Mother-Milk-Infant Research

Schulkers Escalante K, Bai-Tong SS, Allard SM, Ecklu-Mensah G, Sanchez C, Song SJ, et al. The impact of breastfeeding on the preterm infant’s microbiome and metabolome: a pilot study. Pediatr Res. 2025;97(3):1227–36. DOI: 10.1038/s41390-024-03440-9 

Patil K, Ayyar BV, Hayes NM, Neill FH, Bode L, Estes MK, et al. 2’-Fucosyllactose inhibits human norovirus replication in human intestinal enteroids. J Virol. 2025;99(2):e0093824. DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00938-24 

Renwick S, Furst A, Knip M, DIABIMMUNE Study Group, Bode L, Danska JS, et al. Modulating the developing gut microbiota with 2’-fucosyllactose and pooled human milk oligosaccharides. Microbiome. 2025;13(1):44. DOI: 10.1186/s40168-025-02034-9

Pessentheiner AR, Spann NJ, Autran CA, Oh TG, Grunddal KV, Coker JK, et al. The human milk oligosaccharide 3’sialyllactose reduces low-grade inflammation and atherosclerosis development in mice. JCI Insight. 2024;9(21). DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.181329

Shenhav L, Fehr K, Reyna ME, Petersen C, Dai DLY, Dai R, et al. Microbial colonization programs are structured by breastfeeding and guide healthy respiratory development. Cell. 2024;187(19):5431-5452.e20. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.07.022 

Masi AC, Beck LC, Perry JD, Granger CL, Hiorns A, Young GR, et al. Human milk microbiota, oligosaccharide profiles, and infant gut microbiome in preterm infants diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis. Cell Rep Med. 2024;5(9):101708. DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101708 

Ottino-González J, Adise S, Machle CJ, Mokhtari P, Holzhausen EA, Furst A, et al. Consumption of different combinations of human milk oligosaccharides in the first 6 mo of infancy is positively associated with early cognition at 2 y of age in a longitudinal cohort of Latino children. Am J Clin Nutr. 2024;120(3):593–601. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.07.020 

Ambalavanan A, Chang L, Choi J, Zhang Y, Stickley SA, Fang ZY, et al. Human milk oligosaccharides are associated with maternal genetics and respiratory health of human milk-fed children. Nat Commun. 2024;15(1):7735. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51743-6 

Gurung M, Mulakala BK, Schlegel BT, Rajasundaram D, Shankar K, Bode L, et al. Maternal immune cell gene expression associates with maternal gut microbiome, milk composition and infant gut microbiome. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2024;63:903–18. DOI: 10.1016/j.clnesp.2024.08.027 

Tripp P, Davis EC, Gurung M, Rosa F, Bode L, Fox R, et al. Infant Microbiota communities and human milk oligosaccharide supplementation independently and synergistically shape metabolite production and immune responses in healthy mice. J Nutr. 2024;154(9):2871–86. DOI: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.07.031 

Atayde AMP, Kapoor NR, Cherkerzian S, Olson I, Andrews C, Lee ACC, et al. Lactoferrin intake from maternal milk during the neonatal hospitalization and early brain development among preterm infants. Pediatr Res. 2024;96(1):159–64. DOI:10.1038/s41390-023-03002-5 

Selma-Royo M, Dubois L, Manara S, Armanini F, Cabrera-Rubio R, Valles-Colomer M, et al. Birthmode and environment-dependent microbiota transmission dynamics are complemented by breastfeeding during the first year. Cell Host Microbe. 2024;32(6):996-1010.e4. DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2024.05.005 

Mokhtari P, Schmidt KA, Zamanian H, Babaei M, Machle CJ, Trifonova D, et al. Maternal diet associated with oligosaccharide abundances in human milk from Latina mothers. Nutrients. 2024;16(12):1795. DOI: 10.3390/nu16121795 

Schinkel ER, Nelson ER, Kim JH, Perrin MT, Dyer R, Elango R, et al. Point-of-care human milk concentration by passive osmosis: comprehensive analysis of fresh human milk samples. J Perinatol. 2024;44(11):1575–83. DOI: 10.1038/s41372-024-01988-2 

Fürst A, Ford B, Hentschel H, Bode L. Human milk oligosaccharides in antenatal colostrum: A case study. Breastfeed Med. 2024;19(8):652–8. DOI: 10.1089/bfm.2024.0048 

Renwick S, Rahimi K, Sejane K, Bertrand K, Chambers C, Bode L. Consistency and variability of the human milk oligosaccharide profile in repeat pregnancies. Nutrients. 2024;16(5):643. DOI: 10.3390/nu16050643 

