hi gray Q&A: Biomilq, Growing Human Breast Milk in a Lab
Read and discover something new in health innovations...
November 15, 2020
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Biomilq
Biomilq, a Durham, North Carolina-based biotech startup, is on a mission to create a technology that allows them to cultivate human breast milk outside of a mother’s body using mother-cultured cells. What sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, has the possibility of seriously changing the infant formula industry, a market that’s expected to reach $109.10 billion by 2027 worldwide. Breast milk has long been considered the holy grail to a child’s early growth, with organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending children to be breastfed for the first six months of their lives.
So far, Biomilq has been able to reproduce more than 2,500 components that make up human breast milk. With a subscription-based model for personalized breast milk, Biomilq could fill gaps for mothers (or fathers) who have busy lifestyles or choose to mainly feed formula. The startup, which is still in development phase, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding so far, with backing from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Bill Gates’ investment firm focused on climate change.
We connected with Biomilq’s cofounder and CEO Michelle Egger to discuss how the idea came about and how the process actually works.
Hi Gray: Biomilq’s idea to create lab-grown breast milk is ingenious, especially if you think about who could benefit from using the milk, as well as the babies themselves who require breast milk to develop strong. How did the idea come about?
Michelle Egger: We see that mothers are having children later in life. They tend to have more income and are making more family planning decisions about how many children to have and when. And so while formula may be an option that is convenient it lacks hundreds of the sugars that are naturally occurring breast milk human milk oligosaccharides, which are critical to immune support and we know vital to the appropriate development of a child.
HG: Biomilq’s process of producing the milk seems to be very personalized, for many reasons. Could you talk a little more about how it works?
ME: For our custom process, we are able to collect mammary epithelial cells at a prenatal appointment via a simple extraction. We are able to take those cells, populate them up to a high enough quantity where they can be inoculated [treated/introduced] in the bioreactor, and then give them all the nutrients, minerals and hormone that they need to be able to grow.
We are able to produce milk utilizing this compartmentalization function where the milk never intermixes. Meaning that milk is grown under sterility, packaged under sterility and can be shipped pre-packaged shelf stable to a consumer’s door six weeks from the moment we receive cells.
How it works: (1) Biomilq chats with customers about their breastfeeding journey, (2) then go on to collect a sample of their mammary cells during a prenatal visit, (3) culture and nurture the cells, (4) collect the milk, (5) and package it up to be send directly to customers’ doorsteps
HG: You have a direct-to-consumer model set up that personalizes the experience for customers, explain this some more.
ME: For us, we are starting in a direct-to-consumer personalized milk offering, and hit the price parity at the top end of infant formula, so we can actually ship breast milk designed specifically for a mother, or actually for a father, as the gender of the cells don't matter.
Curious about Biomilq? Read and interact with them here.
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