Meet the Experts Behind the GELITA Life Science Institute
The GELITA Life Science Institute is powered by an interdisciplinary team of experts from science, innovation, regulatory affairs, application development and market intelligence.
Dr. Johanna Schmidgall
Dr. Johanna Schmidgall is Global Head of Technical Service & Product Development Food & Collagen Peptides at GELITA AG. With more than 15 years of experience in the food, nutrition, and ingredients industry, she combines scientific expertise with strategic innovation and customer-focused product development.
In her current role, she leads global Technical Service and Product Development for food, beverage, and collagen peptide applications. She works with international teams to develop new product concepts, support customer projects, and foster cross-functional collaboration from idea to market launch.
Dr. Schmidgall earned her doctorate in food technology at the Technical University of Berlin. Her passion lies in developing innovative solutions for food, health, and supplement applications.
“For me, the GLI represents a platform where experts from diverse scientific and technical disciplines collaborate to address targeted market and customer requirements at a scientific level. By integrating cross-functional expertise, the GLI develops solutions, provides sound answers that contribute to the continuous advancement of functional ingredients.”
Dr. Martin Hahn
Dr. Martin Hahn brings a rare combination of scientific depth, entrepreneurial thinking and genuine curiosity for future technologies. His professional path reflects a consistent drive to translate complex science into practical solutions that create value for customers, markets and organizations.
With more than 20 years of professional experience across science, biotechnology, product development and strategic innovation, and with his background in chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, complemented by executive business education, he is able to bridge the worlds of research, technology development and strategic business building. In his role as Head of Global Emerging Platforms & Technologies at GELITA AG, he focuses on identifying and developing new technology platforms that can open future growth opportunities.
“For me, the GLI is more than an innovation structure. It is a place where people with different expertise come together to turn ideas into relevant solutions. It connects scientific excellence with application know-how, customer proximity and a clear understanding of market needs. For customers, this means direct access to interdisciplinary expertise, faster translation of ideas into feasible concepts and stronger support in developing differentiated products. The GLI helps reduce complexity, accelerate innovation and create solutions that are not only technically sound, but also meaningful for the market.”