FIGURE 3.

Proposed analytical framework to study human milk as a biological system. To further our understanding, multidisciplinary teams of investigators should undertake a longitudinal investigation of diverse cohort of lactating parent–infant dyads. Frequent biological sample collection coupled with extensive paired metadata and multi-omic analyses with enable deep phenotyping of participants. Application of systems biology provides a unique opportunity for in-depth modeling of the role of human milk in the breastfeeding dyad to develop integrated models that predict and explain the role of human milk on a systems level.