Project Reference: TRG27-BIO-AT1

Project title: Determining the origin and synthesis of lipids in human milk

Project outline

Human milk not only delivers a tailored source of nutrition to support growth and immune protection of the infant but also provides long lasting benefits to the child such as preventing mortality, protecting against infection and likely reducing the risk of being overweight or developing diabetes. Despite the compelling evidence supporting the benefits of breastfeeding, there are significant gaps in our knowledge about how the mammary gland matures to perform its function of milk synthesis and secretion. The basic components of human milk are proteins, minerals, carbohydrates and lipids. Importantly, milk also contains many bioactive components such as antibodies, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), milk fat globules and live maternal cells. Whist the diet of an individual has the potential to influence some of the lipid composition in human milk, the origin of other lipids, such as short chain fatty acids, are less well understood. Using human milk samples collected from the Cambridgeshire Multiomics of Milk (CAMB MOM) study, the aim of this project will be to determine the biochemical pathways of lipid synthesis during human lactation.

Using scRNA-sequencing to derive the transcriptomic profile of secretory cells in milk and liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to conduct lipidomics on the same samples, you will identify genes associated with lipid diversity. You will then be able to interrogate the identified genes further within in vitro models existing in the laboratory and integrate findings into our in silico model of lactation. Together these findings will identify key factors determining lipid diversity in human milk which is integral to the development and growth of the infants globally.

Principal Supervisor

Dr Alecia-Jane Twigger

Email address: ajt215@cam.ac.uk

Department / Partner Institute: Biochemistry

Website: https://www.cambridgelactationlab.com/

BBSRC strategic theme

Bioscience for an integrated understanding of health