Nathalie Juge

I am a Group Leader at the Quadram Institute and Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia on the Norwich Research Park. I have over 25 year expertise in the molecular studies of carbohydrate-protein recognition in relation to gut biology, microbiology and food biotechnology.

My previous research focused on the structure-function relationships of plant and microbial glycoenzymes and their potential biotechnological application stemming from my PhD project at Marseille University and postdoctoral position at the Carlsberg Research Institute in Copenhagen and as a Marie-Curie Research Fellow at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich.

After obtaining a lectureship position in Marseille University in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, I led a research Group on Glycosidases in Marseille and in Norwich working on plant-cell wall degrading enzymes while on secondment at the Institute of Food Research. I put together and coordinated a large multicentre EU project on glycosidases and glycosidase inhibitors in food processing. Another strand of my research during this period was on the characterisation of intestinal glycosidases involved in dietary flavonoid metabolism in humans.

Since joining the Quadram Institute in 2007, I lead a Research Group focusing on the glycobiology of host-microbe interactions in health and diseases. I have been deputy leader of two Institute Strategic Programmes and am currently the Institute Deputy Chief Scientific Officer. My research spans plant carbohydrate biochemistry, gut microbiome and human health. I am an elected Fellow of Royal Society of Biology since 2020.

Today my team studies the role of glycans (microbial cell-surface polysaccharides, dietary fibres and prebiotics, and host mucin glycans) in the interaction between the gut microbiota and the host. I am also actively engaged in training of next generation glycoscientists at the European level through networking initiatives and Innovative Training Programmes.