Journées francophones de nutrition: two prizes for the BIA unit!

Wieneke Dijk, a research fellow in the Allergy team, is studying food allergies and, more specifically, how the allergenicity of a food can be modified by its processing. She was awarded a research prize of €20,000 for the following project: impact of processing on the allergenicity of pea proteins.

Anaïs Rousseaux (PhD student 2020-2023) has been awarded the SFN/SYNADIET prize of €5,000 in recognition of the quality of her thesis entitled: ‘Prevention of food allergy in offspring by an ante-natal supplementation strategy with a breast milk oligosaccharide’ (thesis funded by the Food for Tomorrow RFI of the Pays de la Loire region). She worked on the prevention of food allergy in offspring by supplementing mothers during gestation with a human milk oligosaccharide (HMO). This supplementation protects the offspring against the onset of food allergy, with a complete disappearance of allergy symptoms and a restoration of a more tolerant immune response.