News Blog
June 7, 2017
Bode lab welcomes five new Undergraduate Students to the team
Five UC San Diego Undergraduate Students are joining the Bode lab this month (from left to right): Ann Abraham, Melinda Chang, Ivy Nguyen, Sierra Ottilie-Kovelman, Hannah Reyes
Welcome to the group!
Click Here for a list of all team members
May 31, 2017
Sali elected to UC San Diego Staff Association Executive Board
Sali Coleman, Administrative and Fiscal Specialist in the Bode lab and for LRF MoMI CoRE, has been elected to the UC San Diego Staff Association Executive Board.
Congratulations, Sali! The Bode lab is very proud of you for volunteering your time to the Staff Association!
Click Here for more information about the association.
May 26, 2017
Manuscript accepted in Frontiers in Immunology
The manuscript "What’s normal? Immune profiling of human milk from healthy women living in different geographical and socio-economic settings" has been accepted for publication in Frontiers in Immunology, section Nutritional Immunology.
The manuscript marks the second report from the international INSPIRE collaboration.
Click Here for a list of publications.
May 23, 2017
Shams presents at UCSD Faculty Mentor Program Research Symposium
Shams Al-Azzam, graduate student in the UC San Diego Biological Sciences Contiguous BS/MS Program, presents her work "The Effects of Human Milk Oligosaccharides on Parasitic Organisms" on a poster during the UC San Diego Faculty Mentor Program Symposium.
Click Here for Information about the UC San Diego Faculty Mentor Program.
May 22, 2017
Bianca successfully defends her Master thesis
Bianca Robertson, graduate student in the UC San Diego Biological Sciences Contiguous BS/MS Program, successfully defends her Master thesis "Human Milk Oligosaccharide Composition: Implications for breastfeeding mothers and developmental origins of health and disease".
Committee:
Dr. Lars Bode (Chair)
Dr. Maho Niwa (Co-Chair)
Dr. Nigel Crawford
Congratulations, Bianca! Very exciting new data! Very well presented!
May 18, 2017
Chloe presents at UCSD Department of Pediatrics Research Short Talk Series
Chloe Autran, presents her work "Therapeutic Potential of Human Milk Components in the context of Chronic Inflammation" during the UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics Research Short Talk Series.
Click Here for Information about the Short Talk Series.
May 18, 2017
HMO/NEC work highlighted in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Our recent work "Human milk oligosaccharide composition predicts risk of necrotising enterocolitis in preterm infants" published in the journal Gut has been highlighted in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Click Here to read the highlight in Nature Reviews.
Click Here to read the original article in Gut.
Click Here for a list of publications.
May 12, 2017
Lars speaks at ESPGHAN in Prague
Lars has been invited to speak at the 50th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) in Prague, Czech Republic, May 10-13. Lars presented on "Human Milk Oligosaccharides at the Interface of Maternal-Infant Health."
April 23, 2017
Bianca presents poster at Experimental Biology in Chicago
Bianca Robertson, BS/MS graduate candidate in the Bode lab, has been selected to present part of her work at the Experimental Biology conference in Chicago, IL.
Bianca is giving a poster presentation about her work on "Maternal Factors and Human Milk Oligosaccharide Composition in the CHILD Cohort", a collaboration with Dr. Meghan Azad at The University of Manitoba.
April 22, 2017
Shams selected to present at UCSD Undergraduate Research Conference
Shams Al-Azzam, BS/MS graduate student in the Bode lab, has been selected to present at the 30th UCSD Undergraduate Research Conference (URC).
Shams is going to give an oral presentation about her work on "The effect of Human Milk Oligosaccharides on Parasitic Infections", a collaboration with Dr. Conor Caffrey at the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.
April 20, 2017
Manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Human Lactation
Our manuscript "Relationships among microbial communities, maternal cells, oligosaccharides, and macronutrients in human milk" has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Human Lactation.
The study is a collaboration with Dr. Michelle (Shelley) McGuire at Washington State University, Pullman, WA, and Dr. Mark McGuire at the University of Idaho, Moscow, ID.
Click Here for a list of publications.
