CHRISTOPHE COURTIN

After his first appointment in 2002, Christophe Courtin has been a full professor of Food Biochemistry at the Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry at KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, since 2014. His research focuses on cereal starch and non-starch carbohydrates and dietary fibre, the enzymes that degrade them and microorganisms in cereal processing. Dietary fibres under study are arabinoxylans, arabinoxylan oligosaccharides, fructans, cellulose and β-glucan. The emphasis is on a basic understanding of the structure and properties of these carbohydrates (as individual molecules and as components of complex 3D structures) and their technological and health functionality in cereal-based processes and products, using, amongst others, molecular biology as a tool. The fermentation research line focuses on the interaction between yeast and (sour)dough at the level of dough rheology, fermentation substrates, enzymes, inhibitors, aroma, end-product quality and nutrition. Expertise and an extensive network in this area have been built up over the past two decades through many PhDs (39 supervised to completion + 11 ongoing), projects and national and international collaborations. Starting September 2022, Christophe will coordinate HealthFerm, a recently approved Horizon Europe 22-partner project. Since 1998, he (co-)authored over 300 peer-reviewed papers, cited over 15,000 times (WoS h-index: 61). He is (co-)inventor of patents in 12 patent families and received several awards, the latest the Harald Perten Prize (2021). He took up several leadership roles within the university context, including vice-dean of his faculty and in (international) organisations.

Title:

"Dietary fibre for food, function and global health: where are we going and what do we need to get there?"