Dr Fatma Koç received her BSc in Nutrition and Dietetics and MSc in Medical Microbiology from Istanbul Medipol University, Türkiye. During her undergraduate studies, she became the first student in her department to receive TÜBİTAK funding for a research project. She later worked at Istanbul Medipol University for four years as a teaching assistant/lecturer.

She completed her PhD in Microbiology at University College Cork as a Teagasc Walsh Scholar, investigating the effects of functional foods, dietary fibres and fermented foods on the human gut microbiome. She received the Teagasc Walsh Overseas Travel Award and spent three months as a Visiting PhD Researcher in Professor David Wishart’s laboratory at The Metabolomics Innovation Centre, University of Alberta, Canada. She was also named First Runner-Up for the 2024 Teagasc Walsh Scholar of the Year Award.

Fatma is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at APC Microbiome Ireland, working on an industry-funded project investigating bacteriocin-producing bacteria as natural preservatives for dairy and plant-based foods. Her research interests include in vitro digestion and colonic fermentation, diet-gut microbiome interactions, microbial metabolites, functional foods and natural food preservation.