Dr. Koen Venema is microbiome expert at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, part of Wageningen University & Research. He is also founder and CEO of the company Beneficial Microbes® Consultancy and founder and CEO of the company Beneficial Bugs B.V.

The gut microbiota has been shown to be extremely important in health and disease through interaction with our immune system, our metabolism and even our brain. For more than 25 years Dr. Venema has studied the effect of food components on health and disease through the gut microbiota using sophisticated in vitro models of the gastrointestinal tract. At Wageningen Food & Biobased Research he studies the structure-function relationship of prebiotics and fibers and their potential to modulate the gut microbiota towards health in a personalized manner, using artificial intelligence.