On the 8th of March, International Women’s Day is celebrated worldwide, serving as a significant reminder of the persistent challenges surrounding gender disparity and inequality faced by women across the globe. This underscores the paramount importance of empowering women, not only to advance justice and societal progress but also as a catalyst for fostering peace and driving economic prosperity.

Becoming a Founder

This year, iGEM Startups highlights an iGEM alumna and female founder. Meet Dr. Lydia Mapstone, an alumna of iGEM Edinburgh OG in 2017 and the founder of BoobyBiome, a FemTech startup dedicated to developing an intact breast milk microbiome for babies.

Lydia's entrepreneurial journey began at the iGEM Jamboree in 2017, where she was so inspired by the real-world solutions being presented of which she began to envision her path as biotech founder. This newfound perspective led her to join an accelerator program during her PhD studies and eventually co-found BoobyBiome. Lydia is addressing crucial challenges faced by parents and their loved ones through the recreation of the breast milk microbiome.

*The iGEM Edinburgh team of 2017, also known as iGEM Edinburgh OG 2017, achieved the honor of winning the Best Therapeutics Project at the iGEM Grand Jamboree 2017 with their project "Phaged".*

Innovate the Human Breast Milk Microbiome From Scratch

The human microbiome has emerged as an important topic, playing a vital role in sustaining life long health. Following childbirth, the formation of microbiota within the body commences, with a pivotal role played by human breast milk. This remarkable substance furnishes the infant gut with an optimal blend of macro and micronutrients, delivering complete nutrition crucial for their growth and development.

Moreover, breast milk boasts a rich array of active microbes and immune factors, which collectively influence the developing infant immune system and furnish defense against pathogens (Rautava, 2016). This establishes breast milk as the gold standard for infant health, growth, and development (Selma-Royo et al., 2021). However, while the significance of the human microbiome fuelled demand in research funding in the area, eventually leading to the establishment of the $250 million Human Microbiome Project, breast milk was excluded from the project. This resulted in a large knowledge gap on how the breast milk microbiome develops and which microbes live within milk.

Despite breast milk’s exclusion from the Human Microbiome Project, project, a wealth of research has shown the infant gut microbiome develops very differently in formula fed infants compared to their breastfed counterparts, and these differences have been associated with increased incidence of a number of autoimmune diseases in formula fed babies (Mueller et al., 2015). Acknowledging this problem, Lydia, while pursuing her PhD at UCL in 2019, was inspired to fill the data gap on the breast milk microbiome and make her dream of becoming a founder come true by co-founding BoobyBiome.

“(...) We did a lot of research around the space (microbiome), and were astounded to learn…that breast milk, not only has a microbial community, which is very pivotal from setting up the infant gut - in fact, it contributes 40% of the first gut microbes, it also contains these complex sugars within it, called human milk oligosaccharides. The sole purpose of the sugars are to feed this microbial community. So we've really co-evolved with particular (microbial) groups to develop our health and I thought that was just mind-blowing because I assumed breast milk was sterile. This made me think a lot about the research coming out on formula-fed babies, and how unfortunately, they are more likely to to develop autoimmune diseases later on in life.We know now that human breast milk microbiome is the most significant factor for setting up the infant gut .So, putting this together, I set out to see if we could try and recreate the breast microbiome for formula fed babies”.

*BoobyBiome Co-founders (Dr. Tara O'Driscoll, Dr. Lydia Mapstone, and Dr. Sioned Fôn Jones)*

BoobyBiome has embarked on a journey to understand the breast milk microbiome from scratch; cultivating cultures and creating their own database to unravel the complexity of human milk microbial communities.

Despite the growing recognition of FemTech, its current market size for ranging from $500 million to $1 billion (McKinsey & Company, 2022) - with expectations of doubling in the coming years, the sector still faces challenges, particularly in funding for product development and market positioning. To date, there are only seven FemTech unicorns (Niftyhontas, 2023), which is disheartening news, as there is a huge need for products tailored to the needs of over half the population. When asked on the particular barriers to funding a FemTech start up, Lydia stressed:

"Any entrepreneur, although especially ones that have to do a lot of R&D, is always going to face massive barriers to raising funds and securing finance, even if you are in a niche market like FemTech”

Share of female-led startups globally 2009-2019

Proportion of startups worldwide with at least one female founder between 2009 and 2019 (Source: Visual Capitalist, 2020).

