Gabriel Vinderola is Associate Professor at the Food Engineering Department of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering (National University of Litoral) and Independent Researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) at the Industrial Dairy Institute (INLAIN) in Santa Fe (Argentina), and has been a visiting professor (2004) at Monctons University (Canada). He is the author of over 90 journal articles and book chapters in the field of probiotic lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria. Dr. Vinderola received his degree (1997) and Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the National University of Litoral (Santa Fe, Argentina). He participated in the development of the first commercial probiotic cheese in Latin America (1999) and he was awarded (2011) as young researcher in Food Technology by the Argentinian National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences.
Dr. Arthur Ouwehand is Technical Fellow and research manager at DuPont Nutrition & Health in Kantvik, Finland. He has a research background in both academia and industry. His main interest is on functional foods, in particular, probiotics and prebiotics and their influence on the intestinal microbiota. He is active in the International Life Sciences Institute Europe, the International Dairy Federation, the International Probiotics Association and the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics. Dr. Ouwehand received his M.S. degree (1992) in cell biology from Wageningen University (the Netherlands) and his Ph.D. degree (1996) in microbiology from Gteborg University (Sweden). In 1999, he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor in Applied Microbiology at the University of Turku (Finland), and he is the author of more than 250 journal articles and book chapters.
Seppo Salminen is a Professor and the Director of Functional Foods Forum at the University of Turku, Finland, and has been a visiting professor at the RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and Universitt fr Bodenkultur, Vienna, Austria. He is the author of over 400 journal articles and book chapters, and the editor or coeditor of several books. He has served in NDA Panel (evaluation of eg novel foods and health claims) and several working groups of the European Food Safety Authority and other international committees including ILSI Europe and International Dairy Federation. Professor Salminen received his M.S. degree (1978) in food science from Washington State University, Pullman, his M.Sc. degree (1979) in food chemistry and technology from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and his Ph.D. degree (1982) in biochemistry and toxicology from the University of Surrey, UK. He is a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and the president elect of the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP).
Atte von Wright is the Emeritus Professor of Food Biotechnology at the University of Eastern Finland. He graduated in 1975 from the University of Helsinki, majoring in General Microbiology, obtained his Licentiate of Philosophy degree from the same University in 1978, and his PhD degree from the University of Sussex, UK. His research interest include food toxicology and hygiene, molecular biology of lactic acid bacteria, probiotics and prebiotics and natural bioactive compounds. Besides his University career he has worked as a research group leader in Valio Finnish Coopersative dairies' Association and in the Technical Research Centre of Finland. His previous international duties include working as an expert in the panels of The European Food Safety Authority dealing with the safety aspects of feed additives and genetically modified organisms.
