Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Maria Saarela, Docent, is a Chief Research Scientist in Microbiology at VTT Biotechnology. She has graduated from the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, in 1988, and defended her PhD thesis on oral microbiology in 1993 at the University of Helsinki. Dr. Saarela's current research area involves studies on probiotics, e.g. their characterization, viability and stability. She has 81 original articles published or in press in international refereed journals, 30 reviews or chapters in books and 83 abstracts in international meetings. She has supervised or reviewed several doctoral thesis works at the University of Helsinki. Dr. Saarela is the leader of the research team involved with studies on health-benefiting microbes. She has been involved in lactic acid bacterial and human gut microbiota research for 10 years. During this time she and her team have participated and co-ordinated several internationally and nationally funded research projects.