Johannes le Coutre

Johannes le Coutre joined the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2019 as Professor of Food & Health. With the goal to strengthen food security and to alleviate the agricultural burden on the environment he is developing a broad research agenda on cellular agriculture. Current food systems around the globe will not be able to provide sustainable food security, and rigorous scientific investigation is required to deliver innovation for agriculture and food industry. He is teaching within the UNSW food program.

Le Coutre holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics for studying the reaction mechanism of the light-driven proton pump bacteriorhodopsin using time resolved Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy at the Max-Planck-Institute for Nutritional Physiology. He discovered the critical role for protein-based proton conduction of highly ordered and dynamic hydrogen-bonded networks. This came after a Diploma (MSc) in Biology for a thesis on bacterial photosynthesis from the University of Regensburg, Germany.

Prior to joining UNSW, in addition to his research activities, he served as the Secretary General for Nestlé’s Scientific Advisory board and as coordinator of the International Nutrition Symposium, an annual event featuring world-leading scientists debating critical topics in food and nutrition.

His research led to important technology developments that were commercialized in key markets and product categories. He is the co-inventor of numerous patents and author of peer reviewed scientific publications. Professor le Coutre is the founding Field Chief Editor for FRONTIERS in Nutrition, an open access journal by the Frontiers Media company.