Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** pumpkin baby is developing…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** pumpkin baby is developing affordable, in-field (i.e., in homes, at milk banks, in neonatal intensive care units (nicus)) diagnostic tools to assess breastmilk nutrition and shelf-life using rapid and easy-to-interpret color-reactive detection strips. This technology will provide guidance on whether freeze-thawed breastmilk is nutritionally adequate or even rancid at the time of use, helping to minimize breastmilk waste and ensure infants receive proper nutrition.to facilitate continued breastfeeding, nursing mothers often rely on freezer storage of expressed breastmilk, and those with lactation difficulties or babies in nicus seek donor breastmilk, which is also stored frozen. However, the coldest available storage unit in most households - the kitchen freezer - cools to -20 ° c, a temperature that does not adequately preserve the complex emulsified structure of human breastmilk.milk composition analyses have revealed that banked donor milk fails to provide the energy density and macronutrients needed by very low-birthweight premature babies, indicating a critical need for effective characterization tools to identify and address nutritional gaps through supplementation. These findings undermine CDC guidelines, which state breastmilk can be stored in the freezer for up to six months and may be acceptable up to 12 months.to provide just-in-time information on the quality of stored breastmilk, pumpkin's inexpensive, easy-to-use, diagnostic test kit will measure 1) propensity for FAT breakdown (i.e., lipase levels), 2) FAT breakdown/rancidity in stored human breastmilk (i.e., glycerol levels), and 3) vitamin c content (i.e., antioxidant capacity). To develop thetechnology, this project will involve collection and characterization of breastmilk samples, measuring the key quality indicators (i.e., lipase, glycerol/free fatty acids (ffas), and vitamin c) over time from freshly expressed to after months of storage. We will use colorimetric tools, similar in concept to PH strips, to allow for rapid testing of breastmilk samples on these quality indicators. The outputs of our developed test kits will be compared to standard laboratory assays to validate their accuracy. Development of the proposed technology would providecaregivers with accurate and timely information about shelf-life, condition after storage, and nutritional value of breastmilk, thus delivering insights on the quality of the breastmilk at time of use, and whether or not supplementation may be needed to meet nutritional guidelines.