O’Sullivan A, Brady E, Lafferty L, O’Shea F, O’Regan Z, Meurs N, et al. Long chain monomethyl branched-chain fatty acid levels in human milk vary with gestational weight gain. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2024;201(102607):102607. DOI: 10.1016/j.plefa.2024.102607 

Kellman BP, Richelle A, Yang J-Y, Chapla D, Chiang AWT, Najera JA, et al. Elucidating Human Milk Oligosaccharide biosynthetic genes through network-based multi-omics integration. Nat Commun. 2022;13(1):2455. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29867-4

Bode L, Donovan SM. Fructooligosaccharides are not the same as Fucosylated Human Milk Oligosaccharides. Adv Nutr. 2022;13(3):972–3. DOI: 10.1093/advances/nmac033

Mlynaryk N. Pregnant, Breastfeeding or Trying? Here’s What COVId-19 Means for You [Internet]. UC San Diego News Center, thisweek@ucsandiego. 2021. Available from: https://today.ucsd.edu/story/pregnant-breastfeeding-or-trying-heres-what-covid-means-for-you

Heimbach B. Marathon der Muttermilchforschung. Deutsche Hebammen. 2021

Notman N. The science of breast milk and baby formula [Internet]. Chemistryworld.com. Available from: https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/the-science-of-breast-milk-and-baby-formula/4014574.article

Ferreira ALL, Alves-Santos NH, Freitas-Costa NC, Santos PPT, Batalha MA, Figueiredo ACC, et al. Associations between human milk oligosaccharides at 1 month and infant development throughout the first year of life in a Brazilian cohort. J Nutr. 2021;151(11):3543–54. DOI: 10.1093/jn/nxab271

Seppo AE, Bu K, Jumabaeva M, Thakar J, Choudhury RA, Yonemitsu C, et al. Infant gut microbiome is enriched with Bifidobacterium longum ssp. infantis in Old Order Mennonites with traditional farming lifestyle. Allergy. 2021;76(11):3489–503. DOI: 10.1111/all.14877

Plows JF, Berger PK, Jones RB, Alderete TL, Yonemitsu C, Najera JA, et al. Longitudinal changes in human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) over the course of 24 months of lactation. J Nutr. 2021;151(4):876–82. DOI: 10.1093/jn/nxaa427

Azad MB, Nickel NC, Bode L, Brockway M, Brown A, Chambers C, et al. Breastfeeding and the origins of health: Interdisciplinary perspectives and priorities. Matern Child Nutr. 2021;17(2):e13109. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13109

Ruiz L, Alba C, García-Carral C, Jiménez EA, Lackey KA, McGuire MK, et al. Comparison of two approaches for the metataxonomic analysis of the human milk microbiome. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021;11:622550. DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.622550

Lodge CJ, Lowe AJ, Milanzi E, Bowatte G, Abramson MJ, Tsimiklis H et al. Human milk oligosaccharide profiles and allergic disease up to 19 years. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2021 Mar 1; DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2020.06.027

Zhou R, Llorente C, Cao J, Zaramela LS, Zeng S, Gao B et al. Intestinal alpha1-2-Fucosylation Contributes to Obesity and Steatohepatitis in Mice. Cellular and molecular gastroenterology and hepatology. 2021 Feb 22; DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2021.02.009

Rosa F, Matazel KS, Elolimy AA, Adams SH, Bowlin A, Williams KD, et al. Human milk-fed piglets have a distinct small intestine and circulatory metabolome profile relative to that of milk formula-fed piglets. mSystems. 2021;6(1). DOI: 10.1128/mSystems.01376-20

Spatz DL, Davanzo R, Müller JA, Powell R, Rigourd V, Yates A, et al. Promoting and protecting human milk and breastfeeding in a COVID-19 world. Front Pediatr. 2020;8:633700. DOI: 10.3389/fped.2020.633700

Saben JL, Sims CR, Abraham A, Bode L, Andres A. Human milk oligosaccharide concentrations and infant intakes are associated with maternal overweight and obesity and predict infant growth. Nutrients. 2021;13(2):446. DOI: 10.3390/nu13020446

Spatz DL, Davanzo R, Müller JA, Powell R, Rigourd V, Yates A, et al. Promoting and protecting human milk and breastfeeding in a COVID-19 world. Front Pediatr. 2020;8:633700. DOI: 10.3389/fped.2020.633700

Larsen JK, Bode L. Obesogenic programming effects during lactation: A narrative review and conceptual model focusing on underlying mechanisms and promising future research avenues. Nutrients. 2021;13(2):299. DOI: 10.3390/nu13020299

Lodge CJ, Lowe AJ, Milanzi E, Bowatte G, Abramson MJ, Tsimiklis H, et al. Human milk oligosaccharide profiles and allergic disease up to 18 years. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021;147(3):1041–8. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2020.06.027

