Human milk - it's a matter of chemistry
Interview with Dr. Steven Townsend from Vanderbilt University covering his career path and current work leveraging organic chemistry and an interdisciplinary approach to understand the chemistry of human milk.
Bringing Chemistry to Life · Steven Townsend, Paolo Braiuca
Show Notes
Human milk provides both nutritional and non-nutritional components tailored to the specific need of the infant at all phases of growth. It is a wonderful example of personalised medicine and diet and its complexity is only partially understood. The oligosaccharides contained in breastmilk have only recently emerged as potent pro- and anti-biotics and they are proven to have effects on several other physiological mechanisms and biological pathways, such as the immune system.
We discuss with Dr. Townsend, a leading scientist in this field, about these special carbohydrates’ properties, about their chemistry and the challenges of running ambitious multidisciplinary research at the interface between chemistry and biology.
Dr. Townsend takes us on a surprising journey of personal development and scientific progress that could lead to a revolution in nutrition, the design of novel antimicrobial and antifungal drugs and even re-think contraception.
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