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FST Professors to work on project funded by the Gates Foundation
Several UC Davis professors will participate in the project, called The Breast Milk, Gut Microbiome and Immunity Project .
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, will join in an international research effort to develop new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent malnutrition in infants and children around the world. The new research builds on ongoing clinical studies in Africa, South Asia and South America of malnourished and healthy infants and children and their mothers.
The UC Davis professors collaborating on the grant have appointments in the Departments of Food Science & Technology, Nutrition and Chemistry.
Nutrition Professor Kay Dewey is working with FST professors David Mills and Bruce German of the Foods for Health Institute (FFHI), as well as Chemistry professor Carlito
Lebrilla. All are partners in the large $8.3M grant from the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation entitled "Breast Milk, Gut Microbiome
and Immunity Project".
The project is led by Jeff Gordon at Washington
University and involves researchers in Africa, Finland, England and the
USA. The focus of the project is on two aspects: (1) screening milk
and feces from at risk mothers/babies in developing countries, and (2)
developing a preclinical pipeline to test novel bovine milk-based
prebiotics and milk-responsive bacteria (or combinations of both) that
can protectively modulate the gut microbiota of malnourished children
worldwide.
The project will also involve new FST Assistant Professor Daniela Barile to oversee the the creation/capture of novel glycans/glycoconjugates from bovine milk streams using the new Food Science & Technology Milk Processing Lab in the August A. Busch III Brewing & Food Science Laboratory.