone's research focuses on the isolation and structural characterization of molecules and macromolecules of interest in food science through advanced proteomic approaches. His scientific activity is primarily dedicated to the study of food proteins, with particular emphasis on:
Proteomics applied to the characterization of food proteins.
• Investigation of proteolytic events occurring in food systems.
• Identification and characterization of bioactive peptides generated from food proteins.
• Characterization of post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins.
• Investigation of food protein digestion using both in vitro and in vivo models.

His research combines state-of-the-art mass spectrometry and proteomic technologies to investigate protein structure, function, digestion, and the generation of biologically active peptides relevant to human nutrition, food quality, and health.
Publications
Scopus Author ID: 6603196776
Scopus Profile: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6603196776
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=it&user=0USjLsIAAAAJ&view_op=list_wor ks&sortby=pubdate

Professional Experience
• 2023–Present: Research Director, National Research Council (CNR), Italy.
• 2019–2022: Senior Researcher, National Research Council (CNR).
• 2001–2019: Researcher, National Research Council (CNR).

Education
• 1995: M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology (cum laude), University of Naples Federico II.
• 1996: Specialization in Pharmacology, University of Naples Federico II.
• 1996–2000: Postgraduate Research, International Facility Centre of Mass Spectrometry, CNR.

Selected Research Funding and Projects
• 2025–2027: U.S. Department of Defense subcontract – Oral enzymatic therapy adjunctive to dietary management of celiac disease.
• 2022–2025: ON Foods – Research and Innovation Network on Food and Nutrition (NRRP), Unit Leader (ISA-CNR, Spoke 3).
• 2023–2025: Nemysis Ltd. Horizon EIC Accelerator project – Endoprotease 40 (E40).
• 2023–2025: NUTRAGE Project.
• 2019–2023: PRIN 2017 – The Neapolitan Pizza. • 2018–2022: Nemysis – Gluten detoxification studies. • 2015–2017: CNR-CONICET Italy–Argentina bilateral project.

Academic and Scientific Appointments
• Adjunct Professor, University of Naples Federico II (2020–2021).
• Member, European Laboratory for the Investigation of Food-Induced Diseases (ELFID) (2019–Present).
• Member, PhD Board in Food Science, University of Naples Federico II (2018 2023).

Editorial Activities
• Guest Editor, Frontiers in Nutrition.
• Editor/Reviewer, Elsevier Reference Module in Food Science.
• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Chromatography and Separation Techniques.
• Associate Editor, Journal of Integrated Omics.
• Editorial Advisory Board, Peptidomics.