Michelle Ma
DPhil Student
Biography
Michelle is currently undertaking a PhD under the supervision of Prof Fadil Hannan, Prof Manu Vatish, Assoc Prof Deborah Goberdhan, Dr Wei Zhang, and Dr Xin Meng. Michelle holds a BSc in Biomedical Sciences with a specialisation in Immunity and Infection from Imperial College London.
Research
Human milk contains an abundance of bioactive components such as extracellular vesicles (EVs), human milk oligosaccharides (HMO), and metabolites, which are considered to influence infant health and development. However, the bioactive composition of colostrum and early postpartum milk is less well-characterised. Michelle's DPhil aims to advance knowledge in this area. In particular, she is using human colostrum, milk, and plasma samples obtained during postpartum days 1-5 to:
1) Characterise how the bioactive composition changes during the transition from colostrum to milk production
2) Identify maternal determinants of colostrum and milk bioactive components
3) Assess the downstream cellular effects of these bioactives