The Research Group
We are an industry-independent, interdisciplinary group of researchers interested in the biological function of human and bovine milk,
especially milk's early programming abilities.
Prof. Dr. med.
Bodo Melnik
Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine and
Health Theory
University of Osnabrück
Am Finkenhügel 7A, D‐49076 Osnabrück, Germany
Email: melnik@t-online.de
Prof. Dr. med.
Gerd Schmitz
Prof. Emeritus Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Blood Bank &
Stem Cell-Center
University Clinic Regensburg, Germany
Email: gerd.schmitz@ukr.de
Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat.
Ralf Weiskirchen
Institut für Molekulare Pathobiochemie, Experimentelle Gentherapie und Klinische Chemie (IFMPEGKC),
RWTH Universitätsklinikum Aachen Pauwelsstr. 30, D-52074 Aachen, Germany
Email: rweiskirchen@ukaachen.de
Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c.
Wolfgang Stremmel
Prof. Emeritus,
Practice for Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology
Medical Center Baden-Baden
Beethovenstr. 2
D-76530 Baden-Baden
Email: wolfgangstremmel@aol.de
Prof. Dr.
Julia Christina Groß
Professor of Biochemistry
Department of Medicine
HMU Health and Medical University Potsdam
Olympischer Weg 1, D-14471 Potsdam; Germany
Email: julia.gross@hmu-potsdam.de
ORCID
Prof., MD, PhD
Swen Malte John
Prof. Emeritus,
Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine and
Health Theory,
University of Osnabrück
Am Finkenhügel 7A, D‐49076 Osnabrück, Germany
Email: sjohn@uos.de
Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat.
Claus Leitzmann
Prof. Emeritus,
Institute of Nutrition, Department of Nutritional Sciences,
Universität Giessen,
Wilhelmstr. 20, D-35392 Giessen
Email: claus@leitzmann-giessen.de
Associate Professor
Éva Pállinger
Institute of Genetics, Cell- and Immunobiology
Semmelweis University,
Faculty of Medicine, Hungary
Email: pallinger.eva@semmelweis.hu
ORCID
Dr. habil., PhD, DSc med.
Tamás Röszer
Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Debrecen;
Hungary
Email: roszer.tamas@med.unideb.hu
ORCID
Dr. (MD, MSc, PhD), Independent Expert in Pediatric Nutrition
Claude Billeaud
Associate Professor, M.D., Ph.D., FAAP
Yelizaveta Konnikova
Associate Professor in Pediatrics with secondary appointments in Immunobiology and Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences
CyTOF Core Director, Medicine
Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Email: liza.konnikova@yale.edu
ORCID
Mission Statement
During the early 1920s, with the worldwide introduction of artificial formula feeding for newborn infants, pediatricians viewed human milk as merely "just food." However, in recent decades, the perception of milk has shifted from a simple nutrient supply to a secretory system for oral programming required for physiological postnatal growth, organ and tissue development controlled by the maternal lactation genome. Compelling evidence highlights that certain components of human milk, lacking in infant formula, play a crucial role in early stem cell regulation. Unlike breast milk, which has evolved over millions of years of lactational evolution, artificial formula lacks many biologically active signaling compounds necessary for proper postnatal programming, increasing the long-term risk of obesity and diabetes mellitus. The various interactive factors of milk-related lactational programming include milk proteomics, glycomics, lipidomics, epigenetics, genomics, and transcriptomics, which warrant further investigation to enhance our understanding of the true nature of milk, a crucial step for the primary prevention of our chronic metabolic diseases of civilization such as obesity and diabetes mellitus.