An overview of the DOMINO project, with Prof. Orla O’Sullivan
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This episode features Prof. Orla O’Sullivan from Teagasc Food Research Centre, APC Microbiome Ireland and University College Cork, speaking about the DOMINO Horizon Europe project, which focuses on fermented foods. The project is led by the French Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), with partners across 10 countries. The goals of DOMINO are to investigate health benefits for milk kefir in both health and disease, and to design novel plant-based fermented food products. Kefir was chosen because one particular kefir developed in Canada showed early evidence of health benefits, and had potential to be reproducible and controlled. In the DOMINO clinical trials, various endpoints were studied, including people’s lipid profiles, microbiomes, metabolomic profiles, and weight changes. ‘Living Labs’, or stakeholder groups, are an important part of the project. Discussions with consumers and other stakeholders were used to co-design the novel fermented foods so that the science could remain relevant and address any concerns by these groups. A major challenge in the field of fermented foods is to establish controlled and stable fermented foods that can be used as interventions. Clear scientific evidence on fermented foods’ health benefits in humans is needed. DOMINO is looking at 6 different plant-based fermented products and doing case studies to help develop these foods. Prof. O’Sullivan says additional multi-disciplinary efforts are crucial, going forward, for creating controlled fermented foods that provide health benefits to the consumer.
Episode abbreviations and links:
- DOMINO project website: Home – DOMINO
About Prof. Orla O’Sullivan:
Prof. Orla O’Sullivan is a Principal Research Officer in Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ireland and Principal Investigator with VistaMilk and APC Microbiome Ireland, Research Ireland Centres). She holds an Adjunct professorship with the School of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, University College Cork. Orla has a H-Index of 74 with over 31000 citations leading to a list as a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher. In 2019, she was awarded the highly prestigious SFI Early Career Researcher of the Year.
Her research focuses on elucidating the microbiome from various environments including human gut and lung, soil, rumen and food. Currently she is vice Coordinator on the Horizon Europe project DOMINO which aims to assign health benefits to milk kefir and design novel plant based fermented foods.
