I-Corps: An Individualized 3D Printed Silicone Bottle Nipple

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是由于3D打印技术与流体动力学建模相结合而改善了健康和经济影响，这有可能延长母乳喂养。个性化的3D打印硅胶奶瓶奶嘴，紧密模仿母亲的乳房，在奶瓶和乳房之间创造连续性，减少母乳喂养的主要障碍，乳头混淆。 长时间的母乳喂养和皮肤接触使母乳能够持续发挥作用，建立免疫力，实现保护性神经发育，并通过微生物组的建立进行遗传优化。 该项目的核心技术具有商业化潜力，可以解决母亲每天面临的问题，创新的全球社会影响可能是巨大的。 据预测，提高母乳喂养率每年可以挽救超过82万名5岁以下儿童的生命，防止2万例乳腺癌死亡，同时每年在全世界节省3 000亿美元的医疗保健费用。这个I-Corps项目旨在评估婴儿奶瓶奶嘴概念的商业化潜力，该概念在形状和质地方面复制了母亲的奶嘴，同时使流量与母亲的流量相匹配。 这项创新的智力价值之一是其个性化的3D打印硅胶奶瓶奶嘴，该奶嘴基于对母亲乳头的3D调查，解决了与形状相关的乳头混淆问题。 3D扫描技术允许母亲使用应用程序扫描她们的乳房，以便能够选择最适合她们乳房的3D打印模具，从而实现无缝的奶瓶到乳房的连续性。 该创新还在其设计中适当地解决了与流速相关的乳头混淆。 该团队进行了流体动力学分析，以确定通过打印乳头的流量，该流量与来自早产母亲的小数据集的流量相匹配。 该核心技术有可能实现乳房和奶瓶之间更好的连续性，帮助母亲克服她们面临的障碍，使她们能够继续母乳喂养至少2年。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is improved health and economic impact as a result of a 3D printing technology, combined with fluid dynamic modeling, that has the potential to prolong breastfeeding. An individualized, 3D printed silicone bottle nipple, that closely mimics a mother's breast, creates continuity between bottle and breast, reducing the primary barrier to breastfeeding, nipple confusion. Prolonged breastfeeding and skin to skin contact enables breast milk to continually act in establishing immunity, enabling protective neurological development, and genetic optimization through microbiome establishment. The core technology of this project has a commercialization potential to solve issues mothers face every day and the global societal impact of the innovation could be substantial. It is projected that increasing rates of breastfeeding could save the lives of more than 820,000 children under age five, annually, prevent 20,000 breast cancer deaths, while saving $300 billion annually in health care costs worldwide. This I-Corps project aims to evaluate the commercialization potential of a baby bottle nipple concept which replicates a mother's nipple in terms of shape and texture while matching the flow rate to that of the maternal flow rate. One of the intellectual merits of the innovation is its individualized 3D printed silicone bottle nipple which addresses nipple confusion related to shape based on a 3D survey of a mother's nipples. The 3D scanning technology allows mothers to use an application to scan their breasts to be able to select which 3D printed mold fits their breasts the best, leading to seamless bottle to breast continuity. The innovation also appropriately addresses nipple confusion related to flow rate in its design. The team conducted fluid dynamics analyses to determine the flow rate through the printed nipple that matches the flow rate from a small data set from preterm mothers. The core technology has the potential to allow better continuity between the breast and bottle, help enable mothers to overcome the barriers they face so they can continue breastfeeding for the recommended minimum of 2 years.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.