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Dr Tobias Kühne
born in Gütersloh, Germany, in 1957.
PM-International Chief Science Officer and Head of the Scientific Advisory Board.
Leading FitLine Product Academy Expert Speaker
Dr. Tobias Kühne is an avid user of the FitLine products for more than 20 years.Which has led to him enthusiastically inspiring PM-International’s Scientific Advisory Board see above for more than 15 years. Originally he’s a medical doctor with additional qualification in the areas of naturopathy, chiropractic, sports medicine, and nutrition science, to name but a few. He used to have two medical offices for medical treatment, naturopathy, and complementary medicine. And for over 18 years a sought-after expert speaker on nutritional supplementation and medical topics. together with his team, he organises the world wide FitLine Product Academies.
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Science That Changes the World as We Know It
FitLine Head Scientist and Head of the PM Experts Team, Dr Tobias Kühne is sitting in the chair of his corner office in the global PM-Headquarters in Schengen (Luxembourg). Scientific books, charts, and publications are piling up on his desk and on the shelf. A single Basketball figurine pops out of his documents. It’s hot outside, very hot. The scorching heat on this Monday afternoon is competing with the loud buzzing of the air conditioning in the ceiling. Dr Kühne, while looking for a scientific paper showing the bioavailability of NTC®, doesn’t seem to be stressed by the heat outside in the slightest way. In fact, you rarely see him without a friendly smile on his face. No matter if he’s on a PM stage giving speeches, talking about the products on a Business Academy, researching in the labs, travelling the globe for PM-International or just like today, working in his office.
He stops looking for his paper, sits down, looks at the vineyards on the other side of the river for a couple of seconds. The A/C stops buzzing. Dr Kühne turns around in his chair and starts talking about his experience with PM-International. “You know”, he said, “back in 2015, during my first years as CSO with PM-International, my daily work looked very different. I was busy sampling and testing in the laboratory every single day. The teams were smaller, there were less emails to answer, but since day one my workload never decreased. We had big plans and a clear vision all the time along the way. Our main task was, and still is without any doubt, to develop new high-quality products for heath, fitness, and beauty. In parallel, we are relentlessly working on increasing the bioavailability of the FitLine products by developing and improving new formulations, replacing ingredients and reworking recipes around our patented NTC® and thus improving other people’s quality of life.”
The need for product quality and safety never goes out of date
Dr Kühne takes an empty glass and pulls a PowerCocktail sachet from a drawer. He stops talking, while ripping the sachet open and pouring its content in the glass. He fills the glass with fresh water, stirs it gently, and takes a big sip.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that those days were better or worse – just different. I think our two main research projects, glucoTOP with LUXINNOVATION and ActiVitis with LIST incorporate exactly where we as a health company want be. THE game changer in the PM-International R&D department was signing the strategic cooperation with LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology). Thanks to the joint laboratory in Luxembourg’s research center and a generous research grant of €1.1 million from Luxembourg’s government we expanded our research efforts considerably. At the same time, during the past two years we made gigantic steps forward in the ActiVitis project. A project that is designed to find ways in which the grape pomace, usually considered biological waste, can be upcycled for industrial purposes. It aims at designing innovative and sustainable processes for developing new bioactive dietary supplements from Luxembourg winery by-products. In fact, the initial results of this projects are so promising that we’re already looking for manufacturing partners.”
“As per usual, with PM-International, it is important to us to give something back at the same time. That’s why in 2017 we sponsored the first “LIST International Award in Bioinnovation”, awarded to Paul Spagnuolo and his research team from the University of Guelph in Canada.”
Research in Prevention is Key
“Our customers trust us to take their desire for quality seriously. The biggest challenge for the R&D department outside of the cooperation with LIST, is finding the best suppliers and manufacturers in the world. Suppliers that we can trust in every area. We exclusively work with partners that abide to the GMP standard and that guarantee the highest purity in order to keep our products pure and 100% safe. This is one of the key milestones for nutritional supplements and cosmetics of the future and PM-International is leading the market in that regard.
This implies that the goal for the R&D department, for the FitLine products and for the whole nutritional supplement and cosmetics industry is to think “nutraceutical.” In order to get there, we need to continue researching on how to increase bioavailability, to strengthen our knowledge of how micronutrients positively affect your well-being, and how to extract these nutrients in a sustainable and natural procedure.
The PowerCocktail he prepared earlier is empty. Dr Kühne is expected in another important meeting. He puts his glasses on and with them his habitual, friendly smile, then he gets up and says goodbye. How about meeting him in person next time? Maybe you will meet him at one of our next global events?