“Taking a step back further however, there does appear, very disappointingly, to be a gender barrier when it comes to setting up a company. A recent report by Statista, shows that the global share of companies which have at least one female co-founder is only 20%, and I imagine it's gonna be much lower for sole female founder teams and again, this lack of female-founded companies is mirrored in patent ownership, only 16% of patent inventors were female in the international patent applications of 2022 and the World Intellectual Property Organization estimates that at this current rate, gender and parity amongst PCT listed inventors won't be achieved before 2064 (Reardon, 2021). So, we are moving in the right direction, but very slowly, in correcting this massive gender gap in entrepreneurship and patent ownership.”

“Inspire Inclusion”

To Lydia, International Women’s Day, this year themed around ‘Inspire Inclusion’ needs to be celebrated beyond just women.

"International Women's Day isn't just for women. It's also a massive day for men to take part and think about how they can help other women around them. Let's think about how we can support women and bring them up."

Lydia additionally emphasizes that it's crucial to revisit the policies that shape gender equality in the society.

"I'd also like to flag the need for more generous paternal leave policies. When a mother has a baby, sharing childcare with her partner is crucial for her to continue advancing in her career. Governments should create more inclusive policies to keep men involved in childcare and paternal leave. Every child a mother has, her earnings will drop between 4 to 5 percent, while men who have children are much more likely to receive a bonus (Gray, 2016)"

Stepping into Entrepreneurship: A Call on International Women's Day

To aspiring female founders

““Give it a go. Realistically, what have you got to lose? If it’s something you really want to do, figure out how you can do it. There’s always a way. …You’re going to massively expand your CV, even if it doesn’t work out.””

To female founders

““Just don’t give up. A message to the women out there who have founded a company and are doing it: keep your head up. I’m here. Reach out to me if you ever need to chat with another female founder. We’re all in it together, and I’m sure you’re going to smash it.””

The data presented, along with Lydia's perspective as a female founder grappling with the hurdles of fundraising in a largely male-dominated sector, highlights the gradual but persistent strides being made towards gender equality. However, it's important to recognize that there's still a long road ahead. Watch the full interview below to gain valuable insights and inspiration this International Women's Day.

If you're interested in learning more about BoobyBiome and staying updated on their latest developments, visit their website here.

iGEM Startups is dedicated to promoting gender equality in bioentrepreneurship and beyond -
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References

Gray, A. (2016). The gender pay gap gets even wider once women have children. [online] World Economic Forum. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/08/the-gender-pay-gap-gets-much-wider-after-women-have-children/.

McKinsey & Company (2022). FemTech | McKinsey. [online] www.mckinsey.com. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/the-dawn-of-the-femtech-revolution.

Mueller, N.T., Bakacs, E., Combellick, J., Grigoryan, Z. and Dominguez-Bello, M.G. (2015). The infant microbiome development: mom matters. Trends in Molecular Medicine, [online] 21(2), pp.109–117. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmed.2014.12.002.

Niftyhontas, I. (2023). The Femtech Revolution: A Deep Dive into Market Growth, Investment Patterns, and Future Disruptions. [online] www.goingvc.com. Available at: https://www.goingvc.com/post/the-femtech-revolution-a-deep-dive-into-market-growth-investment-patterns-and-future-disruptions.

Rautava, S. (2016). Early microbial contact, the breast milk microbiome and child health. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, [online] 7(1), pp.5–14. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S2040174415001233.

Reardon, S. (2021). Gender gap in US patents leads to few inventions that help women. Nature, [online] 597(7874), pp.139–140. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02298-9.

Selma-Royo, M., Calvo Lerma, J., Cortés-Macías, E. and Collado, M.C. (2021). Human milk microbiome: From actual knowledge to future perspective. Seminars in Perinatology, 45(6), p.151450. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semperi.2021.151450.

Visual Capitalist. (2020). Proportion of startups worldwide with at least one female founder between 2009 and 2019. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: March 07, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1221258/share-startups-at-least-one-female-founder/