CRN will hold its third Innovation Exchange event Oct. 6 at the Westin Carlsbad Resort & Spa, as part of its 2026 signature events, featuring presentations on steering committee selected topics. Innovation Exchange is complimentary for attendees of CRN's signature events.
Presentations listed alphabetically by company.
See registration for CRN Signature Events and detailed agenda here.
BALCHEM NUTRITION:
OptiMSM® & Performance in Female Athletes: Supporting Joint and Muscle Health During the Menstrual Cycle
BIOHM TECHNOLOGIES:
Beyond Bacteria: Advancing Fungal Probiotics with Pichia kluyveri PK88™
DSM-FIRMENICH:
Unlocking Higher-Dose Microalgal DHA for Maternal Health
KANEKA:
Reframing Menopause: A Precision Probiotic Approach Targeting the Estrobolome
SPECIALTY ENZYMES & PROBIOTICS:
Reprogramming Sugar Metabolism: A GLP-1 Companion for Metabolic Health
OptiMSM® & Performance in Female Athletes: Supporting Joint and Muscle Health During the Menstrual Cycle
Presented by Balchem Nutrition’s Eric Ciappio, Ph.D., Senior Manager, Nutrition Science, with Jessica Arnaly, Senior Marketing and Business Development Manager
Sports nutrition is a growing category in dietary supplements, with an estimated market size of $14.8B that is expected to grow by 6.8%. However, just 3% of new product launches in the last 5 years have been focused on women, leaving an underserved market of female athletes. With just 6% of published research in sports science being conducted exclusively in female athletes, this leaves a significant gender gap in sports and exercise research. Evidence-based solutions for female athletes are needed, and the market is ready for new innovation.
OptiMSM has been the pioneer of sulfur nutrition for over 30 years, with a robust portfolio of evidence demonstrating its benefits. Sulfur acts as a key nutrient that supports the formation of key components of the body such as collagen, and helps to defend against oxidative stress by aiding the function of glutathione, the body's master antioxidant. These benefits position OptiMSM as a versatile ingredient for joint health, sports nutrition, and beauty from within applications. Balchem remains committed to developing scientifically backed benefits for OptiMSM, and we are excited to share some of our latest innovations and demonstrate how brands can utilize this in the marketplace to deliver exciting new products for consumers.
During the course of a woman's menstrual cycle, fluctuations in estrogen may reduce the body's ability to produce collagen. The result is an increase in joint laxity, or looseness, during ovulation, which is negatively linked to athletic performance.
Our latest clinical research shows that OptiMSM provides multiple joint health benefits for female athletes specifically during ovulation, from decreasing joint laxity and post-exercise joint inflammation to increasing the resistance to fatigue—all helping ligaments stay healthy to maintain performance.
In a sports nutrition market that is quickly growing, just 29% of women feel that they can manage their hormonal health through diet and nutrition. This highlights an opportunity for brands to incorporate these innovative new findings with OptiMSM to better address the needs of female athletes with evidence-based, targeted solutions.
Beyond Bacteria: Advancing Fungal Probiotics with Pichia kluyveri PK88™
Presented by Biohm Technologies’ John Deaton, Ph.D., VP, Science and Technology and Diane Alexander, Ph.D., VP, Sales
The probiotic category has historically focused on bacterial strains—yet the human microbiome also includes a diverse and functionally significant fungal community, or mycobiome, that remains underexplored. As interest grows beyond bacteria in microbiome science, fungi are emerging as a promising new frontier for probiotic innovation.
This session will examine the expanding role of fungal probiotics, with a focus on Pichia species and the development of a novel strain, Pichia kluyveri PK88™. Recent scientific literature highlights Pichia as a resilient and functionally active yeast, demonstrating key probiotic traits such as survival under gastrointestinal conditions, adhesion to host surfaces, antimicrobial activity, and immune interaction. Building on this foundation, strain-level characterization enables a more targeted understanding of functionality and application potential.
