The Just Milk team has released a video about their product. Note that the product is still in research and development!!! http://justmilk.org/media.html
6/9/11 The Just Milk team reports that the nipple shield may have other interesting applications: The textile nipple shield coudl actually be adapted to dispense treatments to infants!-- antibiotics, vitamins, minerals, etc. This would remove the tedious tasks and short half life associated with mixing and dispensing therapeutics in liquid form for infants. Like the nipple shield itself, this idea is in development!
4/12 An article published in July 2010 demonstrates an acceptability study of the HIV nipple shield undertook by Path.
The HIV nipple shield is being designed for use during breastfeeding to instantaneously inactivate the HIV in breastmilk while an infant nurses. 30-35% of HIV transmission from mother to child occurs during breastfeeding. The invention is a breast milk ‘filter’ in the form of a textile disk impregnated with sodium dodecyl sulfate and incorporated in a modified nipple shield.With this device a mother can protect her infant from getting infected with HIV without the difficulty of expressing and treating her milk and without the worry of social stigma. This breakthrough still requires more research and testing to establish that the majority of HIV is de-activated in the time during which the milk passes through the cotton-wool. The team is currently working to identify laboratories to collaborate with for testing the effectiveness of the HIV nipple shield and is looking into other potential applications of the device including nutritional supplements and pediatric medicine delivery. This novel device is being designed by an open group of collaborators who met at the International Development Design Summit, which was founded by MIT's Amy Smith. For more information on this innovation, go to http://www.justmilk.org. See updates below
May 2010 update:
JustMilk reports the following:
- Family Health International (FHI) and PATH have recently conducted a feasibility feedback study with potential users in Kenya with the breast shield concept.
- At Cambridge University Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology there has been extensive development on the formulation of microbicidal inserts for the breast shield - researching methods to make the inserts cheap, non-toxic and have a controlled release of the microbicide into breastmilk.
- A team at Drexel University will be further testing these inserts for their ability to reduce infectivity in breast milk in lab based apparatus mimicking the of breastfeeding process. This will start in the next couple of weeks.
- We still have a long way to go before this innovation can be distributed for use, however the team has been making great strides towards reaching this goal.
2009
FHI Receives Gates Grand Challenges Exploration grant for the device
Family Health International received a US$100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project led by David C. Sokal, MD, studying a novel approach to inactivate HIV with minimal interference during breastfeeding.
The idea for the "Just Milk" project was born in the summer of 2008 when Dr. Sokal and a team of young engineers at an MIT workshop explored various alternatives for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV during breastfeeding. The team focused on modifying an existing nipple shield by putting a porous felt-like material in its tip and saturating the material with a commonly used compound that can inactivate HIV without harming the child. The researchers for the project are also looking into other potential applications of the device including delivery of nutritional supplements and pediatric medicine. Carol Joanis and Mary Lynn Baniecki, PhD of Family Health International have joined the initial team to work on acceptability and laboratory aspects of the project, respectively. External partners on the grant include Sandra Urdaneta Hartmann, M.D., PhD at Drexel University College of Medicine and Renaissance Scientific, LLC, and Stephen Gerrard, a graduate student in chemical engineering at Cambridge University, UK. Additional background information is at the team's web site, www.justmilk.org.
In leading the Just Milk team, Dr. Sokal, a scientist in Family Health International's Health and Development Sciences group, is building on past successes in developing new reproductive health technologies. Dr. Sokal has invented a device for delivery of vaginal microbicides using low-cost non-woven materials, and has obtained two patents for this novel vaginal device. He also has a patent for a new method of nonsurgical fallopian tube occlusion, and a patent pending on an innovative vasectomy device. He is also currently working on several research projects within Family Health International and with teams at the University of North Carolina on various forms of male contraception.
