Senior Editor

M. Carmen Collado received a Ph.D. in Biotechnology (2005, Polytechnic University of Valencia-UPV, Valencia, Spain), is an Adjunct Professor (2007-now) at the University of Turku, Finland, and a Research Scientist (2012-now) at Dept. Biotechnology, Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology-Spanish National Research Council (IATA-CSIC), Valencia, Spain. Her research work is multidisciplinary and includes microbiology, food science, and nutrition areas. Her interests focus on probiotics, microbiota, and health and nutrition during pregnancy and the early life period. Her current work includes basic and applied research on molecular analysis and evaluation of the health effects of beneficial bacteria and probiotics, the microbial-host interactions, the microbiome and its role in human health and diseases, and also, the influence of perinatal factors during early life. Her team is also aimed to characterize the transfer of maternal microbes to neonates and to determine their functions in infant health programming as well as the impact of early exposures (perinatal, environmental, and genetic factors) on maternal and breast milk components (IgA, immune markers, metabolites, microbiota, oligosaccharides among others). Her research activity is reflected in more than 150 publications, >100 communications to international conferences, and participation in European projects (ERC, Marie-Curie IEF-H2020, EIT-Food). She is an Advisory member of the Spanish Society of Probiotics and Prebiotics (SEMiPyP), and the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML).

Microbiota, Pregnancy, lactation, Nutrition, Infancy, Breast milk