Dr. Xavier Asensio, Ph.D. (Poultry Nutritionist, Aviagen, UK)

“’Principles and Implementation of Broiler Breeder Nutrition Specifications “

Xavier ASENSIO works as a Nutritionist at Aviagen, providing support in the TMEA area. Graduate in Veterinary, Animal Production specialty (Universidad de Zaragoza. Spain). Master of Science, Specialization in Poultry Production (CFPPSA. France). Ph.D. in Veterinary, Animal and Food Science (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, UAB. Spain). Before starting at Aviagen, Dr. Asensio worked in two poultry production companies and was associate professor in the Department of Animal Health and Anatomy of the UAB Veterinary School.

Reece H. Cannady, (Assistant Regional Director – Middle East and Europe at U.S. Grains Council, USA)

“Trade and challenges for grains and protein sources, and future expectations “

Reece H. Cannady serves as the Assistant Regional Director – Middle East and Europe for the U.S. Grains Council, a non-profit organization that promotes the use of U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and their co-products, including ethanol. In this capacity, Reece provides trade servicing expertise to the Council, strengthens the Council’s relationships with the U.S. and global traders and further the export marketing interests of U.S. feed grains and co-products.  He holds a bachelor of science degree in economics with a dual concentration in finance and management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Reece has spent time working with feed industry stakeholders in over 50 different countries across all six populated continents. A quick learner, Reece has been able to take his experience and apply frameworks around the world leading to repeated successes for U.S. grain exports.

Just as important as spending time in consultations with customers, is working directly with American growers. This allows Reece to be the direct link between American farmers and their customers overseas, forging relationships that are becoming increasingly important in today’s competitive landscape. A regularly requested speaker, Reece not only carries the message of U.S. farmers to overseas buyers, but also conducts and presents economic analysis surrounding the global corn and distillers’ grains (DDGS) markets.

Prof. Dr. Selim Çetiner (Sabancı University, Türkiye)

“Biotechnology; Critical Solution for Sustainable Life, Environment and Food Production “

Professor Cetiner has received his Ph.D. in Louisiana State University on genetic transformation of potatoes with antibacterial lytic peptides and high essential amino acids encoding genes in 1989. Upon his return from the US, he has established “Laboratory for Plant Biotechnology” in Cukurova University in Adana which was the first modern biotechnology laboratory in Turkey. Since 2001 he has been teaching agricultural biotechnology at Sabanci University in Istanbul and doing research on the molecular characterization of ancient wine grape varieties, detection of GMOs in food and feed, and most recently molecular characterization of multicarpel floral development in an endemic legume species. Professor Cetiner has been a member of the Biotechnology Committee at the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey, and served as a delegate in the Working Group for the Harmonization of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology in the OECD between 1999 and 2008. Currently, he is serving on the Steering Committe of the Public Research and Regulation Initiative. Professor Cetiner has an associate degree diploma from Department of Law for the Programme in Jurisprudence, Anadolu University, and has been serving as legal advisor in lawsuits instigated for alleged contravention of the Biosafety Law. Professor Cetiner is also farming on his family farm in Adana.

Prof. Dr. İbrahim Çiftci (Ankara University, Türkiye)

Feed and nutritional strategies for sustainable chicken meat production

Prof. dr. İbrahim Çiftci has graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science in 1987. He completed his PhD at the same university in 1991 and has been working as a researcher since 1989. His research areas are feed production technologies, feed raw materials and additives (especially feed enzymes and amino acids), optimal feed formulations, early feeding practices in broiler and turkey chicks, digestive system development and carcass quality in broilers, as well as animal nutrition-environment relationships.

Prof. Dr. Richard Ducatelle (Ghent University, Belgium)

“Causes and consequences of intestinal inflammation in broiler chickens“

Prof. Dr. Richard DUCATELLE holds a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (1978) and a PhD (1983) in veterinary pathology from the University of Ghent. Following his PhD studies, he served as a scientific advisor to the Belgian government between 1985 and 1989. Following scientific consultancy, he was appointed as Professor at Ghent University in 1989 and since 1993 he leaded the veterinary pathology laboratory of Ghent University. He served as a member of the Ghent University board of the governers / executive board between 2008 and 2020. He has been chairman of the WVPA Belgian branch since 1991. He has more than 700 scientific publications listed in the web of science on stomach and intestinal health in monogastric animals, and 34 doctoral dissertations that he supervised. He is the author or co-author of more than 400 international congress papers and an invited speaker at more than 200 national and international congresses.

