Leveraging cells in milk to determine the molecular underpinnings of human lactation

生命的早期为个人的长期健康奠定了基础。母乳为婴儿提供了最好的营养、发育和免疫支持;因此，世界卫生组织建议在婴儿出生后的前12个月进行母乳喂养。尽管人类哺乳的重要性显而易见，但它仍然是一个研究不足的领域。在我的职业生涯中，我发现母乳中含有活的乳腺细胞，通过进一步的研究，可以帮助我们更好地了解牛奶是如何产生的。在我提议的研究计划中，我的目标是建立基于计算机的和实验室生长的人类哺乳过程模型。通过比较牛奶的不同营养和细胞成分，我将确定共同点，并说明不同的母亲背景可能如何影响牛奶产量。此外，我将制作一个实验室生长的模型，让我验证计算模型的发现，并确定牛奶是如何制作的。我将使用这些模型来探索人类哺乳中的核心问题，例如为什么有些妇女不能产生牛奶，个体之间的牛奶成分如何不同，哪些药物影响牛奶生产以及哺乳导致乳房的长期变化。通过我的研究获得的结果不仅将增加我们对人类哺乳如何工作的理解，而且将确定改善母乳喂养的策略，特别是在低供应的妇女中，以改善妇女和儿童的长期健康结果。

The early days of life sets the scene for an individual's long-term health. Human milk provides the best source of nutritional, developmental and immune support for the infant; thus, breastfeeding is recommended by the World Health Organisation for the first 12 months of an infant's life. Despite the clear importance of human lactation, it remains a greatly understudied area. During my career, I have discovered that human milk contains live breast cells that, with further study, can help us to better understand how milk is produced. Within my proposed research programme, I aim to build computer based and laboratory-grown models of the human lactation process. By comparing the different nutritional and cellular components of milk, I will identify commonalities and characterise how different maternal backgrounds might modify milk production. In addition, I will make a lab-grown model allowing me to verify findings from the computational model and determine how milk is made. I will use these models to explore central questions in human lactation such as why some women can't produce milk, how milk composition differs between individuals, which drugs affect milk production and what the long term changes in the breast are as a result of lactation. Results obtained by my research will not only increase our understanding of how human lactation works but will identify strategies to improve breastfeeding, particularly in women with low supply, to improve the long-term health outcomes of women and children.