Hosted by NutraIngredients in association with the International Probiotics Association, The IPA World Congress + Probiota will take place at the Convention Centre, Dublin Feb. 11–13. The three-day conference will feature world-leading experts presenting the latest scientific, technical, regulatory, business and market insights.
Day two of the event is set to begin with an optional 5 km morning run or walk along the river to set attendees up for a day of discovery and networking.
The Regulatory Landscape
The first pillar of the programme ‘The Regulatory Landscape’, will open with Nektarios Tavernarakis, professor of molecular systems biology at the University of Crete and research director at the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas, who will explore the use of Caenorhabditis elegans as a powerful non-vertebrate model to advance the European Union’s 3R strategy (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).
This will be followed by a practical regulatory deep dive from Cathrine Löfgren, project manager at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, who will unpack the upcoming Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). Attendees will learn how companies across the packaging value chain can prepare for the upcoming deadlines.
A panel discussion on regulation updates will include Yolanda Garcia-Cazorla, scientific officer at the European Food Safety Authority; Rosanna Pecere, executive director of the International Probiotics Association; and Ivan Wasserman, managing partner at Amin Wasserman Gurnani.
Post-biotics
The next pillar will open with Colin Hill, professor of microbiology at University College Cork and founding principal investigator of APC Microbiome Ireland. Prof. Hill will explore the ISAPP definition of postbiotics and explain how inactivated microbial cells, cell-free supernatants, and microbial components can deliver meaningful health benefits despite the absence of live organisms.
Diamond Partners Britt Blokker and Erik Eckhardt, from dsm-firmenich, will present ‘Humiome Post LB: A century of postbiotic innovation for gut health and beyond’, tracing the origins and highlighting the future of this postbiotic ingredient. They will present new data on how it supports intestinal barrier function and will preview two upcoming clinical trials focused on healthy ageing.
Probiota’s annual ‘Scientific Frontiers’ competition—in which NutraIngredients chooses the best research abstracts submitted by students and industry—will see winning entrants present their research on stage.
Roundtable lunch discussions
Attendees will have the choice of over 40 roundtable topics to join, from next-generation probiotics, postbiotics, phages and encapsulation technologies to AI-enabled trials and personalized nutrition.
Industry leaders, researchers, and innovators, will actively debate how to turn robust science into scalable, trustworthy, and consumer-relevant biotic solutions that drive healthy longevity and sustainable market growth.
Strain optimization opportunities for probiotics
The sessions following lunch will dive into the science and technology shaping the next era of probiotic performance. It opens with a perspective on the evolution of engineered and optimized microbes from Wilbert Sybesma, founder of Microbiome Solutions, who will explore how technology, regulation, and consumer expectations may shape the future adoption of improved probiotic strains.
This will be followed by Sarah O’Flaherty, senior research scholar at North Carolina State University, discussing the current CRISPR toolbox and highlighting emerging effector systems and applications, ranging from bacteriophage resistance to live bacterial vaccine vectors.
Next, Toni Wendt, co-founder and head of technology development at Traitomic, will showcase how advanced, non-GM screening technologies can precisely identify beneficial genetic changes while maintaining global regulatory and consumer acceptance.
Remco Kort, professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, will examine how intra-species variation in Lactobacillus crispatus may influence probiotic efficacy and future development strategies.
The programme continues with a case study in AI-driven industrial optimisation, presented by Jake Burlet, CEO of CanBiocin, and Martin Patz, CTO of Differential Bio, who will demonstrate how a robotic–AI high-throughput platform accelerated media optimisation.
The final presentation includes insights from Diamond Partner Ayako Horigome, manager of the Biotics Research Institute at Morinaga Milk Industry, who will discuss human-residential bifidobacteria and their role in shaping infant gut ecology.
A final panel focused on the full potential of strain optimisation technologies will be joined by Sara Dick, innovation manager at Synbiotic Health, who brings practical experience in strain optimisation, scale-up, and commercialisation, and Sarah O’Flaherty, senior research scholar at North Carolina State University, will contribute insights into CRISPR-enabled strain design and its future potential.
Probiota Social Evening
Concluding day two, the Probiota Social Evening stands out as the unmissable highlight of the industry’s social calendar, taking place in the heart of Dublin at the iconic J.R. Mahon’s Public House and Brewery. The evening offers an ideal opportunity to unwind, build meaningful relationships, and experience an authentic taste of Dublin’s vibrant culture.
IPA World + Probiota 2026
Other key themes to be explored over the course of the event: the state of the market, Probiota Pioneers, from 'gums to bums', next-gen-biotics, microbiome diets and fermented foods, the gut-brain axis and our closing Future Focus panel.
For more information and to register, please click HERE .