1R01HD117769-01 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Investigating the Role of Lipid Droplet Docking in Lactation Initiation and Milk Secretion (PI: Monks)
07/24/2025-03/31/2030
This project elucidates the cellular and molecular order of events in milk secretion postpartum, determines factors which regulate it and directly investigates how obesity, a major cause of lactation failure, alters lactation.
R01HD093729-05 MPI: Mcmanaman, Monks
09/01/2018-05/31/2023 RNICHD
Molecular Determinants of Lactation Success
Breastfeeding provides neonates with essential nutrients for growth and development, and protection against postnatal and long-term health risks including morbidities associated with bacterial and viral infections, childhood obesity, and type-2 diabetes.
Comparatively few mothers in the United States, particularly those who are overweight or obese, successfully breastfeed their children for the recommended period of time due to failure to either initiate or maintain lactation. Interference with milk
lipid secretion is linked to impaired milk secretion and lactation failure in humans and animal models. This project uses novel transgenic mouse models to investigate how milk lipid secretion regulates lactation success and to delineate the molecular
mechanisms that regulate this function. We anticipate that greater understanding the basic mechanisms controlling milk lipid secretion as proposed in this application will fill conceptual and experimental gaps that pose barriers to understanding biological
mechanisms controlling of lactation success in humans.
