Scientists Want to Ditch Formula for Lab-Grown Breast Milk

The company starts with stem cells taken from donor breast milk, multiplies them before putting them into a growth fluid within a hollow fiber bioreactor—“imagine a giant steel cup with hundreds and thousands of little perforated straws,” says Lin. There, the cells differentiate into mammary ones and start producing milk. “We’re not trying to replace breastfeeding, which is something we’re fully behind," says Lin, who was first drawn to the idea of making milk from cells because of a passion for cheesemaking.More than 80 percent of new mothers in the US and UK start out breastfeeding, but only half and a third, respectively, still do so exclusively at six months. “Some of it has to do with a renewed interest in sustainability, while the rest is because we now have a much deeper understanding of the different types of cellular agriculture,” says Michelle Egger, cofounder of the North Carolina-based startup BioMilq, which is also looking to produce breast milk in the lab.“To everyone else, it sounds like pigs flying,” she says. “But for us, it’s just applying science in a way that can help more women.”While both Biomilq and TurtleTree Labs—who have each raised more than $3.5 million in funding—hope to eventually produce human milk sans breasts, there are some key differences. “Saliva can flow backwards into the milk duct and be a way of signaling to the mother,” says fellow breast milk researcher Maryanne Perrin at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. And because lab-grown breast milk is uncharted waters, regulatory authorities will have to figure out how to classify it and even create a formal breastmilk standard (which doesn’t currently exist).“I think the research going into making breast milk in the lab is a wonderful prospect,” says King, who was forced to rely on formula to feed her twins in the early weeks but is now breastfeeding them exclusively.