Keynote Speakers

Dr. Twan America

Keynote: Cereal Proteomics

Dr. Twan America is head of the Proteomics Core facility at Wageningen Plant Research (NL), which he initiated in January 2000. During the two decades the development of proteomics technology and the transition from 2D gel-based analysis to current high-resolution LC-MS were implemented in his lab. In his collaborative research projects, the focus was on plant defense response to biotic stress, detection of allergens and gluten epitopes, global effects of processing on proteins and quality parameters of both wheat and pulses proteins during fermentation and food production.

Prof. Dr. Michelle Colgrave

Keynote: Vegan and Vegetarian Nutrition

Michelle Colgrave is a Professor of Food and Agricultural Proteomics, and chief investigator on the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science. Her research interests include the application of proteomics, the study of proteins using mass spectrometry, to agriculture and food science to the benefit of human health. Professor Michelle Colgrave is the Leader of CSIRO’s Future Protein Mission. The Future Protein Mission is centred on principles of sustainable growth delivering high quality, affordable and nutritionally optimised protein for Australia. It will develop protein-based industries (including traditional protein, plant-based protein, insect and microbial protein) along the value chain from production to the customer, delivering premium protein ingredients and products, addressing the rapid growth of the protein-based sector.

Prof. Dr. Corinna Dawid

Keynote: Taste- and Sensoproteomics

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Corinna Dawid focuses on the screening, identification and quantification of bioactive, sensory active and technofunctional natural compounds in food and plant raw materials as well as their human metabolism. She has a special focus on metabolites that are upregulated by abiotic and biotic stress factors in crops.
After her studies of food chemistry at the University of Münster, Prof. Dawid started her doctoral studies with Prof. Dr. Thomas F. Hofmann in Münster. In 2007 she followed her doctoral supervisor to the Weihenstephan Science Centre of the TUM where she completed her doctorate and did a postdoctoral research. During a research stay at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, she was instrumental in establishing the Institute for Molecular Sensor Technology. Back in Munich she began her habilitation with studies on stress resistance in plants, which she finalized in 2022. After the appointment of Hofmann as President of the TUM, Prof. Dawid took over the provisional leadership of the Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science. Since 2020 she is also a member of the ZIEL Institute for Food and Health and deputy director of the Bavarian Centre for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry (BayBioMS).

Prof. Dr. Katharina Scherf

Keynote: Food Allergens

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Katharina Scherf leads the Department of Bioactive and Functional Food Chemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany. Together with her team, she studies the complex interplay between structure, functionality and bioactivity of food proteins. One of her main research interests are celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity and wheat allergy. Having obtained her PhD degree from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), she worked at the Leibniz-Institute for Food Systems Biology at the TUM and led the research group Functional Biopolymer Chemistry. Her research was awarded with several prestigious scientific prizes, including the ERC Starting Grant GLUTENOMICS (2022), the Research Award of the German Coeliac Society (2019 and 2014), and the Young Scientist Research Award of the Cereals & Grains Association (2018).