Dr Geula Hanin

The control of nutrition from mother to her baby is essential for the lifelong health and well-being of offspring. We study fundamental epigenetic mechanisms that regulate successful breastfeeding.

We focus on genomic imprinting, a mammalian epigenetically regulated process causing genes to be expressed monoallelically according to their parental origin, as this essential mechanism regulates prenatal growth and development. Recent evidence from ourselves and others suggests that the process may have evolved to control mammalian growth postnatally also

Our aim is to understand how genomic imprinting regulates the normal development and function of the mammary gland, the production of breastmilk and the processes ensuring that its content is optimal for supporting the baby.