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Beneficial Microbes - Editor-in-chief
Koen Venema is team leader of the ‘TNO in vitro models of the gastro-intestinal tract group’, Department of BioSciences, at TNO Quality of Life, Zeist, the Netherlands. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Natural Sciences (University of Groningen, the Netherlands), where he investigated the production of antimicrobial peptides, bacteriocins, by lactic acid bacteria. This was the start of his career in beneficial microbes. His professional interest in beneficial microbes remained throughout his career, and he has worked on various aspects over the years. This has ranged from molecular genetic studies on lactic acid bacteria, through the use of these beneficial microbes as carrier for vaccine, to the survival of probiotics in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract, and studying the mechanism of action of probiotics on the immune system. He has focused in the past few years on the activity of the endogenous microbiota in the colon and its effect on health and disease. This included the screening of prebiotics in the TNO dynamic in vitro models of the GI tract (nick-named TIM), and the production of health-beneficial metabolites, such as butyrate. From 2004-2008 he was the chief-scientist-in-charge of a project within the Top Institute Food & Nutrition, an alliance between a number of research institutes in the Netherlands, several Dutch industrial partners and the Dutch Government. This project dealt with metabolic processes of the colonic microbiota, using newly developed, sophisticated tools and technologies.

Koen Venema has a large network in the beneficial microbes area, due to his involvement in a number of (past) EU projects, his participation in ILSI workshops, and due to current collaborations with a number of universities and research institutes worldwide. He is editor of the Journal of Applied Microbiology and Letters in Applied Microbiology, and now serves as the first Editor-in-chief of ‘Beneficial Microbes’.