Dr. Elisabeth Le Bihan-DUVAL (INRAE , France)

“Incubation, maintenance and feeding management to limit meat quality defects”

Elisabeth Le Bihan-Duval is director of research at INRAE, the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment. She first learned agronomy in Agrocampus school at Rennes before specializing in Poultry Genetics thanks to a PhD on the genetic determinism of leg disorders in meat-type chickens, in 1995. She is working since that time at the Avian Biology and Poultry Research unit in Nouzilly (https://www6.val-de-loire.inrae.fr/boa), where she was the head of the genetic team for ten years (2006-2016) and deputy director of the unit since 2017. Because poultry meat production and consumption have largely evolved in the past twenty years, she has developed several research programs on the genetic control of meat quality, based on quantitative genetics with the selection of original genetic lines as well as genomics for the understanding of the genes involved. She supervised several PhD students from France or foreign countries and has published around 110 peer reviewed papers thanks to a large network of collaborations with researchers and professionnals.

Prof. Dr. Filip Van Immerseel (Gent University, Belgium)

“The use of gut health biomarkers to improve sustainability of broiler chicken production”

Filip Van Immerseel is Master in Bio-engineering Sciences (1999) and Master in Laboratory Animal Sciences (2004) and received a PhD in Veterinary Medical Sciences in 2004, studying environmental triggers in the gut that influence Salmonella invasion. After a post-doc period, he was appointed as Research Professor by Ghent University in 2008. Currently he is Full Professor at the Department of Pathobiology, Pharmacology and Zoological Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Ghent University in Belgium and is head of a research group that studies host-bacterium interactions in the gut. Filip Van Immerseel currently has more than 230 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals, has written book chapters and edited books on Salmonella and Clostridium perfringensand is a well-known speaker at international events. He is editor of the journal Avian Pathology and involved in many international collaborative research networks, has a dozen patents and has out-licensed multiple gut health solutions to companies. The general approach is always to study host-pathogen or host-bacterium interactions and to collect scientific data on mechanisms of a) the pathogenesis of diseases or b) the protective effects of bacterial strains and bacterial metabolites on gut homeostasis. These data can then be used for rational development of control measures to control pathogen colonization or intestinal disease, including vaccines, feed additives and diagnostic tools.

Prof. Dr. Bernd Kaspers (Ludwig-Maximilians University, Germany)

“Structure and function of the enteric immune system and its role in enteric diseases”

Prof. Kaspers graduated in Veterinary Medicine in 1986 from the University of Munich and received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1989. In 1991 and 1992 he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the United States Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, MD, USA where he did research on the immune response to coccidosis before returning to Munich. Since 1997 he is a Professor for Animal Physiology at the University of Munich, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. He has more than 30 years of research experience in animal physiology and immunology which is documented by more than 110 peer-reviewed publications. He is co-editor of “Avian Immunology” published in a 2^ndedition in 2014 and senior editor of the 3^rd edition published in 2022. He is actively involved in the Avian Immunology Research Group (AIRG) and hosted the 2004 AIRG symposium in Munich and the AIRG 2016 in Upper Bavaria. His work involves research on both the innate and adaptive arms of the avian immune system with a particular focus on host-pathogen interaction, immune system maturation and mucosal immunity. Through this he has developed a broad range of tools for avian immunology research such as CD-markers, recombinant cytokines, bio-assays and technologies for functional in vivo studies which have been made available to the international avian research community. Prof Kaspers received funding from the European Union, the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Ministry for Education and Research and a number of vaccine and nutrition companies. He also coordinated a DFG funded Graduate School at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Munich.
He has supervised more than 25 thesis in veterinary medicine and animal physiology/immunology and served as a PhD examiner in the EU on several occasions.

Prof.Dr.Margie Lee (Virginia Tech University, USA)

“Emerging foodborne diseases of poultry meat and challenges for sustainability”

Dr. Margie D. Lee is Professor and Head of the department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology and the Interim Director of the Animal Cancer Care and Research Center at the Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, USA. She is formerly the Associate Director of the University of Georgia Biomedical Health Sciences Institute and Director of the Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center Diagnostic Laboratory at The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, Athens GA, USA. In addition to research and administration, she teaches veterinary students, graduate and undergraduate students and veterinary residents. Her training includes degrees in veterinary medicine, biology and chemistry with research training in infectious diseases. Her research focuses on infectious diseases, disease ecology, microbiome and diagnostic microbiology resulting in over 100 peer-reviewed publications as well as chapters in the Merck Veterinary Manual and the Laboratory Manual for Isolation, Identification and Characterization of Avian Pathogens. However her work culminates in a focus on bacterial diseases of poultry leading to an intensive interest in the intestinal microbiome’s influence on gut health and enteric pathogen control by competitive exclusion.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dieter Liebhart (Veterinary University, Austria)

“Histomonosis – current challenges in control of blackhead disease in turkeys”

