Speakers

	Cathie Martin Cathie is a group leader at the John Innes Centre and Professor at the University of East Anglia. Her interests span from fundamental to applied plant science. She researches into the relationship between diet and health and how crops can be fortified to improve diets and address the global challenge of escalating chronic disease. This work has involved linking leading clinical and epidemiological researchers with plant breeders and metabolic engineers to develop scientific understanding of how diet can help to maintain health, promote healthy ageing and reduce the risk of chronic disease. Cathie is also involved in genetic screens to identify crops which lack toxins that cause nutritional diseases, and has recently initiated a collaborative project with China to research on Chinese Medicinal Plants.
	Laura Jaakola Dr. Laura Jaakola is a Research leader of the Climate Laboratory Holt in Tromsø, Norway, and has a scientific background in plant physiology, molecular biology and biochemistry. Her research activities have focused on the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in plants, especially anthocyanins and other phenolic compounds in Nordic wild berries. The main interest is in the developmental control of the biosynthesis of the key metabolites in berries and the environmental and genetic factors that regulate the process. She has numerous international publications and a wide international collaboration network.
	Takayuki Tohge Takayuki Tohge is a research project leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Golm, Germany. He received a PhD from Chiba University by Prof. Kazuki Saito in pharmaceutical science. After completing his PhD, he participated in establishing the plant metabolomics research group of RIKEN institute in Japan for two years, and then later joined the group of Dr. Alisdair Fernie in Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology.
	Stefan Martens In the post-genomic area, limited understanding of metabolic pathways underlying the biosynthesis of secondary compounds in plants still impedes progress in biotechnological approaches in plants, microorganisms and molecular breeding strategies. Stefan’s research is focused on biochemistry and molecular biology of important steps in plant secondary product pathways in apple, soft fruits and medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) and the biotechnological production of bioactive compounds. He is active in various international and industrial projects and is the author of over sixty papers in ISI journals. His research combines metabolomic and genomic data to identify novel gene function and construct plant metabolite pathway networks (gene-to-metabolite approach) involved in the biosynthesis of key metabolites. Novel gene functions are characterised by recombinant protein biotechnology in vitro, in vivo and in planta. This new knowledge enables the design and development for combinatorial biosynthesis platforms of natural compounds for pharmaceutical and food industries.
	Heidi Halbwrith Heidi Halbwirth is Assistant Professor at Technische Universität Wien in Vienna, Austria. She received a PhD from Technische Universität Wien under Professor Karl Stich in chemistry and spent her post-doc period at Technische Universität München in Freising at the Chair of Ornamental Plants with Professor Gert Forkmann. Her research activities have concentrated on plant secondary metabolism in horticulturally relevant plants with a strong focus on the enzymes involved and their structure-function relationships. Her particular research passion is dedicated to flower color which allows her to study fundamental aspects of plant biochemistry and physiology whilst using the most beautiful and attractive study objects. She is the author of numerous international publications and coordinates several national and international projects dealing with fundamental and industrial research.
	Toshihiko Osawa Dr. Toshihiko Osawa is a Professor at Aichi Gakuin University, Aichi, Japan. After receiving his PhD from Tokyo University (Agricultural Chemistry), he worked as a research fellow at Australian National University, a Visiting Professor at University of California, and later became a Professor at Nagoya University. On leaving Nagoya University, he became a Professor emeritus at Nagoya University and moved to Aichi Gakuin University. His current research interests are, (1) analysis of the mechanism of oxidative stress by application of immunochemical methods and (2) the protective role of dietary components in oxidative stress, and the role of food factors for disease prevention. He has published more than 300 scientific papers and more than 250 review papers and books.
