THE ROADMAP TO HEALTH AND WELLNESS BEGINS WITH THE MICROBIOTA
Experts in microbiome science to deliver next-generation products and solutions for your brand.
DR. CHARLES BUDINOFF Ph.D.
LEADING A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO ADVANCE STRAIN DISCOVERY AND MICROBIOME SCIENCE
“It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease, than to know what sort of disease a person has.”
In developing solutions, our team does not focus just on the health issue. We ask the bigger questions: What microbes are there? How and why do they change over time? What are the interactions between the host and the diet microbiota?
Broader “multi-omics” research provides a deeper vision into the different factors that influence health and wellness and the human microbiome. This holistic approach has been termed “systems biology.” It’s an approach that looks at the total picture—person, organs, tissues, cells. The result is deeper insights into gut microbiota composition, function, microbes, pathogens, and their interactions with each other the host. Ultimately, this approach inspires new strains, products, and product-delivery methods to innovate microbiome wellness solutions that are truly personalized and extraordinarily effective.
DISCOVERING PERSONALIZED MICROBIOME HEALTH AND WELLNESS SOLUTIONS
More than 1,000 IFF Health scientists are working every day to create a world-class foundation for innovation. Their involvements range from using multi-omics tools to help advance string candidates from discovery through our development pipelines to investigating microbiome dynamics in host systems.
MICROBIOME INNOVATORS
Meet Dr. Charles Budinoff, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist, Director R&D Health
Dr. Charles Budinoff, Ph.D. is the Strain Discovery and Microbiome Science Group Leader at IFF Health. Charles is a part of the technology and innovation team driving research and development of new probiotics and therapeutics to improve human health and wellness. Prior to joining IFF Health, Charles directed R&D groups at Algenol Biotech, an algae product development and manufacturing company. His teams were responsible for engineering the microbiota within algal production systems to maximize performance. He also lead pilot plant operations for developing processes to extract and purify natural algal-based products for inclusion in foods and cosmetics. He has over 20 years of experience in microbial physiology, ecology, and genomics, with a special emphasis on understanding how different environments structure microbial diversity and how microbes influence overall system functioning. He has a master’s degree in Marine Science from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in Microbiology from the University of Tennessee.
Meet Wesley Morovic
Team Leader | Probiotic Genomics | IFF Health & Biosciences
Wesley Morovic is a molecular microbiologist focusing on applied genomics in probiotics and microbiomics. Wes graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2006 with a bachelors in biology and joined IFF (formerly Danisco) in 2008, first working in the quality control department and now leading the Probiotic Genomics team. In his role, he has published research on CRISPR-mediated immunity dynamics, antibiotic resistance, and metabolite production in probiotics. Wes also works to adapt and apply new technologies to characterize probiotic safety, identity, and enumeration. He is currently interested in understanding probiotic influences on epigenetics and adaptive immunity in humans to provide solutions to new challenges in a world with a changing climate.
Meet Ritesh Kumar
Research Investigator | IFF Health & Biosciences
Ritesh Kumar is a Biochemist and Microbiologist with an interest in Host-Microbe interaction. Ritesh obtained his Ph.D. from Dept of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, India where he studied epigenetic modulations in H. pylori. He worked on exploring role of microbiome in gut inflammation and colorectal cancer when he was a Post-Doctoral fellow at Texas A & M University at Houston, Texas, USA.
Ritesh joined IFF (formerly Danisco) in 2019, and he is working on varies projects under Human Microbiome Venture. In his role, he is involved in developing novel methods to isolate new commensals and evaluating them in a pre-clinical setup for potential health benefits. He is currently interested in identifying novel metabolites produced by microbes and/or host and understanding how these molecules mechanistically influence host physiology. He believes that understanding the finer details will enable us to design more effective microbiome-based solutions to various health related challenges.
Learn more about the power of the microbiome
HEALTH BENEFIT INNOVATION TO INSPIRE YOUR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
By understanding the connections between gut microbiota, diet, and factors in the life of the human host, we gain insights into the complexities of the microbiome system. That vision enables meaningful functional categorization that is consistently expanding the breadth and innovation of our platforms that your brand can trust.
INTIMATE HEALTH
Brain Health
Digestive Health
Immune Health
Metabolic Health
