Hormonal birth control when first released on the market in the 1960’s empowered individuals and couples to manage the number and spacing of children in their families. However hormonal-based contraceptives have undesired side-effects and in some cases hormonal-based contraception is not an option due to underlying health concerns. This necessitates the development of non-hormonal alternatives that provide more options to people

The Gates Foundation is currently supporting the Ovarian Contraceptive Discovery Initiative to develop new non-hormonal contraceptives that can expand contraceptive choices for women.

As part of this initiative which is lead by Northwestern University, the Clark Lab at UCLA is funded to build ovarian follicles in the laboratory using stem-cell-based organoids.