Our 2026 Call for Grant Application is now open! Visit the call for grant page

An in vitro study of the mechanism of action of a dietary ganglioside-mediated intervention on the cognitive development of the neonatal brain

Prof. Kerensa Broersen, Professor at the Applied Stem Cell Technologies Group, University of Twente, The Netherlands

2025

Breast milk is recognized as the most beneficial source of nutrition for infants, containing a variety of components that contribute to cognitive development. One such component is gangliosides, which are sialicacid-containing glycosphingolipids known to influence the developing neonatal brain by impacting neurogenesis, brain maturation, synapse formation, and myelination.

Study Aim

This project aims to investigate the mechanism of action of a dietary ganglioside-mediated intervention on the cognitive development of the neonatal brain using an advanced and unique human in vitro modelling approach.

Scientific Approach

Select relevant in vitro models that recapitulate each of the digestion and absorption processes individually and in-line.

Expected Outcomes

This project will generate new insights into the biological activity of human identical GM3 in neonatal brain development and address the potential of dietary GM3-based intervention as a strategy to facilitate development of cognition in this early age population.

‍

Funded projects

The Mother-Offspring Microbiome (M-OM) and Neurobehavioral Development

Brain Development, Infant Gut Health

Prof. Jeffrey Alberts, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, USA

It is common for pregnant mothers who deliver prematurely to be treated with antibiotics during their pregnancy and postnatally. And it is well-documented that the premie population is strikingly dysbiotic and at great risk for a range of disorders including cognitive difficulties, feeding problems, GI disease, as well as disorders of social development. The efficacy of the oligosaccharide milk constituent, 2’-fucosyllactose (2'-FL), in resetting a healthy trajectory of neurobehavioral development will be studied.

Early-life susceptibility of brain epigenetic profiles to antibiotic treatment. Relevance for neurodevelopmental diseases.

Brain Development

Prof. Francesca Lembo, Associate Professor in Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, University of Naples Federico II, Italy.

Antibiotics (ABs) represent the most common type of medication used during infancy. ABs have been proposed as a possible factor playing a role in the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) promoting long lasting adverse effects on brain development. It has been claimed that AB use during early life may have a detrimental effect on the gut-brain axis by interfering with regular gut microbiota (GM) colonization.

Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) and probiotics on neonatal immunological imprinting

Infant Immunity

Prof. Gérard Eberl, Professor of Immunology, Institut Pasteur, France

The microbiota plays a key role early in life for the development of the immune system. Dietary weaning (the transition from a milk only diet to a diversified diet) induces a vast expansion of the microbiota and in response, a vigorous immune reaction termed the “weaning reaction” (WR). Early life treatment with antibiotics interferes with this early life immune response to the microbiota, and diets that lack fibers or that are excessively rich in lipids, lead to pathological imprinting later in life.

Discover all funded projects