Dieter Liebhart received his diploma in veterinary medicine at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria in 2003. He continued with research at the same university and awarded his doctoral degree in 2007 at the Clinic for Avian, Reptile and Fish Medicine by establishing an in situ hybridization to detect the parasite Histomonas meleagridis in tissues. In the following years he worked as a post-doctoral researcher focusing on the disease histomonosis. He completed a practical training in avian pathology at the University of California Davis, USA. In 2016 he became Assistant Professor in poultry immunology at the Clinic for Poultry and Fish Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria and still holds this position. He was appointed as de facto Diplomate of the European College of Poultry Veterinary Science in 2013. The Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research awarded him with the Award of Excellence for his work in research and in 2015 he was selected to give the Avian Pathology Lecture sponsored by the Houghton Trust at the XIXth World Veterinary Poultry Association Congress in Capetown, South Africa. His main research interests are infectious immunology, parasitology, pathology and histopathology of poultry. His works are published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences. To date, Dieter Liebhart has published 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals (July 2022).

Anne-Marie Neeteson, MSc  (Aviagen , UK)

“Improving welfare and sustainability of poultry meat production“

Anne-Marie has studied at Wageningen University in the Netherlands (MSc, majors animal genetics and animal behaviour). Anne-Marie has been setting up and running a representation organisation of the European animal breeding organisations (EFFAB, cattle, pigs, poultry, aquaculture) during 17 years. Aviagen is one of the members of EFFAB. She has also set up a patent watch, a Code of Good Practice for Animal Breeding Organisations (Code-EFABAR), an EU recognised technology platform on animal breeding (FABRE TP) and initiated the ‘Animal Task Force’ in Europe.

Anne-Marie is working for Aviagen Group (chicken, turkey) as Group Senior Advisor Welfare, Sustainability and Compliance.

Anne-Marie has represented the International Poultry Council at FAO related initiatives, she has chaired the IPC Environment and Sustainability Working Group, identifying where the meat poultry sector can make a difference for the UN sustainability pillars and the Sustainable Development Goal. The latter resulted in a signed agreement on meat poultry sustainability between IPC and FAO, the Declaration of São Paulo, in August 2019. She currently leads the IPC Health and Welfare Working Group. Anne-Marie is a board member of the International Poultry Welfare Alliance, and involved in various other policy and communication initiatives on the poultry business. The latter is always on request of local Aviagen responsibles and often via poultry associations. Items are welfare, sustainability, biodiversity, and the image of poultry business. Anne-Marie is a PAACO welfare auditor.

Prof.Dr. Clara Marín Orenga (CEU Cardenal Herrera University, Spain)

“Control of Salmonella and Campylobacter in broiler meat for sustainable production”

Clara Marín is professor of Avian Infectious Diseases at the University Cardenal Herrera CEU and Board Member of the European College of Poultry Veterinary Sciences. She graduated in Veterinary Sciences in 2004 and defended her PhD with European Mention entitled Salmonella epidemiology in broilers flocks (2009). That same year she joined the University. After her incorporation, she began a new research group as the principal researcher called “Improvement in Food Safety in Productive System and its Products”. This research line specializes in the control of zoonotic microorganisms and the development of alternative tools to the use of antibiotics. She has obtained three MINECO projects (2022-PID2021-125641OB-C22, 2017-RTA2017-00130000 and 2017-AGL2017-85162-C2-1-R) and three European projects (H2020-EIC-FTI-2018-2020, H2020-RUR-2018-2020, JPIAMR-2021). In the MINECO projects, she studied how different management techniques influence animal welfare and intestinal health, evaluating microbiota development during rearing based on metagenomic and bioinformatic analysis, the AMRs present, and the transmission of ARGs based on resistome analysis. In line with the European projects, she developed and applied alternative biological tools to antibiotics (bacteriophages) in the field, capable of eliminating Salmonella and E.coli at the field level. Her research work is characterized by continued collaboration with the agri[1]food sector (more than 30 R+D+i research agreements) and contributions to national and international congresses (63), numerous dissemination papers published for the agri-food sector (42), research papers published in Journal Citation Report (60) and numerous PhD students supervised (13)

Prof. Dr. Massimiliano Petracci (Bologna University, Italy)

“Strategies to alleviate Breast Meat Myopathies in broilers: a big challenge for sustainable poultry meat production”

Massimiliano Petracci is a full professor at the University of Bologna since 2018 and his research encompasses several aspects of poultry production and product quality. Over the past 20 years, Massimiliano Petracci has become an internationally recognized expert in poultry meat quality within academia and industry. Currently he is working on the characterization and mechanisms underlying the emerging meat abnormalities in poultry (white striping, wooden breast and spaghetti meat). He is author of more than 120 peer-reviewed articles and for the second consecutive year he is named in the World’s top 2% of Scientists released by Stanford University. Recently, he has edited books entitled “Improving poultry meat quality” (Burleigh Dodds, 2022) and “Poultry quality evaluation” (Academic Press, 2017). Since 2014 he serves as chair the Working Group 5 “Poultry Meat Quality” of the European Federation of the World’s Poultry Science Association and he is associated editor of “World Rabbit Science”, “Meat and Muscle Biology” and “Frontiers in Physiology” and “World’s Poultry Science Journal”. He also participates in various international (INTAQT, FutureEUAqua e NextGenProteins), and national projects. In addition to his research responsibilities, he is the Coordinator of PhD Programme of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science and Technology and he teaches courses on innovations in meat and egg processing and seafood quality in the master course on Food Science and Technology at the University of Bologna.

