FoodBooster Webinars: The Science of Nutrition at Your Fingertips

Throughout its program, the IIS FoodBooster has developed a series of monthly webinars designed to share scientific advances in nutrition and health and to strengthen ties among stakeholders in the Walloon ecosystem. Short format—one hour during lunchtime, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.—accessibility, and a high level of expertise have been the hallmarks of this initiative.

Five sessions marked the IIS calendar. In March 2025, Ana Fernandez of CER Groupe kicked off the series by presenting the group’s platforms’ contribution to the probiotics value chain, as part of the PEPTIBoost project. In June 2025, Véronique Delcenserie and Brunette Katsandegwaza (ULiège, FARAH) discussed the use of dynamic in vitro gastrointestinal models to evaluate the mucosal adhesion properties of probiotics. In September 2025, Gauthier Eppe, director of MSLab and coordinator of PHENIX at ULiège, presented the state-of-the-art analytical platforms made available to stakeholders in food and biotech innovation in Wallonia.

Fall 2025 marked a move toward engaging stakeholders outside the Walloon ecosystem: In November, Valérie Dormal, scientific coordinator of the Center for Clinical Nutrition Research (CICN) at UCLouvain, shared insights from clinical studies on prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics. Finally, in March 2026, François Heroufosse, R&D coordinator at Superbiotics, concluded the series by providing an overview of the potential of biotics as a future driver in nutrition and health.

Overall, this series served as an effective platform for knowledge dissemination and networking, demonstrating the IIS FoodBooster’s ability to bring together both Walloon academic expertise and high-level industry and clinical experts. It also helped maintain a continuous dynamic of partnership between more structured events such as the DIS5 Matchmaking event and the annual conference.