Attendees will gain insight into the functional role of fungi within the gut microbiome and how it complements bacterial activity, as well as key differentiators of fungal probiotics, including enzymatic activity, metabolite production, and resistance to common environmental stressors. The session will also explore the scientific rationale for Pichia kluyveri PK88™ as a next-generation probiotic candidate, including characterization data and proposed mechanisms of action.
In addition, this presentation will address key considerations for translating fungal strains from discovery to commercially viable ingredients, including safety, stability, and formulation flexibility. Together, these insights provide a clear view of how fungal probiotics—particularly Pichia kluyveri—can expand formulation opportunities across digestive health, immune function, metabolic health, and other emerging application areas.
Unlocking Higher-Dose Microalgal DHA for Maternal Health
Presented by dsm-firmenich’s Sonia Hartunian-Sowa, Ph.D., Head of Science, Translation, and Advocacy, with Phillip Chea, Senior Manager, Marketing and Technical Business Development
Despite strong scientific evidence supporting the benefits of omega-3 across the lifecycle, (particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) for maternal health), real world intake remains below recommended levels and is often due to formulation and delivery challenges as well as diet.
While strong clinical evidence links high levels of omega-3 intake to reduced risk of preterm and early preterm birth, traditional delivery formats have historically limited both dosage and adherence due to pill size, taste, availability and formulation constraints. life’sDHA® B54 and B31 redefine maternal DHA supplementation by making clinically relevant dosing possible in formats women will actually use. This is something that was previously not feasible at meaningful dose levels.
Through innovative microalgal DHA delivery technologies, life’sDHA® overcomes these barriers. High potency oil and advanced powder formats now enable delivery of 350 mg DHA in a single small capsule or in just two gummies. This breakthrough is further enhanced by unique integrated taste and sensory capabilities that ensure a great tasting consumer experience—critical for sustained adherence during pregnancy and key to supporting women’s vitality.
Together, these innovations bridge the gap between clinical guidance and real-world behavior, making clinically aligned DHA intake achievable, enjoyable, and scalable for maternal nutrition.
Reframing Menopause: A Precision Probiotic Approach Targeting the Estrobolome
Presented by Kaneka Probiotics’ Jordi Riera, Chief Business Officer
Advances in microbiome research have identified the estrobolome as a key regulator of estrogen metabolism and a novel target for intervention during menopause. This session will highlight the scientific rationale and clinical data supporting KABP® Menopause, a strain-specific probiotic designed to influence this axis. We will review mechanisms including β-glucuronidase activity modulation, microbial diversity shifts, and implications for systemic symptoms associated with menopause. The discussion will focus on how these insights can be applied to develop evidence-based, differentiated products in the women’s health category.
Dose, Delivery, and Design: What Peer-Reviewed Pharmacokinetics Reveals About Clinical Evidence Standards for Botanical and Nutraceutical Ingredients
Presented by Nutriventia Private Limited’s Shefali Thanawala, Ph.D., Asst. Vice President, Medical Science & Research, and Vishal Shah, Co-founder and Executive Director
The dietary supplement industry has made remarkable progress in generating clinical evidence over the past few decades. However, the framework for interpreting that evidence, specifically a systematic approach to align an ingredient’s pharmacokinetic profile with dose selection, delivery format, and clinical trial evaluation standards appears to be lacking. The result is a large but fragmented literature with discrepancies observed between the doses used for pharmacokinetic evaluation and clinical efficacy determination for ingredients. These gaps do not reflect shortcomings in science. Instead, they highlight a mismatch between what modern delivery technologies can achieve and how clinical programs are designed to evaluate those advances.
The uniqueness of the clinical packages built around Nutriventia's flagship brands lies in bringing in the concord, through establishing a firm dose-plasma concentration relationship and using that relationship to define the dose for evaluating clinical efficacy. For example, Nutriventia's TurmXTRA® (60% curcuminoids), supported by multiple published pharmacokinetic studies, demonstrates in a single daily dose of 250 mg, delivers plasma levels equivalent to 1,500 mg of standard 95% turmeric extract even when the standard extract is combined with piperine. That same single daily dose of 250 mg shows efficacy across all clinical trials in musculoskeletal and skin health, published in peer-reviewed journals.
