Scientific Programme – Food Biotechnology 2026, Sion, Switzerland

Registration & Welcome Coffee

8 September

Sion

8:15 - 9:00

Opening Remarks

8 September

Sion

9:00 - 9:30

Plenary Lecture

8 September

Sion

9:30 - 10:00

Sustainable food biotechnology in the 2030 Agenda

Thomas Brück

TUM, Germany

Session 1: Sustainable Food Ingredients through Biotechnological Innovation

8 September

Sion

10:00 - 11:15

Engineering sustainable vanilla alternatives

Andrew Lamm

University of Technology, Jamaica

Next-Generation Plant-Derived Encapsulation Systems for Oxidation-Sensitive Lipids

Lucia Witasari

Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia

Session 2: Fermentation and Upcycling in Food Systems

8 September

Sion

11:15 - 12:30

TBD

Kim Mishra

HES-SO Valais / Planted Foods AG, Switzerland

Yeast Cell Factories for the Production of Cocoa and Palm Oil Substitutes

Mahmoud Masri

GST, Germany

Unlocking nutrition from processing side-streams via fermentation

12:05 - 12:17

Aylin Sahin

Lecturer and Researcher in Sustainable Food Systems University College Cork, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Cork City, Ireland

Lactobacillaceae produce propionate with strong food biopreservation potential

12:17 - 12:30

Mensure Elvan Gezer

PhD Student Aarhus University

Lunch Break + Poster Viewing (Part I) – “La Ruche” HES-SO

8 September

Sion

12:30 - 14:00

Session 3: Microbiome-Active Foods and Health Functionality

8 September

Sion

14:00 - 15:01

Prebiotic Fibers in Plant-Based Foods: From Structural Functionality to Gut Microbiome Interactions

Fatma Boukid

ClonBio, Ireland

Fermentation of the green biorefinery side-stream brown juice for short-chain carboxylic acid production

14:25 - 14:37

Rebekka H. Lülf

Postdoc Aarhus University

Plant-based oral vaccination in aquaculture: barley as a platform for antigen delivery and immune protection

14:37 - 14:49

Ivo Frébort

Researcher Palacký University Olomouc/Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute

A desert derived Halospirulina strain for sustainable production of protein, canthaxanthin-rich pigments and phycocyanin

14:49 - 15:01

Barbara Freitas

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Coffee Break

8 September

Sion

15:01 - 15:45

Roundtable 1: Clean-Label Biotech – Aligning Innovation with Consumer Expectations

8 September

Sion

15:45 - 17:00

Roundtable 1

SUMMARY

- What qualifies as “natural” in a biotech-driven food system
- Consumer perception and science-based communication
- Translating health benefits into trust and market success

Poster Flash Talks & Innovation Pitch Session

8 September

Sion

17:00 - 18:00

Processing effects on the nutritional quality of a sustainable lupin-derived ingredient for fermented plant-based cream cheese alternatives

Jessica Brzezowska

Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences

Transgenic barley as a platform for oral fish vaccines: field evaluation of viral antigen‑expressing lines

Jitka Frébortová

Researcher Palacký University Olomouc/Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute

Exploring koji fermentation for the valorisation of underutilised biomass resources: initial Swiss case studies

Daniel Heine

Lecturer and Researcher BFH-HAFL, Bern University of Applied Sciences

Upcycling tomato pomace into carbon dots for sustainable thermoplastic starch/bentonite composite films

Anna Michalska-Ciechanowska

professor Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences

Isolation of colourless protein fractions from Chlorella sorokiniana

Johannes Zöhrer

PHD-Student TU Munich

Valorisation of fruit and vegetable processing side streams in plant cell cultivation – novel plant cell culture ingredients for food use

Amanda Lillberg

Research Scientist Technological Research Centre of Finland VTT Ltd

"The biology works. Now what?" - Why the food bioeconomy's hard problem moved downstream

Lucas Grob

CEO Swiss Food Research

Apéro & networking reception

8 September

Sion

18:00 - 21:00

Plenary Lecture

9 September

Sion

8:45 - 9:30

The Microbial Mind: Engineering Microbiomes for Sustainable Nutrition

Fabian Wahl

Agroscope, Switzerland

Session 4: Enabling Technologies in Food Biotechnology

9 September

Sion

9:30 - 10:45

From Omics Data to Predictive Biology: Integrating Bioinformatics and AI for Metagenomics

9:30 - 9:55

Laurent Falquet

Senior lecturer Dept Biology, University of Fribourg

Engineering microbial consortia for mixed plastic upcycling into food supplements

9:55 - 10:07

Tae Seok Moon

Full Professor & Editor-in-Chief J. Craig Venter Institute & New Biotechnology (EFB official journal, Elsevier)

From waste feedstocks to functional food ingredients: exploring the metabolic potential of Yarrowia lipolytica

Zbigniew Lazar

Professor Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences

Coffee Break + Poster Viewing (Part II)

9 September

Sion

10:45 - 11:15

Session 5: Ethics, Regulation, and Societal Impact of Food Biotech

9 September

Sion

11:15 - 12:30

Making food biotech work - role of public-private partnerships to derisk innovation

Lucas Grob

CEO Swiss Food Research

Navigating novel food regulation: harmonising Swiss and EU frameworks for biotech food innovation

Mpoi Leuta Hilpert

Associated Researcher Institute for European Global Studies, University of Basel

Lunch Break “La Ruche” HES-SO

9 September

Sion

12:30 - 13:30

Roundtable 2: Policy Pathways to Enable Sustainable Food Biotechnology

9 September

Sion

13:30 - 14:30

Roundtable 2

SUMMARY

- Risk perception vs. benefit communication
- Addressing regulatory bottlenecks
- Stakeholder engagement in food innovation policy

Closing Ceremony

9 September

Sion

14:30 - 15:00

Scientific Programme - Food Biotechnology Conference