3 questions to Emmanuelle Apper, Manager of Lallemand Centers of Excellence

Emmanuelle, in practice, what are Lallemand Centers of Excellence, and what is different from the rest of the R&D department?

The Centers of Excellence are specific and unique partnerships with different Research Centers or Institutes. We have scientists who are integrated or located within these structures. Their main missions are to substantiate scientifically our products, to decipher their modes of action, and to communicate the results through congresses and scientific publications. They are different from the rest of the R&D because they are located within external research centers or institutes so that they bring academic science within the company. Each scientist who is part of the team can think “out of the box” and make the link between academics and the company. He or she benefits from continuous improvement thanks to the participation in different meetings and the access to the latest techniques in the field of microbiota … and things are moving really fast in this area!

The first Centers of Excellence were dedicated to ruminant and forage research, but this is no longer the case?

You are right, the first centers were dedicated to ruminants and forage. Lallemand Animal Nutrition is a science-based, field-driven company. Thus, we need to adapt our research to the evolution of the market. Our historical markets are the ruminant, forage, and swine markets, but we are more and more present on the aquaculture, poultry, and more recently, pet food markets. I want to make sure that we will be able to develop high-quality science for each species, that’s why it is important to increase the team with people focusing their research on these species.

What in your opinion are the most exciting new areas of research that the team is working on at the moment?

I would say the fields of OMICS and metadata, and the last experts we hired have specific skills, notably in molecular techniques and bioinformatics. Indeed, metadata are key for the understanding of the modes of action of our products, and they should support us to understand the relationships between microbiota, health, and zootechnical performance of the animal. In the medium term, we think these methods will offer us the possibility to be more precise in the service we deliver to our customers. Having such experts ensure that we keep up to date with the techniques, models, software, and new tools. This will leverage the value we can bring to our products.