Dr. Gisèle LaPointe, PhD, MSc
NSERC / Dairy Farmers of Ontario Professorship in Dairy Microbiology
Professor at the Ontario Agricultural College, Department of Food Science
Dr. LaPointe has been awarded the Dairy Farmers of Ontario Professorship in Dairy Microbiology, joining the Department of Food Science in January 2015. She has teaching and research experience in biotechnology, food microbiology and food applications of microbial molecular genetics, genomics and proteomics, using systems approaches for studying microbial ecology. Dr. LaPointe is also the department’s faculty advisor for the Food Science BSc Coop program. Some of her most notable other affiliations include Associate Editor of the International Journal of Food Microbiology, member of the Editorial Board for Applied and Environmental Microbiology and Past President of the Quebec Association for Food Protection. Dr. LaPointe’s research aims towards understanding how food components modulate the metabolic activities of microbiota in food and human microbial ecosystems. Her goal is to improve the quality and functionality of food, with a special focus on milk and dairy products. Her current research interests include the study of how how microbial communities contribute to cheese production and ripening, and also how digestion affects survival and activity of probiotics, prebiotics and other bioactive compounds present in dairy products. Additionally, Dr. LaPointe’s research studies how probiotics and bioactives present in dairy products may be able to modulate the gut microbiota or the immune system to promote health and reduce the incidence and severity of chronic or infectious diseases.