Hi! I’m Jasmine, a Fermentation Technician in the Research and Development (R&D) team at Symprove. Since studying for my bachelor’s degree in microbiology, I’ve been fascinated by the behaviour of bacteria.
Our powerful bacteria
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘bacteria’? Most of the time, we associate bacteria with illness, but these quirky bugs are essential to supporting our immune system, digestion and even mood.
The gut microbiome encompasses a diverse community of microbes, including bacteria. Behaving as both physical and chemical barriers, friendly bacteria suppress the growth of any harmful bugs. This is by outcompeting and depriving them of essential resources needed to grow, and by releasing antimicrobial metabolites, products produced by the bacteria which can kill pathogens, into their environment. Due to the specificity of these antimicrobial metabolites, your good bugs won’t be targeted so don’t worry!
Lactic acid producing bacteria, like Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Enterococcus faecium, also acidify their surroundings. This makes growth conditions even more unfavourable for those pesky bugs. Lactic acid in the gut environment can then be used by other friendly microbes to produce short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Plenty of research has shown that SCFAs can strengthen your immune system through regulating immune cell development, which can increase inflammatory markers and stimulate an immune response.
Outside of providing immune support, friendly bacteria digest nutrients and make vitamin B & vitamin K which your body can’t do on its own. Essentially, they help you get the most out of your food and be your healthiest self. While there is already a tonne of research on the gut microbiome, we have yet to fully understand the endless possibilities of our friendly, little bugs.
Winning Which? Best Buy Live Bacteria Supplement 2025 Award
Symprove has recently been awarded the Which? Best Buy Live Bacteria Supplement 2025, and it feels incredible to be recognised by experts in nutrition from a globally respected, independent organisation.
All the extensive research and testing behind Symprove really speaks for itself and is what drives our product formulations. This achievement only motivates us to continue our hard work and dedication.
Meet the Research and Development team
The R&D team comprises 6 experts in microbiology and process development. Our mission is to innovate and elevate our friendly bacteria in a bottle, we do this through supporting our bacteria to grow.
From the lab to production, our day-to-day is often very dynamic. One day, we would work to optimise the bacteria’s growing conditions in small fermentation vessels. Another, we would optimise and scale-up a tested lab process to production. When in production, we would troubleshoot the fermentation process to ensure process robustness and deliver Symprove more effectively.
Our team works closely with many other departments, including production, quality control, healthcare professionals and clinical. As a leading brand, we keep up to date with all the latest science and biotechnology through conferences and collaborations with renowned research institutes. Now that you have a better idea of what we do, have a little peek into who we are, below!
Jasmine Le, Fermentation Technician
Favourite fact about bacteria: Bacteria are social microbes that can ‘talk’ to each other and our immune cells, through chemical signalling, triggering all sorts of beneficial or harmful effects!
Georgia Milbourne, Junior Fermentation Scientist
Favourite fact about bacteria: Some bacteria live a parasitic lifestyle - living inside or on the surface of other bacteria. For example, the TM7x strain of bacteria which is found in the oral microbiome.
Chris Hayward, Senior Fermentation Scientist
Favourite fact about bacteria: The human gut microbiota consists of over 100 trillion microorganisms and weighs around 200g. There are about 500 different species of bacteria in the gut!
Sasha Atmadjaja, Head of Research and Development
Favourite fact about bacteria: Some bacteria can glow in the dark – we call this bioluminescence. In fact, some marine animals like the Hawaiian bobtail squid harnesses this bacteria power to provide light enough for the squid to hunt at night!
Paul McDermott, Process Specialist
Favourite fact about bacteria: Humans cannot live in a world without bacteria. Bacteria can thrive in a world without humans.
Alex Greenall, Microbiology Lab Apprentice
Favourite fact about bacteria: Each person has a totally unique gut microbiome, so theoretically we all have a microbial ‘fingerprint’.
To learn more about other gut health topics, visit Symprove’s Gut Hub.
Sources
A comprehensive review of probiotics and human health-current prospective and applications. Frontiers in Microbiology. (2025). Link.
A four-strain probiotic exerts positive immunomodulatory effects by enhancing colonic butyrate production in vitro. International Journal of Pharmaceutics. (2019). Link.
Human gut microbiota in health and disease: Unveiling the relationship. Frontiers in Microbiology. (2022). Link.
Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus: A suitable candidate for the construction of novel bioengineered probiotic strains for targeted pathogen control. Foods. (2022). Link.
Strain-specific therapeutic potential of lactiplantibacillus plantarum: a systematic scoping review. Nutrients. (2025). Link.
The effect of probiotics on the production of short-chain fatty acids by human intestinal microbiome. Nutrients. (2020). Link.
The functional roles of lactobacillus acidophilus in different physiological and pathological processes. Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. (2022). Link.
The role of intestinal microbes on intestinal barrier function and host immunity from a metabolite perspective. Frontiers in immunology. (2023). Link.