Lagström H, Rautava S, Ollila H, Kaljonen A, Turta O, Mäkelä J, et al. Associations between human milk oligosaccharides and growth in infancy and early childhood. Am J Clin Nutr. 2020;111(4):769–78. DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa010

Bode L, Raman AS, Murch SH, Rollins NC, Gordon JI. Understanding the mother-breastmilk-infant “triad.” Science. 2020;367(6482):1070–2. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw6147 

Berger PK, Plows JF, Jones RB, Alderete TL, Yonemitsu C, Poulsen M, et al. Human milk oligosaccharide 2’-fucosyllactose links feedings at 1 month to cognitive development at 24 months in infants of normal and overweight mothers. PLoS One. 2020;15(2):e0228323. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228323

Addison R, Hill L, Bode L, Robertson B, Choudhury B, Young D, et al. Development of a biochemical marker to detect current breast milk intake. Matern Child Nutr. 2020;16(1):e12859. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.12859

Larsson MW, Lind MV, Laursen RP, Yonemitsu C, Larnkjær A, Mølgaard C, et al. Corrigendum: Human milk oligosaccharide composition is associated with excessive weight gain during exclusive breastfeeding-an explorative study. Front Pediatr. 2019;7:521. DOI: 10.3389/fped.2019.00521

Moukarzel S, Abou Jaoudeh M, Farhat A, Saade M, Mamas C, Daly AJ. Exploring the latitude of attitude: Intentions to breastfeed among adolescents in Lebanese schools. Matern Child Nutr. 2020 Jan;16(1):e12888. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.12888. Epub 2019 Sep 4.

Moossavi S, Atakora F, Miliku K, Sepehri S, Robertson B, Duan QL, et al. Integrated analysis of human milk Microbiota with oligosaccharides and fatty acids in the CHILD cohort. Front Nutr. 2019;6:58. DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2019.00058

Moossavi S, Sepehri S, Robertson B, Bode L, Goruk S, Field CJ, et al. Composition and variation of the human milk Microbiota are influenced by maternal and early-life factors. Cell Host Microbe. 2019;25(2):324-335.e4. DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2019.01.011

Lackey KA, Williams JE, Meehan CL, Zachek JA, Benda ED, Price WJ, et al. What’s normal? Microbiomes in human milk and infant feces are related to each other but vary geographically: The INSPIRE study. Front Nutr. 2019;6:45. DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2019.00045

Seppo AE, Kukkonen AK, Kuitunen M, Savilahti E, Yonemitsu C, Bode L, et al. Association of maternal probiotic supplementation with human milk oligosaccharide composition. JAMA Pediatr. 2019;173(3):286–8. DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.4835

Morrin ST, Owens RA, Le Berre M, Gerlach JQ, Joshi L, Bode L, et al. Interrogation of milk-driven changes to the proteome of intestinal epithelial cells by integrated proteomics and glycomics. J Agric Food Chem. 2019;67(7):1902–17. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.8b06484

Morrin ST, Lane JA, Marotta M, Bode L, Carrington SD, Irwin JA, et al. Bovine colostrum-driven modulation of intestinal epithelial cells for increased commensal colonisation. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2019;103(6):2745–58. DOI: 10.1007/s00253-019-09642-0

Moukarzel S, Mamas C, Farhat A, Daly AJ. Getting schooled: teachers views on school-based breastfeeding education in Lebanon. Int Breastfeed J. 2019 Jan 8;14:3. DOI: 10.1186/s13006-019-0199-8. eCollection 2019.

Moukarzel S, Mamas C, Warstadt MF, Bode L, Farhat A, Abi Abboud A et al. A case study on breastfeeding education in Lebanon's public medical school: exploring the potential role of social networks in medical education. Med Educ Online. 2018 Dec;23(1):1527629. DOI: 10.1080/10872981.2018.1527629.

Ramani S, Stewart CJ, Laucirica DR, Ajami NJ, Robertson B, Autran CA et al. Human milk oligosaccharides, milk microbiome and infant gut microbiome modulate neonatal rotavirus infection. Nat Commun. 2018 Nov 27;9(1):5010. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07476-4.

Miliku K, Robertson B, Sharma AK, Subbarao P, Becker AB, Mandhane PJ et al. Human milk oligosaccharide profiles and food sensitization among infants in the CHILD Study. Allergy. 2018 Oct;73(10):2070-2073. DOI: 10.1111/all.13476. Epub 2018 Jul 2.

