7th International Conference on Food Oral Processing: Physics, Physiology and Psychology of Eating

Dr. David Mela

Independent nutrition scientist, The Netherlands

Crop circles, zombies
and zebras: Misdirection and (self-)deception in research

David Mela followed his PhD in nutrition with a research career in the US, UK and The Netherlands. He has been involved in academic, industry and public health nutrition for over 40 years and published over 100 papers, mainly in areas of food choice/eating behaviour, energy balance and metabolic health. Since retiring from Unilever in 2019, he focuses more on cycling, gardening and beer-brewing, but is still also active in various research, advisory and consultancy roles. These include membership
of the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, and the editorial boards of Nutrients and International Journal of Obesity. David is a Registered Nutritionist and Fellow of the Association for Nutrition.

Dr. Igor Bodnar

Firmenich, Switzerland

Combining temporal in vivo release of flavors and perception of food during consumption: opportunities and gaps moving forward

Igor Bodnár is Innovation Director in the Taste & Beyond Division of Firmenich, leading a team on decoding performance insights, working on flavor release from food and delivery systems, and incorporating these findings into digital systems. Igor received his PhD in physical and colloid chemistry from Utrecht University. After a post-doc in chemical engineering at the University of Delaware, US, he moved to the food industry in the science area of Product Microstructure at Unilever Research in Vlaardingen (the Netherlands). He continued his career at NIZO food research, as project manager, principal scientist and group leader Flavor & Texture Design. Since 2010 he is employed by Firmenich in Geneva (CH), continuing his work in the area of physical chemistry of food and flavor systems, including food structuring, texture and encapsulation. The main lines of his current work include connecting the interactions between flavors and the food matrix, and how flavor release is impacting the subsequent sensorial perception.

Dr. Didier Dupont

INRAE – Institut Agro, France

Advantages and limitations of in vitro and in vivo models for the study of food digestion mechanisms

Didier Dupont is a Senior Scientist at INRAE leading the “Bioactivity & Nutrition” group that is actively working on the relationships between the structure of food, their digestion in the gastrointestinal tract and the bioavailability of bioactives and nutrients. To reach this goal Didier has developed in vitro static and dynamic models and has performed in vivo experiments on animals (pigs and piglets) and humans. Didier is the scientific coordinator of INFOGEST, an international network on food digestion gathering 700 experts from 53 countries. He is the main organizer of the International Conference on Food Digestion. He is also the coordinator of the French research infrastructure CALIS on Food Consumer and Health that gathers 14 French platforms providing research services on that topic. Since 2016 Didier is Deputy Director of STLO at INRAE in Rennes, France. Didier has written over 175 peer-reviewed articles and 21 book chapters and has given presentations at 76 international conferences (53 invited). He has been nominated “Highly Cited Researcher” (Top 1%) in Agricultural Sciences by Clarivate in 2020 and 2021.

A/Prof. Edoardo Capuano

Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Influence of the food matrix on food digestion and metabolic responses

Edoardo Capuano is Associate Professor in the Food Quality and Design Group at Wageningen University. Edoardo received his PhD degree from the SUN (Second University of Naples) in 2009 in Food and Health. Since 2010 he has worked at Wageningen UR as a post-doc in the Food Quality and Design group and as researcher at RIKILT. In 2014, he entered the tenure track with a research focus on the design of healthier plant-based foods. In particular, Edoardo is interested in understanding the role of the plant matrix on nutrients bioavailability and the effect of plant based ingredients on gut health.

Dr. Paul Smeets

Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Imaging approaches to determine the fate of food in the stomach

Paul Smeets is senior researcher at the Division of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University and Associate professor at the UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. He trained in Behavioral Biology after which he started his career in food-related neuroimaging with MRI at the Image Sciences Institute (UMC Utrecht) in 2002, already in collaboration with Wageningen University. A central theme in his research are the decisions that govern eating behaviors such as food choice, meal initiation and meal termination. These are taken in the brain on the basis of multiple neural as well as hormonal signals that reflect various determinants of eating such as sensory signaling, hunger state, stomach contents, appetite-related gut hormones, food reward and food-related cognitions. In recent years he has been expanding an innovative research area focused on the development and cross-disciplinary application of novel MRI techniques to monitor the behavior of food in the stomach, its digestion and associated physiological effects. Paul is Associate Editor at the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) and the Nutritional Neuroscience journal.

Publications Paul Smeets

A/Prof. Marlou Lasschuijt

Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Sensory barriers to a healthy appetite and diet in clinical populations

Marlou Lasschuijt is an assistant professor in the Sensory Science and Eating Behaviour group at Wageningen University. Marlou received her BSc in Clinical Dietetics from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and her MSc in Nutrition Physiology and Health Status from Wageningen University. She completed her PhD at Wageningen university where she studied sensory physiological systems involved in satiation and during her Postdoc she worked with researchers from all technical universities in the Netherlands to develop new technologies to measure food intake and eating behavior. Her current research focuses on the link between eating behavior and physiology in healthy and clinical populations.

