Dr. Ellen Demerath, Principal Investigator. Promotion of universal breastfeeding is a lynchpin of global public health due to the many benefits of human milk for both mothers and infants, especially vulnerable preterm infants and those without access to clean water. Yet, a significant proportion of women do not meet their own breastfeeding goals. This is due to a myriad of factors, including lack of lactation support and work accommodations. However, recent research also points to elevated BMI and gestational diabetes as important clinical factors to consider. The Demerath laboratory is now focusing on determining whether and how excessive gestational weight gain, slow post-partum weight loss, lower quality diets and sedentary lifestyles alter lactation and breastfeeding. This research is also taking a deep look at novel aspects of human milk composition, how it differs between women, and how these milk differences alter infant growth and brain development.
Dr. Kelsey Johnson, Postdoctoral Fellow. I attended University of Wisconsin - Madison for my undergraduate degree in Zoology, and the University of Pennsylvania for my PhD where I studied human population and statistical genetics. Towards the end of my PhD I had my first child and as I spent a lot of time reading about human milk in the office lactation room, I became interested in the role of genetics in human milk composition. This struck me as a very understudied area, and I thought that a better understanding of the effects of genetic variation on milk composition could allow us to disentangle the effects of variation in milk composition on infant health. I decided to pursue this interest for my postdoc and came to the University of Minnesota, where I found an amazing team of advisors to guide me on this project. In addition to working with Dr. Demerath, I am advised by Ran Blekhman and Frank Albert in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development in the College of Biological Sciences.
