News Blog - 2018 Part 2

November 30, 2018

Milk Gang celebrates another successful and fun year

It's become a tradition for the Milk Gang to celebrate the year and our many successes with Melting Pot fondue in La Jolla.

November 27, 2018

Manuscript published in Nature Communications

Our manuscript "Complex Interplay between human milk oligosaccharides, milk microbiome and infant gut microbiome modulates neonatal rotavirus infection" has been accepted for publication in the journal Nature Communications.

In a paradigm shifting example of microbial success in the “arms race”, we demonstrate that HMOs are not decoy receptors for a rotavirus strain G10P[11] with an almost exclusive tropism for neonates. Validating in vitro findings, population studies showed significantly higher levels of specific human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) in milk from mothers of rotavirus-positive neonates presenting with gastrointestinal symptoms, compared to mothers of asymptomatically infected or rotavirus-uninfected neonates. Further, HMO levels correlated with distinct differences in maternal milk and infant stool microbiome of the symptomatic group.

Of public health relevance, specific HMOs improved in vitro infectivity of a licensed, asymptomatic neonatal virus-derived rotavirus vaccine. The recognition of maternal factors that could promote the performance of live, attenuated vaccines provides innovative directions to improve vaccine responses, particularly in developing countries where underperformance of oral vaccines is a critical challenge. Thus, while rotavirus strains may start to take advantage of specific HMOs, new insights into the underlying mechanisms might help us gain the upper hand.

The project, led by Dr. Sasirekha Ramani, is a true multidisciplinary approach, including world experts in molecular virology, nuclear magnetic resonance, HMO and microbiome analyses from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India, and the Bode lab in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California in La Jolla.

November 21, 2018

Manuscript accepted in Frontiers Pediatrics

November 16, 2018

Lars delivers Founders' Lecture at Annual Interntional Conference of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine

Lars has been invited to deliver the 13th Annual Founders’ Lecture at the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine’s Annual International Meeting in San Francisco on Friday, November 16, 2018.

In 2005, the Founders of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, chose to recognize the scientific accomplishments in the field of breastfeeding medicine by helping to fund a lecture that would be presented each year at the Annual Meeting of ABM. The lecture is given by a renowned, accomplished scientist in the field of human milk and lactation, who is continuing to work and publish in his/her field.

November 4, 2018

Manuscript accepted in American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism

October 31, 2018

Lars speaks at the 7th Congress of the European Academy of Paediatric Societies