Breastfeeding is a uniquely female biological process. Human milk provides the best source of nutritional, developmental and immune support for babies, and the World Health Organisation recommends breastfeeding for the first year of an infant’s life.

Yet breastfeeding difficulties are common, and despite its importance this is a greatly understudied area of women’s health.

Dr Alecia-Jane Twigger in the Departments of Biochemistry and Pharmacology says this is because breastfeeding has traditionally been seen as a natural process, where any difficulties must be solved by the individual, rather than by society.

“There’s a lot of bias in thinking that breastfeeding is easy. But I’ve talked to so many women who have done their absolute best, and they’ve had amazing support, but they’re just not able to do it,” says Twigger. “I’m trying to figure out why, and what we can do about it.”

At the Cambridge Lactation Lab, Twigger is dedicated to understanding the biology of human milk production. She’s found a way around the need to take invasive biopsies from lactating breasts, which could jeopardise breastfeeding.

“The key is to develop reliable models for studying lactation,” says Twigger, whose work is supported by a prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.  “I discovered that breast milk contains the very secretory cells responsible for producing milk. We can extract these and grow them into 3D structures called organoids.”

“I want to get these organoids to produce milk in the lab – like mini boobs – so I can explore key questions about human lactation.”

Dr Alecia-Jane Twigger, Departments of Biochemistry and Pharmacology

Through her CAMB MOM study Twigger is collecting breast milk samples from volunteers, to study the composition of milk and establish the organoid models. Her goal is to use them to better understand and address breastfeeding challenges, especially low milk supply.

She’ll look at the genetic underpinnings of the products being secreted in the milk, including proteins, fats and metabolites which influence the growth of the baby, to uncover which genes are essential for milk production.

She’ll also investigate another big question: whether medicines taken by a breastfeeding mother are passed to her baby in the milk.

“There’s currently a huge limitation in advising pregnant and breastfeeding women about what medicines they can take, because we can’t include them in clinical trials. Our organoid model will let us test whether drugs taken by the mother are passed into the milk, and whether they could be harmful to the baby.”

For more information about the CAMB MOM study email cambmom@bioc.cam.ac.uk or visit the website.