There is no doubt that the best food for babies is breast milk. However, not all parents, especially in cases of surrogacy or adoption, have an option for breast milk. According to WHO, globally, only one in three babies gets the required breast milk in the first six months. This is where the significance of North Carolina-based startup BIOMILQ’ lies. Currently, it is developing ‘human milk’ outside of the body.
How did the startup zero in on the idea?
It was first suggested by Leila Strickland, co-founder and chief science officer of BIOMILQ, in 2013. She had heard about the world’s first lab-grown burger. A cell biologist, she thought about using the same technology to culture human milk-producing cells.
Instead of breast milk, many parents rely on formula. According to Strickland, a formula can satisfy a lot of the nutritional requirements but it cannot replace the complexity of human milk. She goes on to say that BIOMILQ’s product comes closer to the nutritional profile of breast milk when compared to formula. It is still debatable.
Team BIOMILQ creates its product from cells taken from the human breast tissue and milk. It is donated by women in the local community who get a Target gift card in return. Then, BIOMILQ grows the cells in flasks, feeds them nutrients, and incubates them in a bioreactor which recreates the environment in a breast. Here, the cells absorb more nutrients and secrete milk components.
The product needs three to five years to hit the market. It is not an easy task for Strickland. First, the startup has to grow mammary cells at a larger scale, that too at a lower cost. The most challenging aspect is to convince regulators that it is safe to consume. Since lab-grown human milk product is a new category, it will be more difficult, says Strickland.
The startup also needs to check the emission of carbon footprint. Production of one kilogram of packaged formula creates between seven and 11 kilograms of carbon dioxide. Now, BIMILQ needs to figure out the carbon footprint it produces as it is billed as an environmentally sustainable product. The promise of a greener alternative to the formula has brought investment from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures. With this fund and help from other investors, BIOMILQ raised $21 million in October 2021. BIOMILQ is using this funding for expanding and making more milk.
Besides BIOMILQ, there are Turtle Tree and Helaina that attempt the same. Based in Singapore and the United States, Turtle Tree cultures stem cells to create milk components from a range of mammals, including humans. New York-based Helaina uses microbial fermentation to grow proteins found in human milk.
