Invited Speakers

Dr. Naomi Osakabe is a professor in the Department of Bioscience and Engineering, Shibaura Institute of Technology, and the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Shibaura Institute of Technology. After working on pharmaceutical development at Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd. and developing functional foods such as high-cocoa chocolate, she is now energetically pursuing research on the function of polyphenols found in plant-based foods. Recently, focusing on the sensory characteristics of polyphenols, such as bitterness and astringency, she has clarified their interaction with bitter receptor or nociceptors expressed on the digestive tract, including the oral cavity. Furthermore, she discovered the mechanism behind the health benefits of polyphenols through the activation of the gastrointestinal sensory nerves, the central nervous system, and the sympathetic nervous system. In recent years, these findings have attracted attention as a novel field of research called “Sensory Nutrition.”

Dr. Min-Hsiung Pan is a Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University. His research focuses on the preventive effects of natural dietary compounds and functional foods on chronic diseases, with particular emphasis on cancer, aging, liver fibrosis, obesity, circadian rhythm disorders, and gut dysbiosis. His work integrates molecular mechanism studies in cell and animal models, advancing the fields of preventive medicine and precision nutrition. Dr. Pan has published over 330 peer-reviewed articles (D-index: 77; >22,000 citations), authored 14 book chapters, and has been recognized in the Stanford University global top 2% scientists list. He was elected as a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (2024), the International Society for Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (2023), and the ACS Agricultural & Food Chemistry Division (2014). He also serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Dr. Pan is committed to bridging academia and industry, enhancing the application of health food technologies, and expanding global collaboration in food science.

Dr. Hiroaki Oda is a professor in the Department of Health and Nutrition at Nagoya Bunri University. Before earning his Ph.D. from Nagoya University, he started to serve as an assistant professor at the School of Agricultural Sciences. He further expanded his expertise as a visiting assistant professor at the School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, USA, before returning to Nagoya University as an associate professor. His research focuses on chrononutrition, precision nutrition, and the molecular mechanisms of fructose-toxicity and hepatocyte biology. Dr. Oda's notable findings include the discovery that 3D-cultured primary hepatocytes can maintain phenotypic expression through HNF-4 and retain their own biological clock. Currently, his work investigates how the timing of meals, particularly breakfast, impacts lipid metabolism and overall health. He is also developing smartphone applications to help individuals estimate their internal biological clock and calculate personalized nutrient tables. Based on this work, he is now proposing a future digital platform for precision nutrition to improve the well-being of a global audience.

Dr. Hitoshi Ashida is Professor of Faculty of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Mukogawa Women’s University, Japan. Professor Ashida currently serves as a Dean of this Faculty. After he got a PhD. in 1988 at Kobe University and became a member of the JSPS Fellowships from 1988 to 1990. Thereafter, he obtained an academic position of Assistant Professor at Kobe University in 1990 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1999 and Professor in 2004. He also worked at the Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California, Davis, USA from 1994 to 1995 as a postdoctoral scientist. He retired from Kobe University in 2024 and moved to Mukogawa Women's University. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and serving on the editorial board members of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (JAFC). He is an honorary member of the Japan Food Factor Society (JSoFF) and is a Representative Director and Chairman of the Japan Society of Nutrition and Food Science (JSNFS). He is also the board of directors of Japanese Society of Polyphenols, and Society for Free Radical Research Japan. His major is Food and Nutritional Chemistry. He is also interested in Food Chemical Toxicology. Current research topics are "Preventing effects of food factors on obesity and diabetes mellitus" and "Modulation of the function of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (dioxin receptor) by food factors". Professor Ashida has a total of 268 original research articles in peer-reviewed journals; 28 invited reviews; and 33 book chapters. He got a special prize of the Nature Industry Award, Japan (2014), an Award for Excellence in Research from Japan Society of Nutrition and Food Science (2016), a Science Award from Hyogo Prefecture (2018), and an Award for Food Science from The Tojuro Iijima Foundation for Food Science and Technology (2019).