Wise A, Robertson B, Choudhury B, Rautava S, Isolauri E, Salminen S et al. Infants Are Exposed to Human Milk Oligosaccharides Already in utero. Front Pediatr. 2018 Oct 2;6:270. DOI: 10.3389/fped.2018.00270. eCollection 2018.

Moukarzel S, Ozias M, Kerling E, Christifano D, Wick J, Colombo J, et al. Maternal vitamin D status and infant infection. Nutrients. 2018;10(2):111. DOI: 10.3390/nu10020111

El-Hawiet A, Chen Y, Shams-Ud-Doha K, Kitova EN, Kitov PI, Bode L, et al. Screening natural libraries of human milk oligosaccharides against lectins using CaR-ESI-MS. Analyst. 2018;143(2):536–48. DOI: 10.1039/c7an01397c

Moukarzel S, Soberanes L, Dyer RA, Albersheim S, Elango R, Innis SM. Relationships among different water-soluble choline compounds differ between human preterm and donor milk. Nutrients. 2017;9(4):369. DOI: 10.3390/nu9040369

Autran CA, Kellman BP, Kim JH, Asztalos E, Blood AB, Spence ECH et al. Human milk oligosaccharide composition predicts risk of necrotising enterocolitis in preterm infants. Gut. 2018 Jun;67(6):1064-1070. DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-312819. Epub 2017 Apr 5. 

Milani C, Duranti S, Bottacini F, Casey E, Turroni F, Mahony J et al. The First Microbial Colonizers of the Human Gut: Composition, Activities, and Health Implications of the Infant Gut Microbiota. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2017 Nov 8;81(4). pii: e00036-17. DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00036-17. Print 2017 Dec.

Yu H, Yan X, Autran CA, Li Y, Etzold S, Latasiewicz J, et al. Enzymatic and chemoenzymatic syntheses of disialyl glycans and their necrotizing enterocolitis preventing effects. J Org Chem. 2017;82(24):13152–60. DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.7b02167

Bazanella M, Maier TV, Clavel T, Lagkouvardos I, Lucio M, Maldonado-Gòmez MX et al. Randomized controlled trial on the impact of early-life intervention with bifidobacteria on the healthy infant fecal microbiota and metabolome. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017 Nov;106(5):1274-1286. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.117.157529. Epub 2017 Sep 6.

Williams JE, Price WJ, Shafii B, Yahvah KM, Bode L, McGuire MA, et al. Relationships among microbial communities, maternal cells, oligosaccharides, and macronutrients in human milk. J Hum Lact. 2017;33(3):540–51. DOI: 10.1177/0890334417709433

Lin AE, Autran CA, Szyszka A, Escajadillo T, Huang M, Godula K et al. Human milk oligosaccharides inhibit growth of group B Streptococcus. J Biol Chem. 2017 Jul 7;292(27):11243-11249. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M117.789974. Epub 2017 Apr 17.

McGuire MK, Meehan CL, McGuire MA, Williams JE, Foster J, Sellen DW et al. What's normal? Oligosaccharide concentrations and profiles in milk produced by healthy women vary geographically. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017 May;105(5):1086-1100. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.116.139980. Epub 2017 Mar 29.

Seppo AE, Autran CA, Bode L, Järvinen KM. Human milk oligosaccharides and development of cow's milk allergy in infants. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2017 Feb;139(2):708-711.e5. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2016.08.031. Epub 2016 Oct 1.

Bender JM, Li F, Martelly S, Byrt E, Rouzier V, Leo M et al. Maternal HIV infection influences the microbiome of HIV-uninfected infants. Sci Transl Med. 2016 Jul 27;8(349):349ra100. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaf5103.

Alderete TL, Autran C, Brekke BE, Knight R, Bode L, Goran MI et al. Associations between human milk oligosaccharides and infant body composition in the first 6 mo of life. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Dec;102(6):1381-8. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.115.115451. Epub 2015 Oct 28.

Bode L, Kuhn L, Kim HY, Hsiao L, Nissan C, Sinkala M et al. Human milk oligosaccharide concentration and risk of postnatal transmission of HIV through breastfeeding. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Oct;96(4):831-9. Epub 2012 Aug 15.

Jantscher-Krenn E, Zherebtsov M, Nissan C, Goth K, Guner YS, Naidu N et al. The human milk oligosaccharide disialyllacto-N-tetraose prevents necrotising enterocolitis in neonatal rats. Gut. 2012 Oct;61(10):1417-25. DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2011-301404. Epub 2011 Dec 3.

Bode L. Human milk oligosaccharides: every baby needs a sugar mama. Glycobiology. 2012 Sep;22(9):1147-62. DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cws074. Epub 2012 Apr 18.

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“014 The Milk Moonshot”, Interview with Lars Bode and Alan Daly, by Jennifer Grayson: see blog