Centre of Immunology and Breastfeeding

Supporters

The Centre for Immunology and Breastfeeding is one of the five chairs endowed by the generous support from the Family Larsson Rosenquist Foundation. This donation provides financial independence in perpetuity, and enables us to pursue panoramic research with long horizons, in complete independence and freedom of research and teaching. 

We are also grateful to receive grant support from: 

• Western Australia Child Research Foundation
• Future Health Research and Innovation Focus Grant
• Channel 7 Telethon Trust
• The Kids Research Institute Australia collaborative award
• Westfarmer Centre of vaccines and Infectious Disease (WCVID) seed and partnership grant 

Collaborators

Global Human Milk Research Consortium (GHMRC)  

Our team is proud to be one of the five independent research centres that make up the prestigious Global Human Milk Research Consortium (GHMRC). Working together, we are committed to advancing the frontiers of human milk and breastfeeding research on a global scale, making a meaningful contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and WHO Global Targets.

The ORIGINS project

The ORIGINS Project is the largest study of its kind in Australia, following 10,000 children, from their time in the womb, over a decade to improve child and adult health. Our Centre has two ongoing sub-projects using the ORIGINS cohort: the GAP study (Gateway for Allergy Prevention) and CEED study (Colostrum Exclusivity and Early Development)  

Our main Collaborators:

• Public health -  Prof. Pete Gething and Dr Susan Rumisha, Geospatial Health and Development team, The Kids; Sofa Rahmania, PhD, UWA, Prof. Rosalind Gibson and Prof. Lisa Houghton, New Zealand.
• Pediatricians including Prof. Suzan Prescott (School of Pediatrics and Child Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia), Dr. Ravisha Srinivasjois ( Joondalup Health Campus) Prof. Desiree Silva ( The Kids Research Institute Australia and Joondalup Health Campus);, Prof George du Toit (Kings College London, UK), Dr Stéphanie De Smet (Hopital de l’Archet, France), 
• Dietician experts in child nutrition and allergy prevention: A/Prof Carina Venter (University of Colorado, USA); Dr Debbie Palmer (The Kids Research Institute Australia, Perth, Australia); Dr Therese O Sullivan (Edith Cowan University, Perth)
• Lactation consultants: Louisa Connoly, president of Lactation college (Perth, Australia) ; Kirsten Tannenbaum, Australian Breastfeeding Association (Australia)
• Infectious disease. Dr. Thomas Egwang (Kampala, Uganda) project on colostrum and helminth/ breast milk and malaria;  Dr Tim Barnett (The Kids Research Institute Australia, Perth, Australia),  Dr. Nelly Amenyogbe and Prof. Tobias Kollmann (Dalhousie University, Canada) colostrum and sepsis; Rick Maizels, Glasgow University, helminth infection; A/Prof. Lea- Ann Kirkham ear health among Aboriginal children (The Kids). Juan Rodriguez, Madrid University and Dr. Allison Imrie, UWA, Breast milk and COVID-19; Dr. Leshan Wannigama- Thailand. 
• Neurodevelopment, Prof. Giancarlo Natalucci ( Zurich University)
• Health economics, Prof. David Yanagizawa-Drott (Zurich University)
• Biochemistry, Dr. Lars Bode (UCSD) and Dr. Fadil Hannan (Oxford)
• Microbiota. Prof. David Lynn, (SAMHRI); Dr. Claus Christopherson (Curtin University, Perth, Australia) ; Remy Burcelin, Inserm, France
  Transcriptomic analysis, Dr. Tom Iosidifis and Dr. Patricia Agudelo, The Kids Research Institute Australia
• Epigenetics, Dr. David Martino, The Kids Research Institute Australia
• Skin, Mark Fear UWA, Prof Fiona Wood, UWA, and  Asha Bowen, The Kids Research Institute Australia Perth 

By learning from human milk, we can revolutionize how we care for newborns, offering interventions that are truly aligned with their developmental needs.

Today, most treatments for newborns are the same as for adults, i.e. mainly the dose is modified. However, we are learning more every day about the differences between a newborn and an adult, and breast milk has known this for a long time. By studying the immunology of breastfeeding,  our research has shown that human milk may know the best way to promote mucosal immunity in infants (Macchiaverni et al., 2024; van den Elsen et al., 2022)

To provide advice to mothers and health professionals to maximise the chances of disease prevention through breastfeeding.

From pollutants to infection and dietary habits, the constituents of breast milk encapsulate a snapshot of the maternal environment, providing infants with a preview of the world they will inhabit. By investigating how human milk composition influences healthy immune development, we are paving the way for personalized advice that can help mothers maximise disease prevention through breastfeeding. Our research has suggested that consuming allergens while breastfeeding may be the best way to prevent allergies in children. Ongoing clinical trials led by our collaborator A/Prof Debbie Palmer should soon tell us whether this suggestion can become a recommendation.

Provide strong evidence to invest in breastfeeding support .

Despite the World Health Organisation's (WHO) guidelines promoting early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding, at least a third of newborns worldwide aren't benefiting from this optimal feeding practice, due to late initiation of breastfeeding or the administration of formula "supplements" that replace colostrum intake. We already know that colostrum is essential for reducing neonatal mortality in low resssouces settings. Our ongoing research will establish the importance of colostrum in preventing allergies, parasitic infections, stunted growth and much more.