Webinar preview: Novonesis and UC San Diego partnership accelerates HMO research

As the science of early life nutrition rapidly advances, a new partnership between biotech innovator Novonesis and the Human Milk Institute at the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego), US, aims to reshape how discoveries in human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are made and applied. They unite academic and industry expertise to drive progress in HMOs and synbiotics through shared learning and innovation.

The Human Milk Institute at UC San Diego is a top academic center in human milk research, while Novonesis brings a strong scientific background and knowledge in human health biosolutions, such as probiotics and HMOs. 

In an upcoming webinar on April 15, 2025 (16:00 CEST), titled, “Innovative partnerships: Exploring the future of HMOs with UC San Diego and Novonesis,” the organizations will offer an inside look at their collaboration, which is setting a new benchmark for how industry and academia can work together to accelerate innovation.

“When academia and industry collaborate, we can utilize expertise from different fields to study HMOs,” Dr. Stina Jensen, the head of applied HMO science and innovation at Novonesis and speaker in the upcoming webinar, tells Nutrition Insight. 

“That means we can improve current scientific understandings, from uncovering underlying modes of actions to identifying relevant HMOs or synbiotics with the most potent effects. This enables translating science into applications for infants and potentially other age groups.”

Understanding the importance of HMOs

Human milk is a complex biological system with far-reaching effects beyond basic nutrition. It contains diverse compounds that support immunity, aid microbiome development, and influence cognition and brain function. Despite growing understanding, much of its full potential is still being uncovered.

Today, it is technically possible to produce specific components of human milk, such as HMOs. While HMOs show strong promise, many scientific questions remain — including around how they might work in combination with probiotics, a synergy known as synbiotics.

“HMOs and synbiotics are associated with a great number of potential benefits for human health,” Jensen explains. “However, there is still a lot to explore to better understand underlying mechanisms, to identify what combinations provide health effects, and for what health indications these could be used.”

Examining the benefits of synbiotics

Jensen highlights that early research indicates HMOs, alone and paired with probiotics as synbiotics, may offer health benefits across age groups.

Dr. Stina Jensen, the head of applied HMO science and innovation at Novonesis.For example, 3’-Sialyllactose (3’-SL), a specific HMO, has shown anti-inflammatory potential and could support metabolic health, including insulin resistance. 

“Many of the suggested health benefits of HMOs for infants could also be beneficial for other age groups,” Jensen explains. “For instance, in elderly, the immune system weakens, and cognitive functions decline.”

“HMOs’ effect on the immune system, as well as brain and cognition in early stages of life, could therefore be beneficial for this age group. In recent years, clinical research has expanded to include other age groups, including toddlers, adults, and elderly, with more clinical research expected to come.”

Advancement through collaboration

According to Jensen, the research incubator seeks to unite multiple disciplines to foster innovation in HMOs and synbiotics. She underscores that experts across various health and nutrition fields are working together to advance scientific understanding and push the boundaries of current research at the incubator.

“The collaboration between scientists from academia and industry allows for the breakdown of silos — bringing deep expertise together at an eye-to-eye level,” Jensen underscores. “That makes it possible to study HMOs more holistically, at a deep, mechanistic level, to elucidate modes of mechanism and to design clinical trials to generate the highest-grade evidence.”

Additionally, Jensen notes that the HMO field has seen technological advancements and the emergence of important new scientific discoveries in recent years.

Clearing up misconceptions

At the same time, Jensen points out that despite extensive research on HMOs, several misconceptions persist. For instance, she notes that many wrongly believe HMOs are only beneficial for infants, aren’t absorbed or digested, or serve solely as prebiotics.

Jensen says that many of HMO health benefits for infants could also support other age groups, such as in immunity or cognitive health.These oversimplifications overlook HMOs broader health potential, limiting further exploration and innovation in their application. Regarding HMOs’ benefits beyond infant nutrition, Jensen reveals that many health mechanisms function similarly across all age groups, including gut and immune interactions. Emerging research shows over 100 non-Bifidobacterium species can grow on HMOs, suggesting their potential prebiotic benefits extend beyond infancy.

“It is often stated that HMOs are not absorbed and not digested in the human gastrointestinal tract, thereby reaching the colon unmodified,” she attests. “However, there is evident science that shows a low amount of the HMOs can be absorbed at approximately 1%.”

“This amount sounds insignificant, but studies show that these levels are sufficient to have effects on the immune system in mice. Moreover, intestinal microbes use HMOs for growth, which includes bacterial HMO digestion. Especially the more complex HMOs undergo structural modifications, which seem to play an important part in how HMOs promote the growth.”

To the question of whether HMOs are mainly prebiotics, Jensen reveals that recent studies suggest that while many HMO structures support the growth of beneficial gut microbes, certain structures appear to remain largely unaffected or unutilized.

“This suggests that these spared HMOs could have specific functions beyond the microbiome, such as interacting with immune cells,” she concludes. “It has long been known that HMOs can mediate effects, both microbiome-dependently as well as microbiome-independently.”