We actively take part in public-private partnerships on national and international levels. These collaborations bring a large number of organisations together to conduct precompetitive research.
Through partnerships with some of the world’s top experts in their respective fields, we develop breakthrough concepts that help shape the product offerings of the future.
Examples of our collaborations.
INRA
The French research institute INRA embodies leading expertise in the field of Gut Microbiome analysis. We work together combining our well-designed clinical trials and well-characterised cohorts with their unique technology. This collaboration has resulted in three publications in Nature and together we are closing scientific gaps through exploring how the early gut microbiome may predict immune-related disease.
The LipiDiDiet Project
This international collaboration consists of a large EU consortium in a highly specialised scientific area. The project has two main parts; research into the value of nutritional support in persons at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and also the potential of therapeutic and preventive effects of dietary lipids in Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. The LipiDiDiet project is funded with support from the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme.
https://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/index_en.cfm
UIPS
The Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS) is the research institute of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Utrecht University. UIPS focuses on processes around discovery, development, and mechanistic understanding; amongst others on the use of medical nutrition and pharmacological solutions.
The collaboration with UIPS, that started in 2005, has a strong research focus on immune-related disorders such as allergy, asthma, diabetes and inflammation and, more generally, in immunoregulation. In the area of medical nutrition, this led to the involvement in and connection to research programs on severe allergies and food allergy, oncology, EoE, COPD, wound healing, neurodegeneration and autism. In addition, immune health/immune resilience in both health and disease are investigated through specific research programs on vaccination. Through the comparison of health and disease, the outcomes might be suitable for both preventive as well as therapeutic nutritional solutions for immune-related disorders, including COVID-19.
This longstanding alliance has managed to synergise efforts on furthering scientific knowledge in these fields and has led to over 400 shared publications and >50 PhD theses on the above mentioned topics. All together this provided improved scientific evidence for our new solutions, that are meeting consumer’s nutritional needs to lead a healthy life.
Examples of highlights obtained within the collaboration with UIPS are: providing scientific substantiation of the M-16V Bifido-strain benefits for immune regulation, now part of Danone Nutricia’s synbiotics; extensive clinical and preclinical published work validating the immunomodulatory efficacy and safety of scGOS/lcFOS, 2’FL and 3’GL, part of Danone Nutricia’s prebiotic mixtures; demonstrating the impact of milk processing on its immunomodulatory capacity and allergenicity; and finally investigating the applicability of sustainable plant-derived proteins.
