Microbiome
Overview
Human milk harbours a unique microbial ecosystem that both reflects and shapes maternal and infant health. Our research investigates how the milk microbiome contributes to early-life immune and metabolic development, and how maternal factors – from diet to allergy – influence its composition and function.
We combine molecular, culture-based, and computational approaches to uncover how microbial and metabolic features of milk relate to infant outcomes. Our program emphasises rigorous method development and validation to distinguish genuine, viable milk microbes from contamination, and to better understand their function and contribution to infant health.
Our work includes:
- Profiling the maternal, milk, and infant microbiota in local and international birth cohorts using next-generation sequencing
- Assessing the impact of maternal dietary interventions on milk and infant microbiota composition and function
- Evaluating the viability and origin of microbes in human milk
- Investigating transfer of viable milk microbes into pasteurised donor milk to improve microbial exposure for donor-milk-fed infants
- Assessing the impact of various pasteurisation methods on the survival of bacteriophage in milk
- Identifying bacterial metabolites in human milk, and linking these with infant immune and metabolic outcomes
- Applying metagenomic sequencing to study the milk microbiome in mothers with mastitis