Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)

We study how early-life exposures and experiences shape lifelong health. Our current research is focused on the role of maternal nutrition, infant feeding and human milk composition in the development and prevention of asthma, allergies, obesity and diabetes.

Our team is transdisciplinary, combining expertise in molecular biology, microbiome science, epidemiology, statistics, nutrition, nursing and maternal-child health. We collaborate and use model systems, clinical cohorts, and administrative databases to study DOHaD in cells, animals and human populations,

Current projects and collaborations include:
  • Breastfeeding and chronic disease risk in childhood (obesity, allergies, asthma)
  • Human milk bioactives (microbiota, oligosaccharides, fatty acids, hormones): maternal determinants and impact on infant gut microbiota and health
  • Impact of human-milk based fortifiers on gut microbiota and oxidative stress in premature infants
  • Immunomodulatory factors in breast milk and the development of allergic disease: translational research in pre-clinical models and the CHILD birth cohort
  • Prenatal exposure to non-nutritive sweeteners and cardiometabolic health: translational and mechanistic studies in the CHILD cohort and pre-clinical models
  • Breastfeeding and other social and biological early-life determinants of neurodevelopment and behaviour
  • Stakeholder engagement to inform strategies for improving breastfeeding education in Manitoba schools
  • Optimizing the prebiotic profile of donor human milk for preterm infants: feasibility of a new donor milk matching strategy based on maternal secretor status
  • Impact of prelacteal feeding on microbiome development, growth and resilience in Bangladeshi neonates
  • The Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC)

If you are interested in graduate or postgraduate training in the Azad Lab, please review this information.

Research and Funding Partners