College of Nursing 2018 Spring Seminar Series: “Feeding from the Breast without Latching: Human Milk Feeds Microbes in the Infant Gut”

The next talk in the College of Nursing Spring Seminar Series will be presented by Dr. David A. Sela, Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Science. Dr. Sela research focuses on breast milk and infant nutrition, genomics of beneficial microbes, and dietary influences on the human microbiome. His presentation will look at the genomics and molecular microbiology underlying reciprocal interactions between beneficial bifidobacterial populations and bioactive milk molecules.

Abstract: Human milk delivers bioactive molecules critical to infant development, homeostasis, and health. A fraction of these molecules are partially or fully indigestible and thus delivered to the infant gut. This includes human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) that provide functions beyond their potential nutritive value. Accordingly, microbes interact with human milk molecules to modulate the emergent physiology of microbiomes established along the infant gastrointestinal tract.