College
College of Nursing
Mentor Information
Ryan Pace
Description
Human milk (HM) composition demonstrates remarkable variation across stage of lactation, time of day, and environmental exposures such as diet. Most research protocols require in-person collection and immediate freezing to maintain sample integrity, resources often unavailable in remote or low-resource settings. Validated alternative collection and storage protocols are needed. This study evaluated whether HemaSpot HF (HF), a “next-generation” dry blood spot device, is suitable for remote HM collection and protein analysis. HM was applied to HF devices and protein concentrations were measured using bicinchoninic acid assays. We assessed protein concentration stability across storage durations, elution times, and sample volumes. We also evaluated transfer pipettes as a low-technology alternative to calibrated pipettors. Protein concentrations on HF devices remained stable over 7 days at ambient temperature, indicating strong sample stability. Overnight elution was sufficient for recovery, which remained consistent (86–90%) across varying sample volumes. Among transfer pipettes of varying capacity, a 5 mL transfer pipette produced the most consistent volume, with 8 drops yielding 77.8 ± 10.3 µL (13.2% coefficient of variation); however, this yielded a ~28% lower protein concentration compared to the same volume measured via whole HM. HemaSpot HF devices show promise for remote HM collection/storage. Simple transfer pipettes provide a practical, approach for sample application in low-resource settings. Future studies should seek to improve percent recoveries, validate for additional HM components (e.g., metabolites, immunological markers), and assess longer-term storage, field deployment feasibility, and integration into large-scale remote cohort studies.
Validation of a Remote Collection Device for Human Milk Composition Analysis
Human milk (HM) composition demonstrates remarkable variation across stage of lactation, time of day, and environmental exposures such as diet. Most research protocols require in-person collection and immediate freezing to maintain sample integrity, resources often unavailable in remote or low-resource settings. Validated alternative collection and storage protocols are needed. This study evaluated whether HemaSpot HF (HF), a “next-generation” dry blood spot device, is suitable for remote HM collection and protein analysis. HM was applied to HF devices and protein concentrations were measured using bicinchoninic acid assays. We assessed protein concentration stability across storage durations, elution times, and sample volumes. We also evaluated transfer pipettes as a low-technology alternative to calibrated pipettors. Protein concentrations on HF devices remained stable over 7 days at ambient temperature, indicating strong sample stability. Overnight elution was sufficient for recovery, which remained consistent (86–90%) across varying sample volumes. Among transfer pipettes of varying capacity, a 5 mL transfer pipette produced the most consistent volume, with 8 drops yielding 77.8 ± 10.3 µL (13.2% coefficient of variation); however, this yielded a ~28% lower protein concentration compared to the same volume measured via whole HM. HemaSpot HF devices show promise for remote HM collection/storage. Simple transfer pipettes provide a practical, approach for sample application in low-resource settings. Future studies should seek to improve percent recoveries, validate for additional HM components (e.g., metabolites, immunological markers), and assess longer-term storage, field deployment feasibility, and integration into large-scale remote cohort studies.
