Session 1: Human Gut Microbiota: Updates on Science and Research in Southeast Asia

Mr Geoffry Smith, ILSI SEA Region

Mr. Geoffry Smith is President of ILSI Southeast Asia Region based in Singapore, and a Representative of the branch to the ILSI Global Assembly. He is also the Chairman of the Essential Micronutrients Foundation, a non-profit organization which addresses micronutrient deficiencies globally as a public health issue. In addition, he is Director of Nutrition Strategies International which deals with food and nutrition issues in developing countries. Mr. Smith serves as a member of the editorial board of the journal Food and Nutrition Bulletin. Prior to his current positions, Mr. Smith was the Global Director, Health Chelates for Akzo Nobel Functional Chemicals, and directed the global business for these compounds in food and nutrition as well as pharmaceutical applications. He was responsible for the global project within Akzo Nobel addressing iron deficiency anemia.

Prof Yuan Kun Lee, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Prof Yuan Kun Lee is a University Fellow at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He is past-President of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS), Asian Federation of Society for Lactic Acid Bacteria (AFSLAB) and the Singapore Society of Microbiology and Biotechnology (SSMB). His research interests include the effect of diet on the cross-talk between the gastrointestinal microbiota and the host, and microbial fermentation processes in the production of food and pharmaceuticals and the treatment of waste. Prof Lee has published over 260 papers in international peer-reviewed scientific journals, presented 117 talks at international & local conferences, contributed 52 chapters in books, and authored 9 monographs. In addition, he has 3 patents to his name. Prof Lee received his PhD from the University of London, United Kingdom.

Prof Rob Knight, Centre for Microbiome Innovation, University of California San Diego, USA

Prof Rob Knight is the founding Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation and Professor of Pediatrics, Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego. He is the Wolfe Family Endowed Chair in Microbiome Research.  He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Microbiology. He was honored with the 2019 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for his microbiome research and received the 2017 Massry Prize, often considered a predictor of the Nobel. He is the author of “Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes” (Simon & Schuster, 2015), coauthor of “Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System (St. Martin’s Press, 2017), and written over 900 scientific articles. His work has linked microbes to a range of health conditions including obesity and inflammatory bowel disease, and made high-throughput microbiome sequencing techniques accessible to researchers around the world.

Dr Chun Wie Chong, School of Pharmacy, Monash University, Malaysia

Dr Chong Chun Wie is an Associate Professor and the Deputy Head of School-Research at the School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia.  Dr Chong's studies focus on soil and gastrointestinal systems, examining the complex interactions between microbial populations and their environment, and how these communities evolve and adapt to different conditions. His team is deeply engaged in exploring the intricate link between gut health and various diseases, such as Diabetes, Parkinson’s Diseases and Gastrointestinal Disorders. Dr Chong’s team has started a project to profile the Malaysian Gut Microbiome, and the initial results suggested a race-distinct gut microbial composition, reflecting the variation in diet and lifestyle across the different ethnicities. The team is currently investigating how such variation in the gut microbial composition interacts with drugs and diseases and influences overall health.

Dr Pinidphon Prombutara, ModGut Co., Ltd, Thailand

Dr Pinidphon Prombutara is Director of Commercial & Research Operation, Mod Gut Co., Ltd, a gut microbiome service-based company in Thailand. Through the consolidation of microbiome data of people in Thailand and in ASEAN countries, his current role is to develop gut microbiome test and dietary recommendation applications based on an individual’s gut microbiome data, advancing new solutions and health care for Thai people and the region. Before joining Mod Gut Co., Ltd, Dr Prombutara was a research manager and lecturer at the Omics Sciences and Bioinformatics Center, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. He holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of North Texas, USA.

Prof Leslie Dalmacio, College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila

Prof Dalmacio is Vice Chancellor for Research and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of the Philippines Manila. She is the immediate past President and Chair of the Medical Sciences Division of the National Research Council of the Philippines, and is a Fellow of the Philippine Academy of Microbiology. Prof Dalmacio has served in several professional organizations including as former President of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and also the Philippine Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors in the Philippine Probiotics and Functional Foods Society. She had research fellowships at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole Massachusetts, USA and at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases in Singapore. Her research deals with virology, the human microbiome and probiotics. She has a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (minor in Microbiology) from the University of the Philippines.

Prof Ingrid Surono, Food Technology Department, BINUS University, Indonesia

Prof Ingrid Surono is Professor in Functional Foods at BINUS University, Jakarta, Indonesia. She served as Head of the Food Technology Department, BINUS University, for over 7 years. She was previously lecturer and researcher at SEAMEO RECFON, and head of PhD Program in Community Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia-SEAMEO RECFON. Prof Surono currently serves as President of the Indonesian Scientific Society for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISSPP), and in the Advisory Council of Swedish South Asian Network on Fermented Foods. She has published more than 100 papers in reputable journals, with scopus h-index 22. She has presented in several conferences, received awards and has a patent on probiotic foods to her name. Her research interests include probiotic and functional foods, traditional fermented foods, food microbiology, diet and nutrition, and human microbiome. Prof Surono obtained her PhD from The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Gifu University, Japan.