Tim van Schaik, MSc (Marel, the Netherlands)

Digitization for success in poultry processing

Tim van Schaik serves as the Global Manager Product Market Expertise for Marel Poultry. In this capacity, Tim together with his team, provides market expertise and insights to Marel customers all over the world how to gain a competitive edge. His team also plays an important role in the Innovation process within Poultry; particularly in identifying new or improved product-market combinations and launching them to the market.

Marel is the global market leader in transforming food processing. Marel provides machinery, software, systems and solutions that help food processors gain a competitive edge and make the most of cutting edge technology such as digitization, automation and robotics.

He holds a master of science degree in Animal Biology & Welfare from the University of Essex, in the UK (MSc majors Animal Welfare & Biology). Tim has been with Marel over 11 years

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Prof. Dr. Birger Svihus (Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway)

“Balancing macro and microstructure of feed to reach best pellet quality”

Birger Svihus graduated from the Agricultural University of Norway in 1991 with a degree in Animal Science, and completed his PhD in Poultry Nutrition at the same University in 1997.  He is currently a Professor with the Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway.  He is the author or co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers (H-index 34) and is the author of or contributor to several books (including three within human nutrition), and numerous invited conference papers. His scientific work in poultry nutrition has mainly been within the area of cereal fibre and starch, feed technology, digestive tract function and feeding systems. He had a leading role in the organisation of the 14^th European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition (2003) and the 14^th European Poultry Conference (2014), organized under the auspices of World’s Poultry Science Association (WPSA). He was the president of the Norwegian branch of WPSA from 1996 to 2009 and the president of the European Federation of WPSA from 2014 to 2018. From 2016 through 2021, he was Editor-in-Chief in British Poultry Science.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dr. Vasilios Tsiouris (University of Thessaly, Greece)

“Novel approaches to control Avian Influenza and Newcastle disease in broiler chicks“

Vasileios Tsiouris Veteriner Hekimdir, Gıda Bilimi ve Teknolojisi Yüksek Lisansı (2014) ve 2010 yılında Veteriner Tıp Bilimleri alanında doktorasını tamamlayarak, etlik piliçlerde nekrotik enteritin patogenezinde stres yönetimi faktörlerinin etkisini incelemiştir. Doktora sonrası araştırmalarını takiben, 2013 yılında Selanik Aristotle Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi tarafından sözleşmeli Doçent olarak atanmıştır. Halen Yunanistan’daki Selanik Aristotle Üniversitesi, Veteriner Fakültesi Kanatlı Tıbbı Kliniği Birimi’nde Doçent olarak görev yapmaktadır. Uluslararası hakemli dergilerde 40’tan fazla bilimsel makalesi bulunmaktadır ve Kanatlılar üzerine kitap bölümleri yazmış ve kitapların editörlüğünü yapmıştır. EBVS® Kümes Hayvanları Veteriner Biliminde Avrupa Uzmanı ve Avrupa Kümes Hayvanları Veteriner Bilimleri Koleji Yunanistan Eğitim Merkezi’nin direktörüdür. Ana araştırma konusu, bağırsak sağlığı üzerindeki stres, yönetim ve virülans faktörlerinin etkileşimi ve bağırsak ekosisteminin dengesini kontrol etmek için antibiyotiklere alternatif stratejilerin kullanılmasıdır.

Dr. Jarosław Wilczyński (Lab-Vet Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory , Poland)

“Diagnosis and Practical solutions of ILT and Adenovirus in Broilers“

Jarosław Wilczyński is a veterinarian with 19 years of experience in the diagnosis of poultry diseases.

He is the Head of a Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory dealing with microbiological, serological, molecular and histopathological diagnostics of poultry diseases as well as food and animal nutrition testing. In his work he is responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the Quality Management System in the laboratory in accordance with the ISO standards and validation of research procedures.  In addition, he assists in the selection of the appropriate laboratory technique and in the interpretation of test results. His main interests are in the virulence factors of pathogenic microorganisms, drug resistance in bacteria and the pathomechanism of disease caused by microorganisms.

His PhD dissertation focused on molecular characteristics of virulence factors and drug susceptibility of Escherichia coli (APEC) strains isolated from poultry in western Poland. Wilczyński has attended various seminars and conferences and has written numerous articles  in the field of poultry disease pathology.