 As part of a knowledge translation project ("Stakeholder engagement to inform strategies for improving breasteeding education in Manitoba schools"), PhD student Sarah Turner and colleagues (and babies!) hosted an information booth today at the Science Teachers Association of Manitoba Professional Development day. The goal of the next phase of this project is to create breastfeeding curriculum resources for Manitoba and/or adapt resources developed in other provinces. Great work Sarah, and thanks to everyone who helped, including Angela and baby Bennett (pictured), as well as Michelle La for her work on this project!
  As always, the Azad Lab had a great time at the 15th annual Children's Health Research Days, held in Winnipeg from Oct. 22-24, contributing several posters and an oral presentation to the proceedings. At the closing gala dinner, Shreyas Kumbhare was awarded a Silver medal for his poster concerning his PhD work on differences in the microbiome between Indian and Finnish children, in collaboration with Dr. Erika Isolauri, Dr. Seppo Salminen and others. Congratulations, Shreyas!
 The Azad Lab was very well-represented "down under" with three exciting posters presented by Dr. Azad, Dr. Miliku and colleagues, on breast milk oligosaccharides, effects of maternal artificial sweetener consumption on infant weight gain, and new strategies to reduce peanut allergy in breastfed infants. Dr. Azad also presented recent CHILD study data in an oral session (see title slide below). Their work contributed to a growing presence of breastmilk and breastfeeding research at DOHaD, which is sure to be well-reflected at the next DOHaD meeting, to be held in Vancouver, Oct. 16-19, 2021. Great work!
 Sarah Turner, PhD student in the Azad Lab, has been warded an oral presentation slot at Child Health Research Days. Her abstract was one of the top two highest-scoring abstracts submitted by DEVOTION trainees. She will present her research entitled "Infant feeding, human milk polyunsaturated fatty acids and child behaviour at age 5 years: preliminary results from the longitudinal CHILD birth cohort study" in Session 4: Transdisciplinary Research on the Developmental Origins of Health: From Biology to Policy from 4-4:15 pm on October 24th, 2019. Great work, Sarah!
 From Sarah's editorial, Breastfeeding Mothers Need Safe Spaces: "Many of us know of the health-promoting qualities of breast milk and how it contributes to lifelong infant health, in addition to maternal health. In Canada, 90 per cent of women initiate breastfeeding, but only about 25 per cent are able to continue with exclusive breastfeeding for the recommended duration of six months." Congratulations to Sarah on her publication and dedication to breastfeeding awareness!
  As part of Breastfeeding Awareness Week, a new invited post by Dr. Azad and Dr. Brockway, edited by Dr. Shreyas Kumbhare, appeared on the blog Science for Society, on the theme of Why Breastfeeding Matters to Everyone. The post has already generated considerable activity online!
New human milk research from the Azad Lab published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition10/7/2019
  Congratulations to Azad Lab postodcotral fellow, Dr. Kozeta Miliku, and colleagues on the release of their exciting work on human milk fatty acid composition, conducted with over 1,000 participants in the CHILD Study! This study provides unique insights about the “normal” variation in the composition of human milk fatty acids and the contributing dietary, genetic, sociodemographic, health, and environmental factors. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and featured in our lab's very first Twitter Thread, exploring key results of this paper. A great way to end National Breastfeeding Awareness Week!
Azad Lab and colleagues host outreach initiative for National Breastfeeding Awareness Week10/3/2019
 Members from the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC) hosted an outreach table in a high-traffic area of the medical school to raise awareness and support for breastfeeding, including information-sharing, lots of conversation, and stickers, as well as displays of life-size posters of breastfeeding mothers from the Winnipeg Breastfeeding Network, and medieval and religious paintings depicting breastfeeding provided by visiting scholar François-Joseph Lapointe. There was a lot of enthusiastic engagement, particularly from first- and second-year medical students! Thanks to everyone who helped to make this event such a success!
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