That’s the million-dollar question on Rebecca Powell’s mind. Powell, who is a human milk immunologist at New York City’s Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is currently accepting breast milk samples to see if she can crack the immune-modulating code of human milk.

With a call to action post on social media, Powell has begun beseeching breastmilk sample donations from the public, particularly from those living in New York City. These samples will be used to determine if the lingering antibodies in breastmilk could be the key to protecting and preventing COVID19 infection in both babies and adults.

In an interview with Vice News, Powell says the turnout thus far has been resoundingly positive.

“There’s a lot of lactating people out there that are getting infected and would be ready and willing to donate milk — I can tell you because I have hundreds of emails of people who want to participate, and many of them have said they had highly suspected infection or a positive test.”

Considering everything we know about the virus-fighting properties of breastmilk, paired with the WHO recommendation for lactating mothers to continue breastfeeding regardless of infection status, it comes as no surprise that researches are scrambling to unlock the full potential of the protective properties of human milk.

“It was never done with SARS, it was never done with MERS, and even for flu, which is so well-studied. The data on milk protection is actually really sparse, unfortunately,” Powell told Vice News.

Powell says that she plans to scan the milk samples that she receives for antibodies to test for current or prior COVID19 infection. She will then examine the antibodies present in the milk samples to see whether they can be used to combat the viral infection or activate other cells to destroy the novel disease.

Not in New York City, but still wan’t to donate your milk for the sake of science? No problem. According to Vice News, Powell is also accepting samples by mail from out-of-state participants if they are confirmed to be COVID19 positive or have had a prior confirmed infection. If you would like to get involved in this groundbreaking study, you can get in touch with Powell here.