Ashwanova™ (Prolanza®, sustained-release ashwagandha root-only extract), supported by a pharmacokinetic study showing 12-fold higher plasma withanolide concentrations than a leading conventional product, three two peer-reviewed efficacy trials designed around that pharmacokinetic foundation.
Melotime® (sustained-release melatonin), anchored in a comparative pharmacokinetic study and evaluated in a completed clinical trial using polysomnography; the objective gold standard for measuring sleep architecture and rarely used in nutraceutical sleep research.
Nutriventia applies this same science-first approach across its entire portfolio including CaffXtend® (sustained-release caffeine) and C-Fence® (sustained-release vitamin C), ensuring every product is tested at a dose that truly works.
These ingredients demonstrate what the industry's next-generation evidence standard must look like: dose selection grounded in real pharmacokinetic data, delivery technologies that maximize absorption, and efficacy tested with objective, gold-standard measures. By applying this rigor across its entire portfolio, the clinical program for Nutriventia’s brands demonstrates that clearer, more comparable clinical evidence is achievable, turning formulation innovation into measurable health outcomes and setting a replicable blueprint for the industry to follow.
LP299V®: Clinically Validated Probiotic Support for Athletic Performance, Iron Absorption, and Exercise-Related Gut Protection
Presented by Probi’s Brandy Webb, N.D., Scientific Affairs Manager
Strenuous exercise increases inflammation and intestinal permeability proportionate to intensity and duration, and it also increases risk of kidney damage related to reduced perfusion and muscle cell breakdown. For athletes, these disruptions are compounded by another physiological challenge: impaired iron absorption that compromises oxygen transport, energy, and physical performance. Together, these effects represent an unmet need that current sports nutrition formulations rarely address. Probiotics such as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 299v (LP299V®) have demonstrated benefits on intestinal permeability and inflammation, and emerging clinical evidence now suggests this strain may help mitigate exercise-related challenges in athletes.
This session presents findings from two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials examining LP299V® in athletic populations. Study 1 demonstrated that LP299V® supplementation alongside iron improved ferritin levels 70% better than iron alone, as well as significantly increased VO2 max and vigor, a subjective measure of energy, in female athletes. Study 2 showed that LP299V® provided significant protection against exercise-induced gut inflammation (fecal calprotectin, p<0.001) and a tendency toward protective effects against kidney injury markers in trail runners completing races from 20 to 164 km in length.
Together, these findings position LP299V® as a clinically differentiated ingredient for sports nutrition supplements targeting performance, nutrition, recovery, and gastrointestinal resilience.
Reprogramming Sugar Metabolism: A GLP-1 Companion for Metabolic Health
Presented by Specialty Enzymes & Probiotics’ Ankit Rathi, Ph.D., Director of Science
GLP-1 receptor agonists have transformed weight management, but their rapid adoption has also highlighted key challenges, including reduced nutrient intake, gastrointestinal discomfort and the need for better long-term metabolic support.
Introducing SlimSEB®, a next-generation metabolic health solution designed to complement GLP-1 therapy and support independent weight management programs.
SlimSEB™ uses a novel enzymatic approach that helps convert dietary sucrose during digestion into slowly digestible glucans with fiber-like properties. This promotes a more balanced glucose response while supporting digestive and metabolic health.
Published research and human clinical data demonstrate that SlimSEB™ can:
- Reduce available simple sugars during digestion
- Reduce post-meal blood glucose spikes
- Support body weight, BMI and waist circumference reduction
- Reduce fasting glucose, HbA1c and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)
- Reduce cholesterol and inflammatory marker CRP
- Improve GI comfort and tolerability in GLP-1 users
Together, these findings position SlimSEB™ as an innovative platform for:
- GLP-1 companion products
- Weight management solutions
- Glycemic support formulas
- Metabolic health programs
The session will demonstrate how SlimSEB™ bridges digestive biochemistry with clinically meaningful outcomes to create a new category of metabolic support.
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QUESTIONS? Please contact Ed Wyszumiala (ewyszumiala@crnusa.org) or Gretchen Powers (gpowers@crnusa.org).