Meet the team

Dr. Danica Bajic | Innovation Manager HfG
Danica is an Innovation manager in the Health, Nutrition, and Care division of dsm-firmenich. After completing her PhD and postdoc studies at Technical University Munich and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, she joined dsm-firmenich in 2021. Here she is responsible for driving the innovation efforts across various ingredients and concepts, and for identifying external and internal collaborators with cutting-edge technologies and know-how. She is also a company representative at ILSI Europe Prebiotics Taskforce.

Dr. Mehdi Sadaghian | Associate Principal Scientist HfG
Mehdi is a Microbiome Scientist with a PhD from the University of Groningen, where he studied the effects of vitamins on anaerobic bacteria within the human gut microbiome. After completing his doctoral research, he did four years of postdoctoral work at the same university, further advancing his expertise in gut microbiology. Mehdi then transitioned into industry roles, starting at Nestlé Research in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a Microbiome Specialist, and later at Chr. Hansen in Denmark as a Scientific Advisor for probiotics and HMO businesses. Since 2022, he has been working at dsm-firmenich as a Clinical Trial Manager for the Health from the Gut initiative, contributing to innovative research and development in human health and nutrition.

Dr. Erik Eckhardt | Principal Scientist HfG
Erik obtained a PhD in Biochemistry at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. After his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, he became assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, where he conducted several NIH-funded research projects, with joint appointments in the Graduate Center for Nutritional Sciences and the departments of Internal Medicine and of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. He has published more than 30 papers and patents. Since 2012 he has been working in the industry for human and animal nutrition, developing solutions for digestive health and immunity. In 2021 he joined Adare Biome as R&D director, to develop postbiotics for digestive and overall health, and has been Postbiotic Platform Lead at dsm-firmenich since the acquisition of Adare Biome.

Dr. Ateequr Rehmann | Associate Principal Scientist HfG
Ateequr is an Associate Principal Scientist in the Health, Nutrition, and Care unit of dsm-firmenich. After completing his PhD in Microbiology at the University of Lucknow, India, he joined the University Clinic Kiel as a postdoctoral research fellow, where he studied host-microbiome interactions in inflammatory diseases, with a focus on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Rehman later established and led the Microbiome Platform at the Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Kiel. He has contributed to over 50 research publications, advancing the field of microbiome research and its clinical applications.

Dr. Leigh Oullette | Scientist Microbiome
Leigh is a Microbiome Scientist in Science & Research division at dsm-firmenich. She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at The College of New Jersey and her PhD in chemical biology at Harvard University studying antibacterial resistance. From there, she did her postdoctoral work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital studying beneficial gut microbes and their metabolites. Leigh joined dsm-firmenich in 2021 and helped to kick-start human microbiome projects at the site in Lexington, Massachusetts. Currently she is involved in early R&D projects identifying new products for the pre-clinical pipeline.

Antoine Riviere | Innovation Expert HfG
Antoine is a dynamic project manager with over 10 years of experience in various products development. He holds an engineering degree in biotechnologies and applied microbiology from the Ecole Supérieur d’Ingenieur de Luminy in Marseille, France. Antoine has worked for different companies such as Puratos, Algaïa and BioRad with a focus on industrial innovation dedicated to Food, In-Vitro Diagnostic and Pharma. Antoine joined dsm-firmenich in 2023 through the acquisition of AdareBiome Houdan. Today he mainly coordinates new products development and launches for the postbiotic business.

Dr. Nize Otaru | Scientist HfG
Nize has a MSc in Food Science and a PhD from ETH Zürich specializing in gut microbiota research. She brings significant experience in preclinical and human studies. Nize joined dsm-firmenich in 2023 as a Scientist in the Health, Nutrition & Care unit, where she manages in-vitro experiments and clinical trials.

Dr. Anne-Sophie Boucard | Associate Scientist
Anne-Sophie Boucard is an Associate Scientist in the Health, Nutrition and Care unit of dsm-firmenich. She earned her PhD in Microbiology from Paris-Saclay University, France. During her PhD, she studied microbial ecology and host-microbe interactions with a focus on biotics and digestive health at Boehringer Ingelheim. Anne-Sophie joined dsm-firmenich in 2023, contributing to R&D activities on postbiotics for Health from the Gut.

Dr. Brian Klein | Associate Principal Scientist Microbiome
Brian Klein is an Associate Principal Scientist in Science & Research division at dsm-firmenich. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology at Bates College, where he studied the effects of tea-derived compounds on the pathogenic species involved in human oral diseases. He then earned his PhD in Molecular Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine as an NRSA F31 fellow studying microbe-microbe interactions and the effects of mutagenesis on the human oral pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis. Brian was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship via the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and carried out the work at the Harvard Dental School/Forsyth Institute to better understand athlete microbiomes and athletic facilities’ built microbiomes. Following his postdoc Brian led the Microbiology and Translational Medicine groups at Vedanta Biosciences from 2017 to 2020. In 2020 Brian founded his own company, BrickBuilt Therapeutics, and then sold it in 2022 to DermBiont Inc., where he worked until joining dsm-firmenich in 2022 at the site in Lexington, Massachusetts. Currently he leads the team in multiple projects across all business units; focused on pre-clinical setup, screening, and validation.