Herwig Bachmann studied Food sciene and Biotechnology at the University of Life sciences in Vienna and he obtained his PhD at Wageningen University on the behaviour of lactic acid bacteria in a dairy environment. Currently he is a principal scientist at NIZO, a contract research organisation in the Netherlands. He also holds a position at the VU University Amsterdam. Dr Bachmann investigates microbial physiology and metabolism in pure cultures and complex microbial consortia with a focus on optimising (food) fermentations. Over the last 5 years he increasingly worked on the use of fermentation for the replacement of animal proteins by alternative proteins in foods.