Laying the Scientific and Engineering Foundation for Sustainable Cultivated Meat Production

Cultivated meat could be a cornerstone of a sustainable food system. It involves growing animal protein, fat, and connective tissue from animal cells. The goal is to establish the scientific and engineering foundation for the cultivated meat industry. There are critical bottlenecks and knowledge gaps that this project will address. One is directing stem cells to reliably differentiate into specific cell types (e.g., muscle, fat, cartilage). Another is developing a growth medium for these cells that does not contain animal products. A third is to develop material and processes to allow for the creation of a 3-dimensional tissue scaffold for the cells to grow in. A final one is the development of a technical and economic analysis of a representative cultured meat process. This project will train graduate students, post-docs, and undergraduates. It will also develop and deliver an annual extension/continuing education course on cultivated meat science and technology. In order to establish this scientific and engineering foundation, the project is focused on four specific aims: 1) develop an efficient strategy for stem cell amplification and differentiation to muscle and fat that maintains cell line stability and supports scalability, 2) establish a process for growing and differentiating cell lines in inexpensive, plant-based, serum-free medium up to pilot scale, 3) create biomaterials and processes that allow creation of three-dimensional tissue structure, and 4) complete a techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) for cultivated meat production. It is anticipated that these advancements will contribute broadly to stem cell engineering for regenerative medicine, biomaterials and tissue engineering for organ replacement, large-scale mammalian cell culture for biotherapeutics production, plant cell culture processes for food and biopharmaceutical production, and techno-economic and life cycle analyses of fermentation-based bioprocesses. 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.