STLO organisation

• 78 Permanent staff, including 35 scientists
• 13 PhD students and 15 training students
• Over 4,000 square meters of laboratories
• Biochemistry, Processing and Microbiology skills
• A dense network of national and international collaboration

The Board of Directors manages the STLO research unit with reference to its research policy, its involvement in higher education and its partnership with professionals. It is composed of five persons who share paramount values, first of which is that the letter H in 'H factor' stands for Human!

•  Two vice-directors: Didier Dupont, in charge of European Partnership, and Thomas Croguennec, Professor of food science and technology, specialized in milk and its transformation into dairy products at the Institut Agro Rennes-Angers

 
Three thematic research teams collaborate closely to explore the main scientific priorities of the research unit: PSF (Process Structure Functionality), BN (Bioactivity and Nutrition) and MicroBio (Microbiology of Milk and Egg Sectors). Together, they provide a well-balanced range of skills and expertise in the areas of Biochemistry, Physics, Chemistry, Processing and Microbiology, which enables multidisciplinary approaches. Each team is led by a recognised world class expert in their respective fields, chosen and appreciated because of their special human qualities. We all believe that research is, above all, a collective ‘sport’ indeed!
 
Two  platforms remain at the heart of the lab:

• the pilot plant dairy platform, dedicated to dairy processing,
• the ISO 9001 microbial resource centre CIRM-BIA, one of the five Biological Resource Centers, that aims to preserves and explores food-related bacteria.

Daily life, administration, IT facilities, documentation, etc. are made easy and efficient through the support team Saphire, dedicated to Administration, Informatic & Infrastructure, Documentation & Communication.