Our research group focuses on the phenomena related to food, microbiota, and health. We are keen to understand the molecular players involved when diet affects the microbiota, microbiota modulates the biochemical load entering our body, and eventually links nutrition with health outcomes evidenced by metabolic consequences throughout our tissues. Our goal is to provide a high-resolution characterization of the biochemical space of foods that are epidemiologically proven healthy, such as whole-grain products and other plant-based foods.

We are particularly interested in understanding the relevance of microbial metabolism in this scheme – not only the role of gut microbiota, but also the role of fermenting bacteria that are used in food manufacturing such as sourdough baking, and the potential metabolic connection between food fermenting and gut microbes. Moreover, our research focus extends to the assessment of detailed molecular information obtainable from individual organs upon their exposure to various foods and diets.

Throughout our research, the key analytical approach is the mass spectrometry-based metabolomics technique, which we are extensively exploiting and developing to optimize the pipeline all the way from data acquisition to the actual identification of the metabolites.