News Blog - 2014

Dr. Sabrina Etzold, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Bode lab, is now part of PEG, the Program of Excellence in Glycoscience. 

The goal of the PEG program is to build research capacity and resources and “a cadre of scientifically bilingual investigators fluent in glycan chemistry and biology that will sustain and advance the application of glycosciences to heart, lung, and blood research.” These goals will be achieved through research and training of post-graduate fellows.

The UCSD PEG is funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and part of a national network of Programs of Excellence in Glycosciences (PEG). The PEG unit at UCSD involves four projects headed by J. Esko, R. Gallo, V. Nizet, and A. Varki and several cores (Skills Development, J. Esko; Glycan Analysis and Synthesis, B. Choudhury; Histology, N. Varki; and Hematology and Blood Chemistry, D. Li). Five other PEG grants have been awarded at Johns Hopkins University, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Cleveland Clinic.

Click Here to visit the UCSD PEG website.

Invited by Dr. Bo Lonnerdal, UC Davis, Lars gives a talk in a session on gut priming at the 17th Conference of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML) in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. 

The Bode lab welcomes Lasse Paulsen, Bsc, who joins the Milk Gang on October 17, 2014.

Lasse is a visiting graduate student from the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany. He is going to work with Chloe Autran and Bianca Robertson on a new project that Alexandra Szyszka had spearheaded earlier this year. 

Lasse's visit is supported by a PROMOS fellowship that has been developed by the German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD) and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Click Here for a link to the DAAD PROMOS program.

Click Here for more information on all current team members.

Invited by Co-Chairs Dr. Bruce German, UC Davis and Dr. William Rhine, Stanford University, Lars presents a talk at the 2nd International Conference on Human Milk Science and Innovation at the Shutters on the Beach hotel in Santa Monica, California. 

Our collaborator Dr. Caroline Lane Lodge from the University of Melbourne, Australia, secured an Australian National Asthma Research Trust Grant from Asthma Australia and the Australian National Research Council.

Asthma is a common and serious illness in Australia, affecting 1 in 10 people and has been recognized as a National Health Priority Area in Australia. It is the most common chronic illness in Australian children and is associated with reduced lung function. Although most asthma, especially allergic asthma, is thought to originate in early childhood, the causes of asthma remain largely unknown and there are no established methods for prevention. 

The project studies the relationship of breast milk oligosaccharides and microbiome with asthma and lung function in children up to 18 years of age. The subjects are part of the unique Melbourne Atopy Cohort Study (MACS), which began in the early 1990s. The Bode lab is going to provide oligosaccharide composition analysis for this study. 

Only three (3!) of the submitted fifty-three applications have been selected for funding.

Click Here for a link to the Asthma Australia homepage.

Lars presents a research seminar on "Functionality of Milk Oligosaccharides" at Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

Click Here for Past and Upcoming Speaking Engagements.

Lars chairs the session "Lactose and Oligosaccharides" at the 7th International Whey Conference in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and gave a presentation on "Functionality of Milk Oligosaccharides: Only the Tip of the Sugarloaf?".

The Justus-Liebig-University (JLU) Giessen, Germany, awards Lasse Paulsen with a PROMOS fellowship.

Lasse will join the Milk Gang in October 2014 as a graduate student.

The PROMOS program has been developed by the German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD) and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Click Here for a link to the DAAD PROMOS program.

Click Here for more information on all current team members.

Chloe Autran has been promoted from Staff Research Associate I to Staff Research Asscociate II.

Congratulations on the promotion! Well deserved!

The Bode lab welcomes Dr. Brodie Daniels, PhD, who joins the Milk Gang as a postdoctoral fellow on April 15, 2014, visiting from Dr. Anna Coutsoudis lab at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. Brodie's visit is supported by an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) fellowship.

Click Here for more information on all current team members.

Our manuscript describing the synthesis of new carbohydrate compounds that reduce necotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in a preclinical model got accepted for publication in Angewandte Chemie.

The project is a collaboration with Dr. Xi Chen's group at the University of California, Davis.

Click Here to visit Dr. Chen's website.

Click Here for a list of our publications.

Angewandte Chemie, with its excellent Impact Factor of 13.7 (2012) is maintaining its leading position among the general chemistry journals. It delivers a stimulating mixture of Review Articles, Highlights, and Communications weekly. Angewandte Chemie also regularly publishes Nobel lectures in chemistry and related fields.

