Leading researchers to converge on Palmerston North in March

The Riddet Institute’s international conference, Food Structures, Digestion and Heath, in Palmerston North, 7-9 March will feature leading researchers from around the world.

They include plenary speaker Dr David Mela, who is Science Leader for Weight Management at Unilever R&D in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands. Dr Mela followed a PhD in nutrition in 1985 with an academic career in the US and UK and has co-authored over 100 published papers focused around biological and behavioural aspects of appetite control, substrate metabolism and energy balance Unilever is the sponsor of the conference’s poster session.

Professor Mike Gidley, Director of the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Queensland, will also speak at the conference. His major research interest is the linking of plant molecular structures to macroscopic properties with relevance to plant-based food properties. In particular, he is interested in investigating polysaccharide assemblies such as plant cell walls and starch granules, particularly the way these structures are assembled in nature and then disassembled during manufacturing and later during digestion.

Fonterra is the conference’s Platinum sponsor. More information here