 Credit: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio THRiVE director, Dr. Meghan Azad, spoke with Faith Fundal of CBC Radio's Up To Speed about some of the barriers parents who breastfeed face and how Canada compares to other countries around the world when it comes to the stigma surrounding public breastfeeding. The interview took place during World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7, 2025. To listen to the entire conversation, please follow the link to CBC Manitoba.
 Left to right: Dr. Meghan Azad, Bridget McGann, Dr. Ryan Pace, Dr. Miena Hall. On August 1st, THRiVE Lab members and colleagues hosted the second annual Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on the r/AskScience forum on Reddit ahead of World Breastfeeding Week. This is an opportunity to take a step back from our day-to-day work and get a snapshot of what the general public is wondering about lactation science. The event received about 81,000 views, 98 shares, and 32 questions. As with last year, the panelists were impressed with Redditors’ thoughtfulness, and their questions reflected a strong public appetite for lactation science. Participants asked about a wide range of topics including the adaptive and mechanistic biology of milk production and composition; breastfeeding and infant sleep; gaps in research, medical training, and support; factors influencing supply; and safety questions about toxins, microplastics, and medications. This event is part of our broader knowledge translation initiatives, and helps us address misinformation, increase interest in careers in lactation science, and foster public support for both research funding and breastfeeding-supportive public policy.
 Photo credit: Public Health On Call THRiVE Director Dr. Meghan Azad was featured on the Public Health On Call podcast hosted by Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA. In the episode Dr. Azad explains the chemical compounds that make human breast milk unique from other mammals, the opportunities to build more community support for breastfeeding, and the benefits of lactation for mothers. You can listen here: Public Health On Call, Bluesky
 Researchers from the MuMi (Multi-omics Milk) Study gathered for their first in-person Hackathon, led by Dr. Meghan Azad and co-investigator Dr. Nima Aghaeepour (Stanford University). Funded by the NIH, the MuMi Study is analyzing over 1,600 human milk samples using multi-omics to uncover how milk composition affects child health. Held July 17–18, the event brought together 16 team members (including 6 members from THRiVE lab) to analyze early data using advanced machine learning and data science techniques. The study builds on two major research platforms: the International Milk Composition (IMiC) Consortium, co-led by Dr. Azad, and the CHILD Study, a Canadian birth cohort. Participants collaborated intensively to identify patterns in milk composition, known as “lactotypes,” and explored how maternal and infant factors shape these patterns. Early links between milk composition, infant gut microbiome, and child health were also explored, offering insights that may guide personalized nutrition and public health strategies.
 Dr. Meghan Azad recently delivered the keynote address at the Lactation and Infant Feeding (LIFE) Workshop hosted by Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Her presentation, Milk-Multi-Omics: the CHILD Cohort, IMiC Consortium & Beyond, launched the two-day event, which brought together researchers and experts to explore a wide range of topics in human milk science.
 Credit: CHILD Cohort Study website They may be early in their careers, but Canada’s next generation of researchers is already making a significant impact in health and medicine, as highlighted in a recent Globe and Mail article. Dr. Kozeta Miliku, a former postdoctoral fellow with the THRiVE Lab, is among those leading the way. Her work, grounded in the lab’s innovative research environment, reflects the growing influence of THRiVE-trained scientists in shaping the future of biomedical discovery.
 THRiVE team members working alongside a multidisciplinary team of scientists have published the International Milk Composition (IMiC) Consortium study protocol to better understand the complex makeup of human milk and its role in infant growth, immunity, and development. By combining expertise from nutrition, global health, and data science, the consortium aims to conduct the most comprehensive, standardized analysis of human milk to date—spanning low-, middle-, and high-resource settings—to guide new strategies for improving maternal and child health worldwide. The protocol brings together 36 authors affiliated to 33 institutions to describe the analysis of 1946 human milk samples from 1040 mother-infant dyads spanning 4 countries in 3 continents. The protocol paper is a great achievement for IMiC! Read the Tweetorial here.
 Dr. Sarah Turner (recent THRiVE PhD graduate) and colleagues have published new research using CHILD study data linked with Manitoba Government data on "school readiness" assessments at kindergarten. This research was also discussed by THRiVE's Director Dr. Meghan Azad in a video for Red River College Science of Early Childhood Development Course. This study is a great example of how research can impact education and practice! Read the Tweetorial here.
 Credit: CIFAR.ca Dr. Meghan Azad and Dr. Sarah Turner (recent THRiVE PhD graduate) co-developed a new educational module with CIFAR that examines breastmilk's essential role in microbiome development and infant health, providing nutrition and immune protection. This resource is offered completely free, and includes a video recording, slide deck, and suggested learning activities.
THRiVE Director Highlights the Unmatched Benefits of Breastfeeding for Infant Health and Development4/8/2025
 Credit: epsiloon.com In the French scientific magazine Epsiloon, the article 'Allairtement: Quels sont les bienfaits démontrés?' features Dr. Azad emphasizing the unparalleled benefits of breastfeeding, highlighting its unique ability to adapt to a baby’s changing nutritional and immune needs. Unlike formula, which remains static, breastmilk evolves to provide the right balance of nutrients and antibodies as a baby grows, offering tailored immune protection and fostering a healthy gut microbiome. While breastfeeding can present challenges, when possible, it remains the gold standard for infant nutrition, offering irreplaceable health benefits that formula cannot replicate.
|
|
|
© COPYRIGHT 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
|
