We went looking for what lives in breast milk, and why it matters.
BoobyBiome was founded in 2019 by three scientists. It is located at the world-renowned UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.
BoobyBiome is on a mission to reduce infant disease globally, by unlocking the astonishing living bacteria found in breast milk for every baby’s gut microbiome.
Owned by the women who did the research.
We met in 2017 as researchers on the London Interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme. Lydia was completing a doctorate in molecular biology, Sioned in chemistry and biophysics, and Tara in neuroscience.
What drew us together was the microbiome, and how far it reaches into a person’s health. A baby’s microbiome is built in the first months of life, much of it from their mother’s milk, and it is linked to their health for years afterwards.
For several years we did nothing but research.
For a long time, the living side of breast milk was overlooked. We set out to change that by studying its microbiome: the hundreds of beneficial bacteria that, together with milk’s antioxidants and vitamins, help shape a baby’s gut from the very first feed.
Hundreds of women donated their milk, and we sequenced it to find out which bacteria live there. We did the same with their babies, so we could see which ones the two had in common. Then we grew those bacteria and built a living collection of them, testing each one to see what it does. In the lab, some reduce inflammation and others strengthen the gut lining. These are bacteria a baby would normally get from their mother’s milk, and that is why keeping it alive matters so much. Seven years on, we are still at it.
