The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2023
Moons' Cure Cup turns period blood into stem-cell samples for research
Redesigned as a stem-cell preservation device, the menstrual cup lets people donate period blood to research — periods as potential cures.
Moons
What it had to solve
Stem-cell research could cure diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's, but current collection methods are so invasive that researchers cannot get enough samples. Period blood turns out to be rich in stem cells — a source that normally goes to waste.
How it works
Stem-cell research holds promise for curing diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's, but researchers cannot get enough samples: current collection methods are invasive, which limits who can contribute and how often. Period blood, however, is rich in stem cells — a resource that is normally discarded rather than used.
The Cure Cup closes that gap with a product twist: instead of inventing a new procedure, it turns a traditional menstrual cup into a stem-cell preservation device. People who menstruate can contribute to research through an act they already perform, and for the first time periods could potentially become cures.
By empowering people to contribute to potentially life-saving research, the device expands researchers' access to stem cells and opens the door to the future of health. D&AD carries the work in its awards archive; the page records the concept and its rationale rather than clinical or commercial results, so the case stands on the reframing itself.
Why it lands
- It removes the biggest barrier — invasiveness — by turning an everyday object into the collection device.
- Period blood is rich in stem cells yet routinely wasted, so the idea finds value in a resource everyone already assumes is worthless.
- It asks for no new behaviour: the menstrual cup was already part of the user's routine, which makes sustained contribution plausible.
- The frame of periods as cures gives medical research a human story people can act on, not a distant ask for donations.
What it did
The D&AD awards archive carries The Cure Cup, presenting it as a device that, for the first time, could make periods a source of stem cells for potentially life-saving research. The archive records no donation volumes or clinical results, so the documented outcome is the reframing itself: a routine bodily process turned into a research contribution.
What you can take
When a valuable resource is routinely discarded, redesign the object people already use rather than asking for new behaviour — donation inside a familiar act removes the barrier.
Since then
D&AD's awards archive carries The Cure Cup as a documented concept: a traditional menstrual cup turned into a stem-cell preservation device so period blood can contribute to research. No clinical trials, donation volumes or sales figures appear on the page; what the archive preserves is the idea that a routinely discarded resource can be captured by the object people already use.
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