Dallas Lab

Dallas Lab

Unraveling the biology of human and animal milk

We specialize in the following areas

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bioactive milk peptides

Bioactive milk peptides

Identifying novel bioactive protein fragments—peptides—in human and bovine milk

Identifying which milk peptides are present across the digestive tract (infants and adults)

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bioactive milk proteins

Bioactive milk proteins

Determining which milk proteins survive intact across digestion, enabling them to exert function throughout the gut

Improving protein preservation across milk processing

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improving preterm infant health

Improving preterm infant health

Assessing digestive deficiencies in preterm infants

Improving processing of human milk to enhance bioactivity

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improving adult health

Improving adult health

Assessing the survival of functional bovine milk proteins and peptides across adult digestion

Assessing the effect of bovine milk proteins and peptides on health (e.g., immune system, microbiome)

Improving processing of bovine milk components to enhance bioactivity

Our approach

Clinical studies

  • Collecting digestive fluids from infants and adults
  • Feeding studies

Digestion models

  • Static and dynamic simulated infant and adult digestion

Structural analysis

  • Peptidomics
  • proteomics
  • Glycopeptidomics
  • Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays

Functional assays

  • Immunomodulatory assays (e.g., macrophage cell culture)
  • Intestinal cell culture
  • Antimicrobial assays

Updates and Good news

Recent publications

See more publications

2024

Pitino, M.A., O’Connor, D.L., Unger, S., Kim, B.J., Doyen, A., Wazed, M.A., Kumar, S., Pouliot, Y., Stone, D., Dallas, D.C.  (2024)  Comparative proteomic analysis of donor human milk treated by high-pressure processing or Holder pasteurization on undigested proteins across dynamic simulated preterm infant digestion  Food Chemistry  462
Kim, B.J., Kuhfeld, R.F., Haas, J.L., Anaya, Y., Martinez, R.R., Sah, B.N., Breen, B., Newsham, K., Malinczak, C., Dallas, D.C.  (2024)  Digestive Profiles of Human Milk, Recombinant Human and Bovine Lactoferrin: Comparing the Retained Intact Protein and Peptide Release  Nutrients  16(14)
Vishwanath-Deutsch, R., Dallas, D.C., Besada-Lombana, P.B., Katz, L., Conze, D., Kruger, C., Clark, A.J., Peterson, R., Malinczak, C.  (2024)  A Review of the Safety Evidence on Recombinant Human Lactoferrin for Use as a Food Ingredient  Food and Chemical Toxicology  189
Schinkel, E.R., Nelson, E.R., Kim, J., Perrin, M.T., Dyer, R., Elango, R., Bode, L., Dallas, D.C., Lueangsakulthai, J., Briere, C., Taylor, S.N.  (2024)  Point-of-care human milk concentration by passive osmosis: comprehensive analysis of fresh human milk samples  Journal of Perinatology