Dr. Maria Marco is a Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis. She earned her PhD in microbiology at the University of California, Berkeley and completed her postdoctoral work at the Wageningen University and NIZO food research, The Netherlands. Dr. Marco started her lactic acid bacteria and gut health laboratory at the University of California, Davis in 2008 focused on fermented foods, probiotics, and dietary modulation of the gut microbiome. She founded the ongoing Gordon Research Conference series on Lactic Acid Bacteria in 2023. Dr. Marco is currently the President of the International Society of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) and was recently inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology.