Oct. 21, 2021
Killam Laureate on a mission to improve health of preterm babies (and she鈥檚 getting results)
Leading a clinical trial study of infants born preterm, 草莓污视频导航 postdoctoral fellow , MD, PhD, discovered something remarkable 鈥 certain probiotics could help accelerate the development of an infant鈥檚 gut microbiome.
Some probiotics worked so well that they helped infants reach a gut microbiome level comparable to that of full-term baby who had been breastfed, considered the gold standard.
Moossavi is a co-principal investigator of the project and recipient of聽a 草莓污视频导航聽Killam Postdoctoral Laureate, offered to top scholars at the university to help ensure their groundbreaking research continues.
Area of research holds promise
鈥淚t allows greater independence and support for me to achieve my research goals and brings me closer to the vision of the robust and innovative research program I am trying to achieve,鈥 says Moossavi, who is pursuing other projects to further explore this exciting finding and validate the benefit of probiotic supplementation.
I feel a deep sense of responsibility 鈥 I see the Killam honour as recognition of my potential, and I am motivated to fulfill the trust placed in me through research that reinforces the importance of science and benefits society.
Every year, over 30,000 Canadian infants are born prematurely, resulting in an estimated cost of $8 billion to the health-care system and immense socioeconomic cost to families. Prematurity is the leading cause of infant mortality, and preterm infants are at increased risk of short-term life-threatening inflammatory disorders.
鈥淚 am aiming to develop microbiome-based diagnostics for preterm infant health, a technology and a device that can do this work currently does not exist,鈥 she says.
Study cuts across disciplines
Her work is a cross-disciplinary collaboration between co-advisors聽Dr. Marie Claire Arrieta, PhD, from the Snyder Institute For Chronic Diseases in the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) and Schulich School of Engineering鈥檚 Dr. Amir Sanati Nezhad, PhD. This research also聽advances the Precision Biodiagnostics focus area in the .
Moossavi earned a medical degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran in 2008 and a master鈥檚聽in genetics and molecular biology at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom in 2010. She achieved her PhD in medical microbiology at the University of Manitoba in 2020, earning the Emerging Leader Award and a Governor General鈥檚 Gold Medal for outstanding achievement for her research on milk and the infant microbiome. She is the winner of numerous other awards and accolades, including being named a聽Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellow in 2020.
Shirin Moossavi is a postdoctoral fellow in the CSM鈥檚 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and Schulich School of Engineering鈥檚 Biomedical Engineering.
Marie Claire Arrieta, is an assistant professor in聽the departments of Physiology & Pharmacology, and Paediatrics, and a member of the聽and the聽 at .
Amir Sanati Nezhad is an associate professor in the Schulich School of Engineering鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. He is a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Bio-Microelectromechanical Systems.
The 草莓污视频导航 is driving science and innovation to transform the health and wellbeing of children and families. Led by the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital Research Institute, top scientists across the campus are partnering with Alberta Health Services, the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital Foundation, and our community to create a better future for children through research.