Invited by Evette Van Niekerk and Prof. Renee Blaauw, Lars gives a research seminar and participates in a round table discussion at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

The research exchange visit is supported by Stellenbosch University and a travel grant from the Center for AIDS Research. 

Click Here for a link to Stellenbosch University.

Click Here for a link to the Center for AIDS Research.

Click Here for Past and Upcoming Speaking Engagements.

The Bode lab participated in the 17th Annual San Diego Glycobiology Symposium, March 21-22, 2014. 

Lars gave a talk highlighting some of the projects in the lab.

The Annual San Diego Glycobiology Symposium is organized by the UCSD Glycobiology Research and Training Center (GRTC). It brings together laboratories from San Diego, and other institutions in California that have a major interest in glycobiology. The objectives are to exchange information on the latest advances in the field and to promote interactions between members of these laboratories and other attendees from academia, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. 

Click Here for more information about the symposium.

Click Here to learn more about GRTC.

Click Here for Past and Upcoming Speaking Engagements.

The Bode lab moved form the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest to the new Biomedical Research Facility II (Medical Sciences Research Building) on UCSD main campus in La Jolla.

The top floor of the new state-of-the-art research facility brings together scientists and their labs working in pediatric and adult gastroenterology and nutrition. UCSD labs that are part of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center (GRTC) are located just one floor beneath.   In addition, the facility is home to the UCSD Health Sciences Center for Immunity, Infection & Inflammation (iii) and the UCSD Glycotechnology Core.

The close proximity to these excellent labs and core resources creates an outstanding environment to support research conducted in the Bode lab.

Click Here for Information on how to find us.

Click Here for Photos of the move.

Applications are invited for a PhD Walsh fellowship position at Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork in collaboration with the University College Dublin (UCD) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

The successful applicant will work on ascertaining the nature of the interactions between the mucosal glycome and pathogenic bacteria in order to aid in the design of novel strategies to reinforce the mucosal barrier and limit infection by pathogens at critical life stages - infancy, old age and ill-health. Technologies utilized will include tissue culture based models to investigate colonization of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

Research will be carried out under the joint supervision of Dr. Rita Hickey (Teagasc), Prof. Stephen Carrington (UCD) and Prof. Lars Bode (UCSD).

Visit for www.teagasc.ie postgraduate opportunities  Ref no: 2014058

€22,000 per annum including fees

Based in Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co.Cork

Duration 4 years (PhD), 1 position available

Honors graduates of Genetics, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Food Science or related discipline required

Contact:

Dr. Rita Hickey, Phone: 025 42227, Email: rita.hickey@teagasc.ie

Prof. Stephen Carrington, Phone: 01  716 6238, Email: stephen.carrington@ucd.ie

Prof. Lars Bode, Email: lbode@ucsd.edu

for more information or apply by sending your CV via email to any of the above 

(closing date May 30, 2014)

The International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML) elects Lars as their incoming President.

ISRHML is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of excellence in research and the dissemination of research findings in the field of human milk and lactation. The elected president will serve for a total of six years: two years as President-Elect, two years as President, and two years as immediate Past-President.

Lars will take office as President-Elect at the Annual General Meeting held at Experimental Biology in San Diego in April 2014.

Click Here to visit the ISRHML website.

Alexandra Szyszka returns to the Milk Gang as a graduate student from the Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany. Alex had been a visiting undergraduate student in the Bode lab in 2012. Her visit is in part funded by a PROMOS fellowship.

The PROMOS program has been developed by the German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD) and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Click Here for more information on all current team members.

The American Society for Nutrition (ASN) recognizes Lars with the 2014 Bio Serv Award in Experimental Animal Nutrition.

The award is given for meritorious research in nutrition using experimental animals as models by an investigator who received the doctoral degree in the 10 years preceding the month the award is presented.

Lars was nominated for the award by Drs. Shelley and Mark McGuire.

The award will be presented during the ASN Awards Ceremony at the Experimental Biology conference in San Diego, CA, on Sunday, April 27. (Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel) 

Click Here to visit the ASN homepage.

Invited by Dr. Alan Spitzer, MD, Lars delivers a lecture at “NEO: The Conference for Neonatology” in Orlando, Florida, February 20-23, 2014.

“Oligosaccharides and Nutrition”

Click Here to visit the conference homepage.

Click Here to download the conference agenda.

Click Here for Past and Upcoming Speaking Engagements.

