About This Project

Producing cultivated meat is difficult and expensive because the cells need enough surface to grow. Bioreactors, where the cells are cultured, have limited space for the cells to stick to. This research aims to solve this problem by creating tiny particles (microcarriers) made from natural materials that can be used in the bioreactors. These microcarriers will provide more surface area for the muscle cells to adhere and grow on, which will improve the meat production efficiency.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The project aims to address the challenge of meeting the rising demand for protein in the increasing world population by producing meat sustainably. The traditional ways of meat production are unsustainable due to high resource consumption, including extensive water and land use, and animal suffering. One solution is to cultivate meat in labs using tissue engineering techniques that utilize animal biopsy-derived cells grown in large bioreactors. However, scaling up the technology poses significant challenges, particularly the cost of bioreactors required for high-density cell culture. This research aims to develop a technology that overcomes the challenges of scaling up lab-grown meat production, making it a viable and sustainable alternative to traditional meat production.

What is the significance of this project?

In bioreactors, cells require a surface to attach to in order to proliferate and develop into muscle tissue. However, bioreactors often have limited surfaces available for cell adherence. This presents a challenge when attempting to produce cultivated meat on a large scale because a significant amount of cells need enough surface area to grow and form muscle tissue. Microcarriers, tiny bead-like structures engineered with a high surface area-to-volume ratio, provide more cell attachment space when suspended in large numbers in bioreactors. The use of microcarriers with microencapsulated nutrients can help accelerate cell growth, development, and improve nutrient availability, which can overcome some of the challenges associated with conventional cell culture techniques.

What are the goals of the project?

Firstly, we aim to synthesize food-grade microcarriers using emulsion-based technique for facilitation of cell attachment and growth in bioreactors.

Next, we will incorporate microencapsulated nutrients & growth factors into the microcarriers to improve nutrient availability and accelerate cell growth and development.

Further, we will investigate how different microcarrier properties, such as size, surface charge, porosity, and stiffness, affect cell density and the overall effectiveness of a 3D cell culture system.

Finally, we aim to optimize the microcarrier properties and nutrient encapsulation to achieve the highest cell growth and viability.