Jenni Laidman
May 1, 2012 — Researchers at Texas A&M University caught some of the conversation between gut microbes and infant genes that appear to help the breast-fed infant make a safe transition from life in the womb to life outside, a study published April 29 in the open-access journal Genome Biology reports.
The study, which confirms earlier findings that show breast-feeding gooses the developing immune system, elucidated the chatter between genes in the developing infant and the gut bacteria by analyzing the relationship between bacterial communities found in the guts of 6 breast-fed 3-month-olds and 6 formula-fed 3-month-olds. The researchers compared the gut microbiome information to gene expression levels in the infant gut and identified genes involved in immunity and defense with altered expression levels in relation to the gut bacteria in breast-fed infants. [Read more…] about Breast Milk Drives Growth of Gut Flora, Infant Immune System
Dr. Robert Chapkin, Professor of Nutrition, of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, and of Biochemistry and Biophysics, was one of six recipients of the Distinguished Achievement Award for Research. This award recognizes and rewards those individuals whose research efforts have been particularly significant and outstanding work is recognized locally, nationally and internationally. The results of these research efforts have added substantially to the basic body of knowledge, contributed to the improvement of the quality of life, and/or encouraged additional research. These scholarly pursuits can take many forms. In the words of Vision 2020, “research, as the creation of knowledge in the broades sense, encompasses all forms of scholarship from creation of works of art and literature through evaluation and reorganization of knowledge to investigations into the preservation, transmission and application of knowledge.” 