Human milk has numerous benefits for the development of breastfed infants. Besides lactose and lipids (or fats), human milk is rich in more than 200 different sugars named human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). These sugars are known to play a pivotal role in the development of the infant’s immune system and even in the protection from bacterial or viral infections.Past research has shown that some HMOs are able to prevent norovirus infection by acting as decoys of histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs). However, using HMOs and their analogues as norovirus antiviral drugs is not as easy as it sounds since the available synthetic routes of some of these sugars are still unknown or very expensive.To make this dream a reality, Dileep Paladugu (DC4) is currently working at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and DSM-Firmenich on building a panel of HMOs of interest that will be used by other GlycoNoVi’s Research Fellows, and on scaling up their production to grams. Get to know more about his research (and more!) in this video that he made for you.