• 83 Permanent staff, including 34 scientists
• 25 PhD students and 10 master's degree students
• Over 4,000 square meters of laboratories
• Biochemistry, Processing and Microbiology skills
• A dense network of national and international collaboration

The Board of Directors manages the STLO research unit with reference to its research policy, its involvement in higher education and its partnership with professionals. It is composed of five persons who share paramount values, first of which is that the letter H in 'H factor' stands for Human!

• Yves le Loir, Director

• Two vice-directors:

Didier Dupont, in charge of European Partnership,
Thomas Croguennec, Professor of food science and technology, specialized in milk and its transformation into dairy products at the Institut Agro Rennes-Angers

 
Five thematic research teams collaborate closely to explore the main scientific priorities of the research unit. Together, they provide a well-balanced range of skills and expertise in the areas of Biochemistry, Physics, Chemistry, Processing and Microbiology, which enables multidisciplinary approaches. Each team is led by a recognised world class expert in their respective fields, chosen and appreciated because of their special human qualities. We all believe that research is, above all, a collective ‘sport’ indeed!
 
Two unique ISO 9001 platforms remain at the heart of the lab:

• the 800 m² pilot plant is dedicated to dairy processing,
• the microbial resource centre (BRC) preserves and explores food-related bacteria.

Daily life, administration, IT facilities, documentation, etc. are made easy and efficient through three excellent teams: Administration, Informatic & Infrastructure, Documentation & Communication.