Dr. Izumi Mashima is a senior lecturer at Ohu University, Fukushima, Japan. Her research focuses on developing new oral probiotic seeds using oral Veillonella species with bacterial genome editing. She investigates the bacterial functions of oral Veillonella, especially metabolic pathways for this development. She is also interested in the phylogenetic study of the genus Veillonella to further understand the ecology of these organisms in human oral cavities.