2024 MOMI Seeds

Epidemiological studies have associated breastfeeding with better cognitive outcomes. However, how exactly the components of human milk affect neurodevelopment is unknown. In this project, we will systematically expose stem cell-derived human brain organoids to several bioactive components, growth factors, and other nutrients of human milk. We will assess how exposure to human milk components influences the growth, maturation, and connectivity of networks. We might also learn about any neuroprotective or anti-inflammatory effects coming from human milk and use this information to improve neurodevelopmental conditions.

Dr. Muotri is a professor at the Departments of Pediatrics and Cellular & Molecular Medicine at UC San Diego. He is also the Director of the Sanford Stem Cell Education and Integrated Space Stem Cell Orbital Research (ISSCOR), the Director of the Archealization Center (ArchC), and Associate Director for the Center for Academic Research & Training in Antropogeny (CARTA). Dr. Muotri earned a BSc in Biological Sciences from the State University of Campinas in 1995 and a Ph.D. in Genetics in 2001 from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He moved to the Salk Institute as Pew Latin America Fellow in 2002 for postdoctoral training in the fields of neuroscience and stem cell biology. His research focuses on brain evolution and modeling neurological diseases using human induced pluripotent stem cells and brain organoids. He has received several awards, including the prestigious NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NARSAD, Emerald Foundation Young Investigator Award, Surugadai Award, Rock Star of Innovation, NIH EUREKA Award, two Telly Awards for Excellence in Science Communication, among several others.

Children are disproportionately at risk for contracting and dying from the severe diarrheal disease cholera, while human milk reduces the risk of illness. In this study, we will use animal models of disease to examine the molecular mechanisms by which human milk protects infants from infection and disease by V. cholerae (the causative agent of cholera).

Dr. Rivera-Chávez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics (Division of Host-Microbe Systems and Therapeutics) and in the School of Biological Sciences (Department of Molecular Biology). He received his PhD in Microbiology from UC Davis and prior to arriving to UC San Diego​ he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. The Rivera-Chávez lab uses animal models of disease to study how enteric bacterial pathogens use virulence factors to modulate host-microbe metabolism in order to outcompete the resident microbiota and transmit to a new host during infection.