Decoding the immune landscape of Human milk: from maternal states to early-life health in Latin America

Breastmilk provides an exceptional yet brief opportunity to observe continued maternal biology transfer to the infant, after birth. How the maternal environment, genetics, and physiology impact breastmilk composition, and how breastmilk composition in turn influence early-life growth and immunity, remain largely unresolved. While maternal factors impact breastmilk composition, the large majority of current knowledge originates from the Global North. I propose that breastmilk from mothers in Mexico carries distinct bioactives shaped by genetic diversity and the local exposome, with alternative consequences for infant health trajectories. To test this, I will establish the MILPA (Milk Immunity Lineage and Pediatric Assessment) prospective longitudinal birth cohort, focused on breast milk bioactives. By integrating immunology, epidemiology, computational biology, and targeted multi-omics analyses of breastmilk, I will: 1-define the bioactive architecture of Mexican milk during lactation, 2-identify maternal and environmental factors that associate with variations in milk bioactives, and 3-determine whether maternal perturbations or shifts in bioactive composition influence infant growth, and disease susceptibility. This research will generate a necessary understanding of early-life determinants of health in a diverse population. It will expand global immunological datasets, and open new hypotheses on the mechanistic impact of human milk in Latin America.