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Zurich University to launch breast-feeding research centre

baby sleeping against mother s breast
The University of Zurich is to study the long-term effects of breastfeeding. Keystone

Thanks to a CHF10 million ($10.6 million) donation, the faculty of science at the University of Zurich plans to launch a “unique” centre for breast-feeding research. 

The donation comes from the Family Larsson-Rosenquist FoundationExternal link, which previously gave the university CHF20 million to launch the first university medical professorship worldwide for studying the long-term benefits of breast milk.  

+ Read more about breastfeeding research at the University of Zurich

The centre, which will have a dedicated professor and research budget, is expected to start work at the beginning of the 2018 winter semester. It aims is to complement the university’s current research on children and young people. 

Above all, the centre will be a multi-disciplinary research framework, unique in the world, for the study of breast milk and breast-feeding, according to Göran Larsson, chairman of the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation board. He said its research would help women to decide whether to breast-feed or not. 

The foundation,External link whose founders own the Swiss-based MedelaExternal link company specialising in breast pumps, says it is “dedicated to human milk”. 

The University of Zurich has stressed that the donating foundation would have no influence on the choice of professor or topics to be researched.

 

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