News Archive

August 19, 2019 - It is with great pleasure to announce that Dr. Katy Patras, postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Victor Nizet’s lab and one of our 2019 MOMI Seeds awardees, has accepted a Tenure Track Assistant Professorship in the Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
One of MOMI CORE’s expressed goals is to foster the next generation of scientists working in areas related to human milk research. Seeing Katy being recruited as faculty of one of the top schools in the world is a great example for the success of the program.
Katy will be staying at UC San Diego until the end of the year and will be able to finish her MOMI Seeds project, which is advancing extremely well, and is going to collaborate with MOMI CORE and others at UC San Diego after relocating to Baylor.
Congratulations to Katy on this exciting next step in what promises to be a very bright future and outstanding career!

July 17, 2019 - We know that getting started can be one of the most challenging parts of research, that’s why we created MOMI Seeds - an annual grant program that serves as a launch pad for researchers from across the sciences to study human milk from their unique perspectives. The MOMI Seeds program serves to fuel the engine of ongoing discovery in human milk and lactation. 2020 MOMI Seeds are now open for application!

July 13, 2019 - Congratulations to Dr. Bernd Schnabl (2019 MOMI Seeds pilot grant awardee) and Dr. Lars Eckmann (2018 MOMI Seeds pilot grant awardee) for securing an NIH P30 Silvio O. Conte Digestive Diseases Research Core Center grant to launch the San Diego Digestive Diseases Research Center (SDDRC).
SDDRC is located in the Biomedical Research Facility on the same floor as MOMI CORE - our offices are right next to each other. One of MOMI CORE’s research priority areas is to study the effects of breastfeeding or intake of human milk components on gut health. The close proximity between MOMI CORE and SDDRC will enable us to further expand already existing collaborations and drive discovery and innovation in this extremely important space.

June 28, 2019 - What exactly is MOMI CORE? We've been asked a lot lately what MOMI CORE is all about. We invite you to watch the short "Introducing MOMI CORE" video and learn more about what we do and why we look to human milk for new answers to some of today's many health crises.

May 5, 2019 - MOMI CORE’s Dr. Sara Moukarzel and our collaborator Dr. Antoine Farhat, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences at Notre Dame University, were live on national television MTVAlive to talk about our project on breastfeeding education in schools and universities and the benefits of breastfeeding in general.
This is a wonderful example how MOMI CORE’s work spans from tissue culture to television, and how projects initiated at UC San Diego eventually reach millions of people at primetime in different locations around the world.

April 29, 2019 - MOMI Biome, a new partnership made from the joining of two world-renowned UC San Diego centers, MOMI CORE (led by Dr. Lars Bode) and the Center for Microbiome Innovation (led by Dr. Rob Knight), will allow researchers to join forces and take a deeper look at how human milk components and the microbiome can impact human health and development – in both infants and adults.

April 6, 2019 - The Director of Undergraduate Medical Education at UC San Diego, Jennifer Farace, successfully completed her Joint Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership under the outstanding mentorship of Dr. Alan Daly.
Jennifer’s dissertation study - “Breastfeeding: A Case Study in Organizational Change of One Medical School’s Curriculum” - provides an examination of the existing values and structures which underpin curricular decision-making at a medical school, and how they impact the inclusion of preventive medicine practices in the curriculum. Specifically, the case study utilizes an organizational learning framework to explore ways in which curricular decisions are made regarding the implementation of preventive medicine training, using breastfeeding as an exemplar case.
Jennifer’s exceptional work has created a dynamic research-to-practice partnership at UC San Diego that facilitates effective translation of biomedical and social research into positive change in education practices. Stay tuned for more updates as together we re-shape breastfeeding education on campus and beyond!

April 8, 2019 - Our research focuses on human health and development, but when San Diego Zoo Global calls, we go BIG... Elephant-BIG!

March 6, 2019 - We are delighted to announce the launch of the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Shanghai Breastfeeding Research Centre (LRF SBRC). The new research center was jointly established by Fudan University (FU), Tongji University (TU) and the Family Larsson Rosenquist Foundation (FLRF). It is the first-ever hub for epidemiological investigation with a global focus into critical questions surrounding breastfeeding-related physiology and best practices linked to the long-range health of mothers and children.

January 1, 2019 - The second request for MOMI Seeds pilot grant proposals closed on October 15, 2018, and we are excited to announce the 2019 awardees!

June 15, 2018 - MOMI CORE and collaborators in Canada report that the unique composition of mother's milk may help reduce food sensitization in her infant.

June 1, 2018 - MOMI CORE is connecting the dots and filling the void - this philosophy is now represented in our new logo designed by Russell Creative.

January 29, 2018 - Award-winning author Jennifer Grayson, who published the very successful book “Unlatched” a couple of years ago, just released the latest episode of her new project “The Uncivilize Podcast”. In the episode called “The Milk Moonshot”, Jennifer highlights LRF MOMI CORE, explains why human milk is more than just food, and why breastfeeding not only improves health, but also contributes to social equity.

December 19, 2017 - The first request for MOMI Seeds pilot grant proposals closed on October 15, 2017, and we received a total of 27 applications​ from UC San Diego investigators, highlighting the immense interest in and potential for human milk and lactation research at UC San Diego and emphasizing the high demand for additional funding in this critical line of research.

April 10, 2017 - MOMI CORE Director Dr. Lars Bode is leading a new project to identify and synthesize human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) to prevent environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) and diarrheal disease. EED and diarrheal disease have far-reaching impacts on child growth, health, and development in low- and middle-income country settings. Diarrhea remains to be one of the major causes of death in children under the age of 5.
The two-year project is funded with over $1.7M in support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and uses a collaborative, multi-dimensional approach to assess in vitro and in vivo efficacy of HMOs and identify specific HMO structures responsible for the beneficial effects.

April 6, 2017 - The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards an R01 research grant to study the "Impact of Sugars and Human Milk Oligosaccharides on Infant Microbiome and Obesity".Dr. Michael Goran at the University of Southern California (USC) serves as primary Principal Investigator, with MOMI CORE investigators Dr. Lars Bode and Dr. Rob Knight as award subrecipients for the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego).

January 12, 2017 - Breast milk is known to provide the best source of nutrition for newborns and infants, and for premature babies, it can be life-saving. Yet much about the composition of human milk and what makes it so beneficial is still a mystery. To help scientists bridge this knowledge gap, the Switzerland-based Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation has made a $10.5 million grant to the University of California San Diego, home to one of the world’s only centers dedicated to human milk research.

October 10, 2016 - Dr. David A. Brenner, UC San Diego Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and Dean, School of Medicine, officially supportd and approve the establishment of the Mother‐Milk‐Infant Center of Research Excellence (MOMI CORE). Dr. Lars Bode has been appointed as inaugural Director of MOMI CORE and will be responsible for overseeing the center’s activities, including coordinating its collaborative research, educational activities, operations, fund raising, and communications.

"I am confident that the MOMI CORE will be successful in serving as an integrated, cross‐disciplinary resource to better understand human milk composition and its vital role in infant growth, development, and disease prevention."   - David A. Brenner, MD