Bridget McGann holds a B.A. in Anthropology and is a breastfeeding science advocate. She is one of the co-founders of March for Science, an evidence-based movement for science and a more just, sustainable world. Bridget spoke with MILC about a public movement towards rejecting breastfeeding as a scientifically and evolutionary preferred method of infant feeding, and how scientists can engage with the public to provide evidence-based knowledge to counteract this movement and support breastfeeding. Thank you Bridget for the wonderful presentation!

MILC members Dr. Sarah Reyes of the Azad Lab, and Dr Taiana Martins of the Saleem Lab, were awarded 2020 Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowships by Research Manitoba in Partnership with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. Sarah’s research will involve the analysis of human milk components and nasal microbiota as causal factors in the prevention of wheezing and ear infections during a child’s first year. Taiana’s research will be focused on extracellular vesicles in breast milk and the developmental origins of asthma.
The Health Research Fellowship awards are given to highly qualified and exceptional trainees who significantly increase the productivity of the research program with which they are affiliated and aim to prepare them for careers as independent researchers. Congratulations Sarah and Taiana!

Based out of Calgary, NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank is a community-based facility that provides human donor milk to support sick and fragile babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Units across Canada. Jannette Festival spoke to MILC Club about the governing bodies that over see NorthernStar, donor screening criteria, the pasteurization process, as well as how the milk is triaged for distribution. To learn more about Jannette and her colleagues incredible work please review the website.