BIOMILQ's Birth Story
Our mission was born out of being fed up with current
infant feeding options—we're hungry for change.
2009
Leila's low milk supply
While completing her postdoc at Stanford, Leila struggled to produce enough breastmilk for her son Levi.
Leila's expensive hobby
The televised debut of the world's first hamburger made from cultured meat inspired Leila to pursue the
cell-based production of milk.
2013
2013
Mooving research forward
Leila began studying bovine (cow) mammary epithelial cells to expand her understanding of milk biosynthesis.
Ahead of her time
Without proper financial resources, Leila focused on acquiring new skills in pharma and biotech roles that would later inform her scientific strategy
at BIOMILQ.
2015
2019
Visionary, not crazy
August
Michelle was introduced to Leila, a crazy lady with a crazy idea. But, Michelle quickly saw Leila's idea, fueled by relentless passion, as visionary.
From strangers to partners
2019
Michelle didn’t know what supporting Leila meant exactly, but knew that
she wanted to help another driven woman bring life-changing technology to the world and they could
figure out the rest.
October
2020
First-of-its-kind technology
January
Leila's self-funded proof-of-concept experiment confirmed that a molecularly complex product composed of human milk components could be obtained from culturing mammary epithelial cells in
our system.
Mission-aligned investment
2020
After unsuccessfully pitching to people who didn't get 'it', a few investors sat tight long enough to ask this middle-aged mom some questions about her idea and the scientific training that
it rested on.
April
2020
Support for our vision
June
Michelle and Leila raised $3.5M in it's seed round, backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Blue Horizon Ventures, Purple Orange Ventures, and Shazi Visram.
From dream to reality
We opened our lab in
Research Triangle Park in Durham, NC, hired our first group of researchers, and started chatting with moms and medical professionals about their feeding experiences.
August
2020
2021
January
Happy 1st Birthday BIOMILQ
Last year we were conceived, this year we're in our first trimester.
New breast friends
February
2021
2021
We've got milq!
June
We successfully produced the world’s first cell-cultured human milk outside of the breast.