The Microbiome Ecosystem in Medicon Valley: Connecting Science, Industry and Regulation

The microbiome holds enormous promise – but realizing its potential requires more than great science.

This full-day seminar invites microbiome researchers and companies in Medicon Valley to step back and look at the bigger picture.

By bringing together researchers, companies, hospitals and ecosystem actors from across Medicon Valley we will explore the translational potential of microbiome research. We will examine how science, technology, regulation and sector perspectives intersect across multiple application areas.

Together, we will discuss how scientific advances meet regulatory realities, how different sectors can complement each other, and what it will take to move the microbiome field forward in a coordinated and impactful way. We will discuss where the field stands today, what the key bottlenecks are, and how we can move the microbiome field forward together.

The day is designed to foster dialogue, shared understanding, and new collaborations across the Medicon Valley microbiome ecosystem. Join us for a day of insight, exchange and ecosystem building.

Date: Friday 20th March 2026
Time: 9:00 – 15:00
Venue: Medicon Valley Alliance, HUB 2, Arne Jacobsens Allé 15, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark – Auditorium

Sign up  

Program

Speakers

​

	Alberto Santos is Scientific Director at BRIGHT (DTU), where he leads the Informatics Platform, and Group Lead at DTU Health Tech. He holds a PhD in Computational Biology from the University of Copenhagen and has worked across academia and industry, including roles at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, Oxford’s Big Data Institute, KU’s Center for Health Data Science, and Boehringer Ingelheim. His research bridges computational biology, data science, and translational research, with a focus on Knowledge Graphs and Graph Machine Learning for complex multi-omics data.
	Andreas Koulouktsis is a postdoctoral researcher at the DTU National Food Institute and the NNF Microbiome Health Initiative, where his research aims to bridge fundamental microbiome science with translational strategies to improve cardiometabolic health. He has a background in studying microbial metabolism and reorienting it toward therapeutic applications in metabolic diseases, particularly through the development of engineered biotherapeutics.
	Johan Westman is a Principal Scientist at Novonesis, specializing in the development of production processes for living active bacteria, with a strong focus on probiotics. With over a decade of experience in industrial biotechnology, he combines deep scientific expertise with practical innovation to advance microbial solutions for health and nutrition. Johan holds a Ph.D. in Biosciences from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
	Karl Alex Hedin is a Swedish scientist with a PhD from Morten Sommer’s lab at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability. His work focuses on understanding and engineering microbial systems, and he am currently dedicated to making good probiotics even better by improving their performance, stability, and real-world impact.
	Daniel Hovel Hansen is CEO and Co-Founder of Mastitia and seasoned expert in global commercialization of microbial solutions for human health. In addition to bringing his own product to market, he supports microbiome companies in shaping commercial strategies and translating scientific innovation into market success.
Panelists:
	Professor Denise Kelly joined Seventure Partners in 2015 as an Investment Advisor, focusing on Human Microbiome investments in Europe and the USA. Before that, she led a research team at the University of Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute for over 20 years, specializing in gut microbiology and immunology. Denise also founded GT Biologics Ltd, pioneering Microbiome-based Therapies. She holds a BSc and PhD from Queen’s University, Belfast, and is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Aberdeen, with numerous patents and collaborative projects in her portfolio.
	Lionel Mavoungou is CMC Director at VCLS, guiding developers across the full medicinal product lifecycle. He specializes in building robust CMC and manufacturing strategies to translate products from early research through clinical development. As lead for Microbiome CMC at VCLS, he works with a range of microbiome products including LBPs, FMT, and foods. Lionel also supports regulatory submissions and agency consultations in both the EU and the US.
	Jenny Landberg Clementsonis a European Patent Attorney at HØIBERG, where she provides patent related counselling to companies and universities, primarily within the fields of biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals. Jenny holds an MSc Eng in Biotechnology and completed her PhD at the Technical University of Denmark, focusing on genetic and metabolic engineering of yeast and bacteria.
	Robert Stanley Stephenson is a Senior Scientific Manager within Biomedical Research at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, where he works together with researchers and clinicians to build fundamental and translational research initiatives. Of note, he has been involved in the development of the Microbiome Health Initiative (MHI), which strives to develop novel microbiome-based solutions for CMD prevention and treatment. He was previously Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham Medical School, UK, and holds a BSc and PhD from the University of Liverpool, UK.

Deadline for registration is 18th March 

The Network

The MVA Microbiome Network is a professional network for Medicon Valley Alliance members from industry, academia and health care sector with interest in the Microbiome field, including drug discovery, nutrition and probiotic development. Joining the network is free of charge but is limited to Medicon Valley Alliance members. However, non-member organizations and companies are welcome to attend one network event to evaluate if joining the network is relevant. If so, becoming a member of Medicon Valley Alliance will automatically allow you to join the microbiome network.

For more information please contact Katrine Brems Olsen kbo@mva.org

Organized by