Maher Abou Hachem has obtained his PhD from Lund University in 2003, working on the thermostable xylan-active proteins. After a short post-doc at Carlsberg Research Laboratory, Maher Joined the Technical University of Denmark, where is currently a full Professor with focus on the interactions of the gut microbiota with dietary and host derived glycans. The group of Prof. Abou Hachem has performed pioneering work that highlights the role of bacterial oligosaccharide transporters as key in defining competitive growth niches for different bacterial groups (see google scholar profile: https://scholar.google.dk/citations?user=gmYG5G0AAAAJ&hl=en) Selected publications: 1. Pichler, M. J., Yamada, C., Shuoker, B., Alvarez-Silva, C., Gotoh, A., Leth, M. L., Schoof, E., Katoh, T., Sakanaka, M., Katayama, T., Jin, C., Karlsson, N. G., Arumugam, M., Fushinobu, S., and Abou Hachem, M. (2020) Butyrate producing colonic Clostridiales metabolise human milk oligosaccharides and cross feed on mucin via conserved pathways. Nature Communications 11, 3285 2. Sakanaka, M.‡, Hansen, M.‡, Gotoh, A., Katoh, T., Yoshida, Keisuke., Odamaki, T., Yachi, H., Sugiyama, Y., Kurihara, S., Hirose, J., Urashima, T., Xiao, J.-z., Kitaoka, M., Fukiya, S., Yokota, A., Lo Leggio, L., Abou Hachem, M.†, Katayama, T.† (2019) Evolutionary adaptation in fucosyllactose uptake systems supports bifidobacteria-infant symbiosis. Science Advances 2019, 5 (8) eaaw7696. (†co-corresponding authors), ‡equal contribution 3. La Rosa, S.L, Leth, M.L., Michalak, L., Hansen, M.E., Pudlo, Nicholas, A., Glowacki, R., Pereira, G., Workman, C., Abou hachem M., Bjørge Westereng (2019) The Human Gut Firmicute Roseburia intestinalis is a Primary Degrader of Dietary β-Mannans Nature Communications 10, 905 4. Leth, M.L., Ejby, M., Workman, C., Ewald, D.A., Pedersen, S.S., Sternberg, C., Bahl, M.I., Licht, T.R., Aachmann, F.L., Westereng, B., Abou Hachem, M. (2018) Differential bacterial capture and transport preferences facilitate co-growth on dietary xylan in the human gut. Nature Microbiology 3, 570-580 5. Theilmann, M.C., Goh, Y.-J., Fog Nielsen, K., Klaenhammer, T.R., Baranngou, R., Abou Hachem M. (2017) Lactobacillus acidophilus metabolizes dietary plant glucosides and externalizes their bio-active phytochemicals. mBio 6, e01421-17