Prof. Carolyn Ross

Washington State University, USA

Eating behaviours in children with Down syndrome

Carolyn Ross is a Professor in the School of Food Science at Washington State University (WSU), Affiliate Professor in the WSU School of Medicine, and Director of the WSU Sensory Science Center. Since starting at WSU in 2004, Dr. Ross has established her lab and the WSU Sensory Science Center as a center for graduate student training in the areas of sensory science and analytical chemistry. Specifically, the overall objectives of Dr. Ross’ research and graduate education program are to understand the theoretical basis underpinning the sensory perception of foods and wines and correlate these attributes with quantifiable characteristics. Dr. Ross has also expanded her research to explore food texture perception in children. She has three-times been awarded the Institute of Food Technologists Tanner Award for most‐cited article in the Journal of Food Science (sensory and food quality section). Dr. Ross was also recently awarded the WSU Faculty Excellence Award for Instruction and is a Fulbright Scholar (Australia).

Dr. Laura Laguna

IATA, Spain

Food Oral Processing in Vulnerable Populations

Laura Laguna is a tenured researcher at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA, CSIC). Her research is focused on Sensory and Consumer Science, with special emphasis on understanding the perception of the structure and composition of food, especially by vulnerable populations, such as the elderly. She has a degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics and a degree in Food Science and Technology. She completed her doctorate at IATA (CSIC), making 3 stays in foreign centres (Campden BRI, United Kingdom; TNO, Netherlands; Purdue University, USA). Later, within the framework of a European project (OPTIFEL, FP7) she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leeds (United Kingdom). Subsequently, she obtained a Juan de la Cierva-Formación contract (CIAL, UAM-CSIC), and a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación contract, with which she rejoined IATA. She has published more than 50 scientific articles and book chapters, received different research awards (Faculty Award Committee 2014; The Vine Science Award 2017; Rising Star of the Journal of Texture Studies) and has participated in the development of inventions in the field of food, obtaining two patents. She has participated in projects within the EIT Food (Food Solutions 2018, 2019, 2021), and is part of the editorial committee in different scientific journals (Journal of Texture Studies, Wiley Online Library; Nutrition, Dietetics & Nutraceuticals; Research Open World). She is currently leading two projects focused on the physical and sensory characterization of food and beverages for elderly people suffering from dysphagia (SafeToSwallow Project, ref. PID2020-117016RB-I00; THIRSTY Project, ref.SEJIGENT/2021/0242).

A/Prof. Miriam Clegg

University of Reading, UK

Designing foods for older consumers: oral processing and nutritional considerations

Miriam Clegg is Associate Professor in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Reading. Miriam received a PhD in Nutrition from the University of Limerick. After a PostDoc at Simon Fraser University, she joined Oxford Brookes University as Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Senior Research fellow. In 2014, she joined the University of Reading. Miriam’s main areas of interest are in appetite, food intake and energy expenditure and the regulation of these. Miriam’s research to date has focused on diets, particularly high fat diets, and food, primarily foods containing different types of lipids, and their effects on gastric emptying and appetite and food intake. She has a keen interest in exploring appetite across the lifespan, looking at groups that may be of particular interest with regards to appetite. This includes infants and toddlers and older adults. The main methodologies that she utilizes are food intake measurements, questionnaires and scales, indirect calorimetry for energy expenditure and substrate utilization, measurement of appetite hormones and gastric emptying utilizing stable isotopes. She is a registered nutritionist (Association for Nutrition).

A/Prof. Alissa Nolden

University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Sensory properties and consumer acceptance of plant-based foods

Alissa Nolden is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research combines sensory psychophysics and consumer behavior, with specific interests in gustatory dysfunction and its' impacts on food enjoyment, dietary intake, and nutrition. Her laboratory is currently exploring sensory profiles of novel sweeteners and thickeners, and sustainable food choices, including drivers of food waste, consumer preferences for reducing meat consumption and increasing vegetable consumption. Specific areas of interest include individual differences in responses to foods and chemicals associated with genetic variability, and how chemosensory perception changes as a result of dietary exposure, disease or therapeutic compounds. Understanding the pathways and mechanisms regulating this change in sensory response can better provide tools and strategies to patients and clinicians to help manage these changes. Long-term research plans include developing new approaches, including development of food products to enhance food enjoyment.

A/Prof. Guido Camps

Wageningen University, The Netherlands

When will we finally know what people eat? Sensor, video and radar-based detections of eating behavior

Guido Camps is a Senior Researcher at Wageningen University and at the OnePlanet Research Center in the areas of nutrition and artificial intelligence, sensor development to determine food intake and MRI visualization of digestion. He trained in veterinary medicine at Utrecht University, AI at Radboud University, Data Science/Information Technology at Harvard University and did his PhD in Nutrition at Wageningen University. Guido currently supervises 7 PhD candidates and a Post-Doc across different fields of research in using technology to get a better understanding of nutrition, and his work is often cited in the media. He teaches different courses on nutrition and technology, nutrition and communication and physiology. Guido Camps is scientific director of the Innovation Center of Artificial Intelligence (ICAI) Lab for Precision Health, Nutrition and Behavior. He is a member of the scientific advisory council of the Dutch Stomach-Liver-Gut Foundation. He is registered at the Dutch Academy for Nutrition as a nutrition scientist.