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APC’s Professor Paul Cotter Awarded Over €1.29 Million to Explore the Power of Fermented Foods.
APC is proud to announce that Professor Paul Cotter has been awarded €1,291,366 in research funding through Research Ireland’s Frontiers for the Future Programme.
The funding will support a major new study into the health benefits of fermented foods, a subject that continues to capture public interest but has yet to be rigorously investigated.
Fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchi, kefir, sourdough and kombucha are often praised for their health-promoting properties. But despite their popularity, the exact ways in which many of these foods influence our health remain surprisingly underexplored. This is exactly the kind of question Professor Cotter, one of Ireland’s most respected food microbiologists, is eager to answer.
“While fermented foods are generally regarded as being good for our health, there is a surprising shortage of research into why,” said Professor Cotter. “In many cases, we still don’t know what specific components are responsible for the benefits, or how they interact with our bodies. By understanding these complex relationships, we can take the guesswork out of it. The goal is to support the development of a new generation of fermented foods that are tailored to promote specific aspects of health.”
This research could have major benefits for both consumers and the food industry, allowing companies to create science-backed products designed to improve wellbeing in targeted ways.
The award was one of 39 projects announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, as part of a €34.5 million investment in cutting-edge, curiosity-driven research across Ireland.
Minister Lawless praised the ambition and potential of this year's awardees, saying: “We are investing in bold ideas that could lead to groundbreaking discoveries. These awards show our commitment to supporting excellent research with real societal and economic impact. I look forward to seeing the outcomes in the years ahead.”
Professor Cotter leads the Food Biosciences Department at Teagasc, Ireland’s Agriculture and Food Development Authority, and is a Principal Investigator with APC Microbiome Ireland and VistaMilk, both world-leading Research Ireland Centres, and is also a co-PI with Food for Health Ireland. He is also co-founder of SeqBiome, a microbiome sequencing and bioinformatics company that spun out of the APC in 2021, and was honoured in 2024 with a Doctorate from the University of Antwerp for his outstanding contributions to microbiology.
The Frontiers for the Future programme is managed by Research Ireland and this year includes co-funding from Breakthrough Cancer Research, Children’s Health Foundation, and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. It supports the work of over 60 PhD students and nearly 50 postdoctoral researchers across Ireland.
