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Real-Life Solutions: Helping Premature Infants Fight Off Infections

Children's Health and Functional Glycobiology Program researchers are currently testing new solutions for premature infants at risk of a potentially deadly disease of the intestine, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Dr. Mark Underwood, a clinician and principal investigator of the collaborative research project aimed at preventing and treating NEC, explains the role of intestinal bacteria and oligosaccharides in this disease.

Pedianostics is Awarded People's Choice Prize in Big Bang Business Competition

Pedianostics, an entrepreneurship venture spearheaded by Lorna de Leoz, was recently awarded the People's Choice Prize in UC Davis's Big Bang competition. Pedianostics, conceived of at the Food & Health Entrepreneurship Academy this past February, is an innovative venture aiming to create cutting-edge diagnostic tests for pediatric illnesses which currently have no effective diagnostics.

Milk Bioactives and Functional Glycobiology Programs Graduate David Sela Awarded Prestigious Kinsella Dissertation Prize

David Sela, a recent graduate of the Milk Bioactives and Functional Glycobiology Programs, in David Mills\u2019 Lab in the department of Viticulture and Enology, has recently been awarded the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Kinsella Prize for his doctoral dissertation. A review paper on the same topic, the molecular and evolutionary linkage between breast milk composition and infant gut microbiota, has recently graced the cover of Trends in Microbiology (July 2010).

Science with Promise: Working Toward Improving the Health of Children through a Gates Challenge Grant

The Gates Foundation has a clear mission: improving the condition of people worldwide by funding relevant research, boosting science that can help the world. In an effort to find nutritional solutions to the widespread problem of childhood malnutrition, the Gates Foundation recently awarded Milk Bioactives and Functional Glycobiology Program researchers of the Foods For Health Institute, with Dr. David Mills as Principal Investigator, a prestigious Gates Challenge Grant.

UC Davis Metabolomics at the Forefront of Cutting Edge Diagnostics

Foods for Health Institute researcher Carolyn Slupsky uses metabolomics, a powerful technique that measures multiple metabolites simultaneously, to discover novel biomarkers of disease, monitor effectiveness of treatments, and assess health status in a variety of health conditions. Her latest work focuses on detecting changes in the composition of intestinal microbiota and the effects of these changes on the health of individuals.

Spotlight on Scientists: Mariana Barboza

Mariana Barboza is a postdoctoral scholar in the Lebrilla Lab and Director of Glycoanalytical Research of the Foods For Health Institute\u2019s Milk Bioactives and Functional Glycobiology Programs. Dr. Barboza\u2019s research on the glycoprofiling of oligosaccharide consumption by intestinal bacteria was recently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Nanoscience Reapplied: A Breakthrough In Personalized Nutrition?

The Foods for Health Institute has launching a translational research program applying the technologies of nanoscience to understanding the structures and functions of lipid particles. Within this program are projects developing: new technologies for the measurement of HDL function, composition, and structure, new HDL diagnostics that will lead to novel dietary approaches to decrease heart disease risk in individuals, an understanding of the functions of the newly identified lipid particles in human milk. FFHI director, Dr. Bruce German, heads the new Lipid Nanoparticle Program and describes its goals.