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MILC Club Members expressed their thoughts on breastfeeding to support World Breastfeeding Week 2023 (#WBW2023). This annual celebration takes place from August 1 to 7 each year since 1992, commemorating the 1990 Innocenti Declaration. Discover ways to #ProtectBreastfeeding by visiting worldbreastfeedingweek.org.
THRiVE Discovery Lab leads breast milk analysis for new 10,000-family birth cohort in the UK7/24/2023
 Credits: https://preventchildabuse.org/ THRiVE lab and MILC co-directors, Meghan Azad & Natalie Rodriguez, are spearheading the breast milk component of the pioneering Children Growing Up in Liverpool (C-GULL) study, supported by the Wellcome Trust's Discovery Research and Mental Health programs. C-GULL marks a significant milestone as the UK's first biomedical birth cohort study in 17 years. Under the leadership of Professor Louise Kenny and her team at the University of Liverpool, the C-GULL study will closely monitor the well-being of 10,000 first-born babies and their families in Liverpool, from the early stages of pregnancy into adulthood. Researchers will collect comprehensive data on various health aspects, social circumstances, and environmental exposures. To enhance data accuracy, the study will use innovative health technologies, including wearable devices and mobile applications, to track real-time health indicators.
Within this transformative project, Dr. Meghan Azad and colleagues assume a pivotal role in analyzing breast milk samples to shed light on the intricate relationships between childhood experiences, breast milk composition, and long-term health outcomes. Dr. Azad's expertise and leadership bring invaluable insights into this crucial aspect of the study. Read more here!   Credits: https://twitter.com/MeghanAzad The IMiC Consortium, co-directed by Meghan Azad & Natalie Rodriguez, held its first in-person meeting from June 18-20, 2023, in Ghent, Belgium. After 3 years of virtual collaboration, researcher finally convened for three impactful days of brainstorming and knowledge exchange. The Yalo Boutique Hotel and Het Pand served as venues for a hackathon, discussions, and presentations, bring researchers closer to unraveling the secretes of breastmilk. Universiteit Gent graciously hosted the event, which marked a significant step forward in understanding complexities of breastmilk. With renewed enthusiasm, the consortium eagerly awaits the groundbreaking results to emerge from this collaborative effort. Stay tuned for more updates from IMiC as they continue their pioneering research in the field of breastmilk!
 Congratulations to THRiVE Lab and MILC co-director, Dr. Meghan Azad, on being announced as the 2023 Janet Rossant Lecturer at the Massey College. The Janet Rossant Lectureship was established in 2018 at Massey College in recognition of Dr. Rossant’s distinguished career as a scientist, scholar, builder and mentor of young scientists. Date to be determined.
 Credits: CTV News Winnipeg THRiVE lab and MILC co-director, Dr. Meghan Azad, speaks with CTV News Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Free Press on the benefits of breast milk and how the research being conducted by Dr. Azad and colleagues is focusing on examining breast milk as a biological system, understanding all of its components, and how it can have implications for public policy that supports breastfeeding mothers and makes babies healthier. More information about the news coverage can be found on CTV News Winnipeg and Winnipeg Free Press websites.
 Credits: UM Today | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences THRiVE Discovery lab and MILC co-directors, Dr. Meghan Azad and Natalie Rodriguez, receive a grant of US$2.5 million from the prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH), the national medical research agency in the United States. Since NIH prioritizes research in the US, only uniquely qualified Canadian researchers are awarded this grant. This grant will fund the five-year Multi-omics Milk (MuMi) Study. This MuMi study aims to leverage and unite two well-established human milk research platforms: the International Milk Composition (IMiC) Consortium, a network of researchers and data scientists co-led by Dr. Azad and Rodriguez, and the CHILD Cohort Study, a project deputy-directed by Dr. Azad that is following a large cohort of Canadian children born in 2009-12, to investigate human milk and its determinants and health impacts among 1600 mother-infant dyads using a novel multi-omics approach. Read more about it in the news from the UM Today Network here.
 Credits: ABC radio THRiVE lab and MILC co-director, Dr. Meghan Azad, was interviewed on the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) radio Babytalk podcast in 2021. In this podcast, Dr. Azad highlighted the importance of breastmilk as an incredible source of nutrition for the baby and how her research on the developmental origins of chronic diseases is exploring the influence of breastmilk on the future health of the babies. Listen to the full podcast here.
  FIG 1. Associations between human milk components and physiological processes that influence infant immune development: epigenetics, microbiome, and gut integrity. THRiVE lab masters student and MILC member, Spencer Ames, and colleagues published "Comparing early life nutritional sources and human milk feeding practices: personalized and dynamic nutrition supports infant gut microbiome development and immune system maturation" in Gut Microbes. This review article synthesizes evidence from human studies and model systems to discuss the impact of different nutritional sources on co-development of gut microbiome, antigen tolerance and immunity via mechanisms including epigenetics and the "weaning reaction". Follow the link to the full article [PDF] and check out Dr. Azad's [Tweetorial] on Twitter.
 Left to Right: UM President and vice chancellor Michael Benarroch, Dr. Meghan Azad, and VP (Research and International) Dr. Mario Pinto. Photo credits: UMToday News. Congratulations to THRiVE Lab co-director, Dr. Meghan Azad, on receiving the 2022 Steacie Prize, one of Canada's most coveted awards for early career researchers. The Steacie prize is named in honour of Edgar William Richard Steacie, a physical chemist and former president of the National Research Council of Canada. This prize is awarded to a person 40 years of age or younger who has made notable contributions to research in Canada. More about the Steacie Prize can be found here.
 Results of the international Perinatal Outcomes in the Pandemic (iPOP) Study, published in Nature Human Behaviour this month, received media coverage in the New York Times and CityNews. The iPOP Study was co-led by THRiVE co-Directors Meghan Azad and Natalie Rodriguez, along with THRiVE Postdoc Merilee Brockway, and colleagues from Australia and the UK.
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Photos used under Creative Commons from wuestenigel, rabello_