April 17, 2017
Manuscript accepted for publication in JBC
Our manuscript "Human Milk Oligosaccharides Inhibit Growth of Group B Streptococcus" has been accepted for publication in The Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC).
Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus; GBS) is a leading cause of invasive bacterial infections in newborns, typically acquired vertically during childbirth secondary to maternal vaginal colonization. GBS transmission to the newborn is associated with risk of pneumonia, septicemia, and meningitis.
Our study reports that specific Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) inhibit GBS growth and synergize with known antibiotics, uncovering a unique antibacterial role for HMOs against a leading neonatal pathogen, and expanding the potential therapeutic utility of these versatile molecules.
The study is a collaboration with Dr. Victor Nizet's and Dr. Kamil Godula's groups at UC San Diego as well as with Dr. Kelly Doran's group at San Diego State University, Dr. Geert-Jan Boons' group at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, and Dr. Amanda Lewis' group at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MI.
Click Here for a list of publications.
April 10, 2017
Bode lab welcomes Sali Coleman as Administrative and Fiscal Specialist
The Bode lab welcomes Sali Coleman as our new Administrative and Fiscal Specialist. Sali has provided outstanding service to the UC San Diego community for over a decade and is now working with both the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Mother-Milk-Infant Center of Research Excellence (LRF MoMI CoRE) as well as the Bode lab.
Welcome on board, Sali!
Click Here for a list of all team mebers.
April 10, 2017
Bode lab to lead BMGF-funded project to identify and synthesize human milk oligosaccharides to prevent environmental enteric dysfunction and diarrheal disease
The Bode lab is leading a new project to identify and synthesize Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) to prevent environmental enteric dysfunction and diarrheal disease.
The two-year project is funded with $1.7M support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and uses a multi-dimensional approach to assess in vitro and in vivo efficacy of HMOs and identify and synthesize specific HMO stuctures responsible for potential beneficial effects.
The project is a collaboration between the Bode lab, Dr. Lars Eckmann's lab and Dr. Rob Knight's lab at UC San Diego, Dr. Jim Nataro's lab at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, as well as inbiose, a spin-off company from Ghent University in Belgium.
April 7, 2017
Bode lab searches for Research Associate/Lab Manager
Under the general supervision of the Principal Investigator, the Research Associate/Lab Manager will manage all aspects of the research laboratory and conduct independent research projects studying the effects of human milk oligosaccharides (HMO). The candidate is expected to ensure smooth and safe functioning of the laboratory, as well as make significant innovative contributions pertaining to the design and overall direction of research projects and propose possible changes or new directions when appropriate.
Click Here to view the Job Description and Apply Online.
Filing deadline: Friday, April 21, 2017
April 6, 2017
Bode lab part of NIH-funded project to study the impact of sugars and human milk oligosaccharides on infant obesity
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) award a R01 research grant to USC and UCSD investigators to study the "Impact of Sugars and Human Milk Oligosaccharides on Infant Microbiome and Obesity".
Dr. Michael Goran at the University of Southern California (USC) serves as primary Principal Investigator, with Dr. Lars Bode and Dr. Rob Knight as award subrecipients for the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
March 15, 2017
Lars speaks at Australian Breastfeeding Association Seminar Series
Lars speaks at Australian Breastfeeding Association Seminar Series for Health Professionals touring Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Click Here for a list of past and future presentations.
March 6, 2017
Manuscript accepted in Beneficial Microbes
Our manuscript "Human milk oligosaccharide categories define the microbiota composition in human colostrum" has been accepted for publication in Beneficial Microbes.
The project is a collaboration with Dr. Seppo Salminen, Dr. Samuli Rautava and Dr. Erika Isolauri at the University of Turku, Finland.
Click Here for a list of publications.
March 5, 2017
Manuscript accepted in Gut
Our manuscript "Human milk oligosaccharide composition predicts risk of necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants" has been accepted in the journal Gut.
Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the most frequent and often fatal intestinal disorders in premature infants. Breast-fed infants are at a 6- to 10-fold lower risk of developing NEC than formula-fed infants. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMO), complex glycans that are highly abundant in breast milk but not in infant formula, prevent NEC in a neonatal rat model (Jantscher-Krenn et al. Gut 2012). Of the more than 150 HMO described to date, a single oligosaccharide, disialyllacto-N-tetraose (DSLNT), is responsible for the beneficial effects in neonatal rats.
The manuscript reports data from a multicenter clinical cohort study that tested the hypothesis that infants who develop NEC receive milk with less DSLNT than infants who do not develop NEC.
200 mother-infant dyads were recruited at five different sites across North America.
The study team at five sites across North America recruited 200 mothers and their very low-birth-weight infants that were predominantly human milk-fed, analyzed HMO composition in breast milk fed to infants over the first 28 days post partum, matched each NEC case with five controls, and used logistic regression and generalized estimating equation (GEE) to confirm that infants who develop NEC receive milk with less DSLNT than infants who do not develop NEC.
DSLNT concentrations are uniquely and consistently low in NEC cases (left) when compared to controls (right). Samples in each row are case-control matched by study site, gestational age, birth-weight and other NEC-relevant factors.
February 13, 2017
Lars appointed as first Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Chair of Collaborative Human Milk Research
University of California San Diego Chancellor Dr. Pradeep Khosla appoints Lars as the inaugural chair holder of the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Chair of Collaborative Human Milk Research in the School of Medicine.
The Chair is also the Director of the new Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Mother-Milk-Infant Center of Research Excellence (LRF MoMI CoRE).
Click Here to visit the LRF MoMI CoRE website.
February 13, 2017
Manuscript accepted in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Our manuscript "What's normal? Oligosaccharide concentrations and profiles in milk produced by healthy women vary geographically" has been accepted for pubcliation in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Am J Clin Nutr).
The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, analzyed and compared human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) composition in milk samples collected from over 400 healthy women in 11 international cohorts, including Ethopia, the Gambia, Ghana and Kenya, Sweden, Spain, Peru as well as two sites in North America.
Percentage of women who generate milk with alpha-1-2-fucosylated oligosaccharides (Secretors) varies between regions.
Click Here for a list of publications.
February 1, 2017
Manuscript accepted in Paediatrics and International Child Health
Our manuscript "The effect of simulated flash heating pasteurisation and Holder pasteurisation on human milk oligosaccharides" has been accepted for publication in the journal Paediatrics and International Child Health.
The project assessed HMO composition in milk samples treated with a low-cost remote pasteurisation temperature-monitoring system that uses FoneAstra, a cell phone-based networked sensing system to monitor simulated flash heat (FH) pasteurisation.
The project is a collaboration with Dr. Coutsoudis group at the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, Congella, Durban, South Africa, and Dr. Israel-Ballard's group at the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and Nutrition Global Program, PATH, Seattle, Washington, USA.
The lead author, Dr. Brodie Daniels, visited the Bode lab with support of the International Atomic Energy Agency and through PATH, who received a grant from Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Brodie is also supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Paediatrics and International Child Health is an international forum for all aspects of paediatrics and child health in developing and low-income countries. The international, peer-reviewed papers cover a wide range of diseases in childhood and examine the social and cultural settings in which they occur.
Click Here for a list of publications.
January 12, 2017
Unraveling the Complexity of Human Milk - $10.5 million gift funds center for human milk research at UC San Diego
A $10.5 million gift from the Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation in Switzerland seeds a new UC San Diego center dedicated to human milk and lactation research.
The mission of the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Mother-Milk-Infant Center of Research Excellence (LRF MoMI CoRE) is to unravel the complexity of human milk for optimal maternal and infant health by promoting excellence, synergy and innovation in research, clinical practice and education.
Lars has been named the center's Director.
Our goal is for LRF MoMI CoRE to become the cornerstone in a global network of research excellence in human milk and lactation and serve as a model of innovative multidisciplinary research, a key to answering complicated questions related to why and how human milk promotes optimal health, growth, and development.
Click Here to visit the LRF MoMI CoRE website.
Click Here to read an article about the new center in thisweek@ucsandiego.
Dedicated to Research on Human Milk Oligosaccharides
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