By two to three years of age, the composition of an infant’s gut microbiota will have become relatively stable. Infancy and early childhood therefore represent a period of massive change, and an opportunity to create the conditions for healthy microbiome development. Accumulating evidence suggests adult gut microbiome composition as a significant health determinant, therefore understanding the factors affecting infant microbiome development have life-long implications.
Significance research efforts are being directed towards understanding the early determinants of microbiome function and composition, such as mode of delivery and antibiotic use. A deeper understanding of the infant microbiome could be harnessed to inform strategies for infant nutrition, in the form of probiotics, nutritional supplements, and altered infant formula.
The first 1000 days is an important period for a child’s development and for the development of the child’s microbiome. The role of nutrition is significant in that process, explains Dr. Maciej Chichlowski of Reckitt Benckiser in an interview with Dr. Radhika Bongoni, business developer at BaseClear.
Read complete interviewTo advance studies directed at exploring and modulating the infant microbiome, BaseClear provides standard services for the design and analysis of strain-specific qPCR assays and strain/species-level shotgun microbiome analysis. Our framework, which includes biostatistical analysis, provides a complete picture of the microbial community in the sample, enabling insights into strategies for personalised infant nutrition and care.
BaseClear routinely organises experts meetings on microbiome and related topics. In 2020 BaseClear organised an experts meeting dedicated to Infant & Pregnancy Microbiome analysis. Read the summary of the experts meeting and key-learnings on our blog.
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