Invited by Dr. Geert-Jan Boons, Lars gives a research seminar at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center (CCRC) at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA on Wednesday, February 19, 2014. The lecture presents an overview of past and current HMO research.

“Human Milk Oligosaccharides: Every Baby needs a Sugar Mama”

Click Here to visit the CCRC homepage.

Click Here to visit Dr. Geert-Jan Boons’ lab website.

Click Here for Past and Upcoming Speaking Engagements.

The first FASEB Science Research Conference (SRC) on the “Origins and Benefits of Biologically Active Components in Human Milk” will take place in Big Sky, Montana, July 19-24, 2015.

This new FASEB SRC aims to foster interactions among established and emerging investigators and their trainees who conduct research related to human milk bioactives, their origins and biosynthesis in the mammary gland, and their potential benefits for the breastfed infant and the lactating woman.  

FASEB SRC emphasize on cutting edge research, with prominent scientists in each field making presentations to attendees who are engaged in research or are in ancillary fields where an accurate understanding of allied scientific advances is important.

Big Sky Resort, Montana, is the basecamp to Yellowstone National Park and offers many other exciting outdoor activities.

Click Here to visit the FASEB SRC website.

Click Here to visit the Big Sky Resort website.

Click Here to visit the Yellowstone National Park website.

The Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany, awards Alexandra Szyszka with a PROMOS fellowship.

Alex, who had been a visiting undergraduate student in the Bode lab in 2012, will return to join the Milk Gang in March 2014 as a graduate student.

The PROMOS program has been developed by the German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD) and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Click Here for a link to the TUM PROMOS program.

Click Here for a link to the DAAD PROMOS program.

 Click Here for more information on all current team members.

The Bode lab receives a Travel Grant from the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) at the University of California, San Diego to visit collaborators at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

The purpose of the trip will be to discuss results from a recently completed pilot study on mother-to-child HIV transmission via breastfeeding in collaboration with Evette Van Niekerk and Prof. Renee Blaauw, head of the Human Nutrition Division, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. In addition, Lars will give a lecture on Human Milk Oligosaccharides at Stellenbosch University and meet with key faculty members to explore future collaborations between the Bode lab and groups at Stellenbosch University to further investigate the role of human milk oligosaccharides in reducing HIV transmission and other infectious diseases. 

Click Here for a link to the Center for AIDS Research.

Click Here for a link to Stellenbosch University.

Click Here for Past and Upcoming Speaking Engagements.

The Bode lab welcomes Dr. Sabrina Etzold, PhD, who joins the Milk Gang as a postdoctoral fellow on February 1, 2014.

Sabrina received her Master’s degree in Biotechnology/Biomaterial Sciences from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, in collaboration with the Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering. Afterwards, Sabrina went for an internship to the Institute for Glycomics at the Griffith University, Queensland, Australia to study galectin-1 and rotavirus glycan binding protein. At the end of 2009, Sabrina joined the Institute of Food Research, University of East Anglia, John Innes Center, Norwich, UK, to start her PhD studies on structural and functional analysis of bacteria adhesins involved in microbiota interactions with gastrointestinal mucin glycans. At the end of 2013, Sabrina successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Keeping the good bacteria in the gut - the role of sugars and sticky proteins”.

Click Here for more information on all current team members.

Lars gives a lecture on human milk oligosaccharides to the Division of Infectious Diseases at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego, on Thursday, January 16, 2014.

“Natural Protection:
Human Milk Oligosaccharides in the prevention of infectious diseases”

Click Here for a link to Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego.

Click Here for Past and Upcoming Speaking Engagements.

Invited by Medela, Inc., Lars gives an educational webinar on oligosaccharides in human milk.

The webinar introduced human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) and their metabolism in the breastfed infant, discussed some of the potential mechanisms of how HMO may benefit the breastfed infant, and outlined the potential protective effects of HMO in the context of HIV mother-to-child transmission and necrotizing enterocolitis.

Click Here for a link to Medela’s educational webinar series.

Click Here for Past and Upcoming Speaking Engagements.

The Bode lab welcomes Dr. Audra Wise, MD, who joins the Milk Gang in January 2014.

Audra received her B.S. in Biochemistry from California State University San Bernardino and her M.D. from Loma Linda University, California. She had been a Pediatric Resident at the Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland before joining UCSD as a Neonatology Fellow in 2013.

Audra brings a fresh clinical perspective to our research on human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) and is going to explore the benefits of HMO in non-traditional contexts.

Click Here for more information on all current team members.