	Roger Hurst Dr Roger Hurst is the Science Group Leader for the Food & Wellness Group of Plant & Food Research Limited. Dr Hurst has experience in the biomedical health area through an academic career at the University of Toronto, Canada ; the Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK ; the Institute of Neurology, London, UK ; and the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Since joining Plant & Food Research (2007) he has developed an interest in phytochemical compounds and their role in modulating oxidative stress, inflammation, and immunity to aid tissue recovery and repair. Roger has published over 80 manuscripts and leads research programmes supporting the development of new food products derived from commercial and new fruit cultivars (esp berry fruits) for targeted human health benefits. Group Website: http://www.plantandfood.co.nz/page/our-people/food-innovation/food-wellness/ Researcher ID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-9460-2014 ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roger_Hurst?ev=prf_highl
	Dr. Barbara Shukitt-Hale Dr. Barbara Shukitt-Hale is the USDA Lead Scientist in the Laboratory of Neuroscience, USDA-ARS, Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University in Boston, MA. She received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Boston University in 1993. Dr. Shukitt-Hale has been involved in research for 35 years. Her current work involves determining the factors responsible for age-related behavioral and neurochemical changes and possible amelioration of these effects with various nutritional treatments. She has published more than 200 articles and selected papers.
	Peter Landon-Lane Peter Landon-Lane took up the role of CEO at Plant & Food Research in September 2008. Prior to that he held a number of senior positions within Fonterra and the New Zealand Dairy Board, including heading businesses in Taiwan, Japan and Europe. Peter started his career at the former Department of Trade and Industry, which included serving as a trade commissioner in China and the Philippines. He is a board member of Science New Zealand, the NZ Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, a member of the New Zealand China Council’s advisory board, Callaghan Innovation’s Stakeholder Advisory Group, and several Plant & Food Research joint ventures and research partnerships. Peter has degrees in science and economics and is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.
	Professor Kevin S. Gould Kevin Gould received his PhD in Botany from the University of Manchester in 1985, and worked for two years as a postdoctorate at the University of California, Riverside, before moving to New Zealand. He has taught plant development, physiology, and ecophysiology for almost 30 years to students at the Universities of Auckland and Otago, and most recently at Victoria University of Wellington. As Professor of Plant Biology, Kevin is a passionate teacher, which has earned him teaching awards from both Auckland and Otago, and a National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award for Sustained Excellence in 2011. His research interests in anthocyanin pigments were kindled during a sabbatical at Prof. David Lee’s lab in Miami in 1994, when the two scientists advanced the hypothesis that the red coloration might protect leaves from adverse effects of environmental stressors. Since then, Kevin and his graduate students have studied the diverse functions of anthocyanins in roots and shoots in relation to light stress, UV-B radiation, temperature extremes, free-radicals, and herbivory. In recent years he has begun to address the functional significance of another group of red pigments, the betalains. Kevin was awarded the Roger Slack Award in Plant Biology in 2007 for his work on anthocyanins, and the Leonard Cockayne Memorial Lecture Award in 2011 for his significant contribution to understanding of the New Zealand flora.
	Mary Lila Mary Ann Lila is Director of the Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI), North Carolina State University, North Carolina Research Campus. She holds the David H. Murdock Distinguished Professorship, and is a Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences. Through ground-breaking, transdisciplinary discovery and outreach, her team of faculty at PHHI pioneers a dramatic shift in the way the American public views and uses food crops – not merely as a source of nutrients and flavourful calories, but as a powerful resource for components that protect and enhance human health. Integrated research is aimed at development and promotion of fruit and vegetable produce with enhanced health benefits, and introduction of new crops, allowing consumers to make dietary choices that benefit their own, and their families’ health. Dr. Lila is a co-Director of an ambitious public-private Plant Pathways Elucidation Project (P2EP) which synergizes the talents of academia and industry.
	Veronique Cheynier Dr. Véronique Cheynier is Research Director at INRA, the French National Institute for Agriculture Research, and the head of the Polyphenol Platform hosted by Joint Research Unit Sciences for Enology in Montpellier, France. Her research interests include the structure of polyphenolic compounds and particularly tannins, their analysis, their biosynthesis in plants, their reactions in plant transformation products, and their influence on the quality of foods and beverages, especially wine. Véronique Cheynier has been the President of Groupe Polyphénols, the international society dedicated to the promotion of research on plant polyphenols, from 2012 to 2016.