Christophe Courtin
Following his first appointment in 2002, Christophe Courtin has been a full professor of Food Biochemistry at the Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry at KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, since 2014. His research focuses on cereal starch and non-starch carbohydrates and dietary fibre, the enzymes that degrade them and fermentation in cereal processing. The emphasis is on a basic understanding of the structure and properties of these carbohydrates (as individual molecules and as components of complex 3D structures) as well as on their technological and health functionality in cereal-based processes and products, using, amongst others, molecular biology as a tool. Expertise and an extensive network in this area have been built up over the past two decades through many PhDs (42 supervised to completion), projects and national and international collaborations. At a national level, he took part in and coordinated successive multi-partner strategic basic research projects (Xylafun, Impaxos, Branding, Enzymares). He participated in European integrated research projects in four consecutive Framework Programmes (Gemini, Solfibread, Healthgrain, Biocore). From September 2022, he coordinates HealthFerm, a Horizon Europe 23 partner project (13.1 M€ budget). Recently, he (co-)organized and (co-)chaired the 8th Dietary Fibre Conference (2022) and the 20th EYCST Workshop (2023), both held in Leuven, Belgium. He was a member of scientific committees of over 15 international meetings.
Since 1998, Christophe Courtin (co-)authored approximately 330 peer-reviewed papers, cited around 15,700 times (WoS h-index: 66). He is (co-)inventor of patents in 12 patent families. Recent awards we received are the Harald Perten Prize (2021) and the Belfort Lecture Award (Whistler Centre for Carbohydrate Research, Purdue University, 2023).
Christophe Courtin took up several leadership roles within the university context, including division head, member of the board of his department and vice dean of his faculty (2015-2019; 2023-present), and in other (international) organisations (e.g. SAB member LSB, Munich). He is an elected member of the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering Assessment and Evaluation Committees.