Meghan Azad, PhD

A great conversation - thank you for the opportunity!

#breastfeeding #humanmilk #breastmilk #microbiome
🧪 🤱🏻

When women researchers publish, media attention doesn’t always follow Men-led papers receive more media coverage than women’s, new study finds

Media bias against women doesn’t just hurt female scientists’ careers; it also biases the information that gets the the public.

For example, my field, lactation science, is likely a thing you just now learned exists.

www.science.org/content/arti...

🧪 🛟 🩺 #BlueSci #MedSky #WomenInSci #SciMoms

Highlight of my visit!

Ruth A. Lawrence, MD, 1924–2025: A Trailblazer in Lactation Medicine and Child Health A pediatrician and internationally recognized leader in breastfeeding science, Lawrence passed away at the age of 101. During a career spanning more than seven decades at the University of Rochester M...

What a Trailblazer, indeed.

I had the honour of meeting Ruth Lawrence during a visit to the @urochester.bsky.social in 2019. We met 🌟in her office🌟. She was 95!

RIP Ruth.
www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/r...

Intriguing New Research on Milk Stem Cells:

In mice, stem cells from maternal milk can migrate to pups’ brains, where they appear to integrate and differentiate after an ischemic (stroke-like) injury.

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

I see it 😃

... so I reached out and Ali responded immediately, excited to collaborate.

I proposed a few microbe-themed ideas and she came up with this.

It was perfect on the first try. I had no suggestions (which, if you ask my students - is a miracle 😆)

Find Ali's fabulous work at lightandpapershop.com

In love with my first commissioned art piece! 😍🦠🧪

I've had the breast for a while. My new office configuration was begging for a 'companion' so I checked out the artist's other pieces - all gorgeous, but none quite right (though if you study the brain, heart, gut, spine... you are in luck!)

...

Breastmilk components associated with a child’s early neurodevelopment: new CHILD research in @FrontNutrition from Sarah Turner & @meghanazad.bsky.social @umanitoba @CHRIManitoba #NationalBreastfeedingWeek

childstudy.ca/breastmilk-a...

YouTube video by CanadaGairdnerAwards 2024 Canada Gairdner Momentum Award Laureate: Dr. Meghan Azad

Fun fact: Sarah has cameo in this video, discussing an early version of Fig. 3!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQvG...

Big thanks to our amazing team, spanning many institutions!
@umanitoba.bsky.social
@ualberta.bsky.social
@sickkidsvs.bsky.social
@chrimanitoba.bsky.social
@um-mchp.bsky.social @ucsandiego.bsky.social @humanmilkinstitute.bsky.social

+ funders CIHR & @researchmb.bsky.social

#TeamScience!

Take-home messages:

⚙️ Milk is a complex system with many components that help shape infant development - sometimes with competing or counterintuitive effects (#MoreResearchNeeded)

🧬 Genetics play a role in milk composition & function

🧠 We’re still learning how milk fuels growing brains!

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are complex sugars shaped by maternal genetics (secretor status)

We found:
🤔 Higher DSLNT → linked to lower motor scores at 1 yr
🧬 Secretor status ✨changed✨ some HMO associations with language & motor development

Fatty acids (FAs) are the building blocks of milk fat, important for brain development 🧠

We found:
🥑 Saturated FAs → positive link with motor skills at 1 year
🐟 Polyunsaturated n-3 & n-6 FAs → surprising negative link with cognition & motor skills

a baby is sitting on the floor reading a book with the elle logo in the background ALT: a baby is sitting on the floor reading a book with the elle logo in the background

We studied
🤱🏻 240 parent–infant pairs from the CHILD cohort
🥑 20 fatty acids
🧪 19 human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs)
🧠 Cognitive, language & motor development until 2 years

🚨 New #THRiVElab paper!🚨

(Just in time for #NationalBreastfeedingWeek 🍁🤱🏽 )

Led by PhD student Sarah Turner, we explored how human milk fatty acids & oligosaccharides relate to infant neurodevelopment in the @childcohortstudy.bsky.social.

🔗 www.frontiersin.org/journals/nut...

It's #NationalBreastfeedingWeek!

Our MILC team is hosting info booths at public libraries this week in Winnipeg to celebrate.

More about MILC: www.milcresearch.com

A Genetic Atlas of the Mammary Gland 🧬🤱🐭

New research from @geula.bsky.social & team shows shifts in gene activity across pregnancy → lactation → weaning.

This new 'atlas' provides new avenues for studying lactation disorders and breast cancer.

academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

We are reopening this search - apply now!
viprecprod.ad.umanitoba.ca/DEFAULT.ASPX...

If you missed it live - the #GloMiNe2025 talk recordings are now available!

Kudos to the organizers for the fancy editing (cited papers and website links are embedded for easy clicking🪄)

Here's mine: cassyni.com/events/TkwUV...

Today at #MILCclub we are learning from Dr. Daniel Robinson about his team's new sensor technology for measuring milk volume during #breastfeeding
🧪🤱🏾

Check out their research here:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

You are a posting machine! Thank you for sharing so much from here at #ADBTPH25.

#AGBTPH25 MA: up to 20% of baby deaths caused by suboptimal breastfeeding. lower risk of SIDS, respiratory infections, other issues. Human milk is a superfood, baby's first vaccine. Milk changes based on signals from baby

@kozetamiliku.bsky.social
@dylanmackayphd.bsky.social

WOW. Learning about the #Nutrition for Precision Health initiative at #AGBTPH25.

This massive study involves 8000 people tracked w/ wearables, CGM, blood & stool multi-omics, controlled feeding trials, and novel methods (apps & eye cameras!) for tracking diet. 🤯

nutritionforprecisionhealth.org

Taking the stage at #AGBTPH25 this morning to propose Human Milk as Precision Health 🤱🏻🧪💫

(Following a great Women's Networking breakfast!)

All set for tomorrow!

Happy to be joining Maria Gloria Dominguez Bello, @gilbertjacka.bsky.social, David A. Mills, Thomas Sharpton & others for the Microbiome Virtual International Forum.

Registration is 🌟free🌟 for everyone, everywhere - join us!

Excited to nerd out about #genomics at my first @agbt.bsky.social meeting! 🧬🧪

My first love in science (long before breastmilk!) was genetics.
In Grade 11, I borrowed the Cell Biology textbook over summer.
In Grade 12, I did my final English project (a magazine on any topic) on DNA.

#AGBTPH2025

Frontiers | Day/night fluctuations of breast milk bioactive factors and microbiome IntroductionHuman breast milk is a sophisticated and complex biological fluid that provides crucial nutritional, immunological, and microbial benefits to inf...

DYK that mothers' milk has a circadian rhythm, providing dynamic signals to baby? 🤱🏻🕧🕐

New study shows:
- Cortisol peaks in early am ('wake up!' 😀)
- Melatonin peaks late at night ('sleepy time' 😴)

Moms who pump may want to label & feed am/pm milk separately.

www.frontiersin.org/journals/nut...

Impact of maternal feeding practices on neonates born to mothers infected with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study in Sichuan Province - BMC Research Notes Objective To investigate the impact of different feeding methods on the manifestation of novel coronavirus infection symptoms in newborns following maternal infection with the novel coronavirus. Resul...

New study: breastfeeding by mothers with COVID did *NOT* transmit infection to their newborns, whether feeding at the breast or providing pumped milk.

bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....