Seminar Series: The Science of Alt. Protein
Using tissue engineering to grow cultivated meat
June 24th, 2020

To grow foods of the future using tissue engineering, we need to consider a systems approach, where cells, matrices, and cofactors are integrated to achieve a useful output – something edible that will taste good, feel good, be nutritious, and stay within economic considerations. The Kaplan Lab works actively to translate what they've learned from the biomedical field in growing human tissues to developed food from animal cells. Issues that remain key challenges in this process include the cell sources to use, the biomaterial matrices to house the cells, and the bioreactor environment. Join Dr. David Kaplan, Distinguished Professor at Tufts University, as he discusses the context of the underlying science and needs in the cellular agriculture field, takes us on a technical deep-dive into his group's research, and identifies gaps to be filled by other scientists.

Meet the speaker: David Kaplan is the Stern Family Professor of Engineering at Tufts University. He is the chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and also holds faculty appointments in the School of Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, the Department of Chemistry, and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. His research focus is on biopolymer engineering to understand structure-function relationships, with emphasis on studies related to self-assembly, biomaterials engineering, and functional tissue engineering/regenerative medicine.

Moderator: Amy Huang, University Innovation Specialist, The Good Food Institute

Resources mentioned:
A New Publication from Aston University on Scaling the Cultivated Meat Bioprocess: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bit.27469
GFI's Competitive Research Grant Program: https://www.gfi.org/researchgrants
Collaborative Research Directory: https://www.gfi.org/collaborate
Cultivated Meat Tools and Protocols: https://www.gfi.org/blog-cultivated-meat-research-tool-directory

About The Good Food Institute:
The Good Food Institute is a global nonprofit building a sustainable, healthy, and just food system. Our scientists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, business analysts, and policy experts are harnessing the power of food innovation and markets to accelerate the transition of the world’s food system to plant-based and cultivated meat, eggs, and dairy.
Learn more about the organization at https://www.gfi.org
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Want to join our good food community? Visit gfi.org/gfideas

GFIdeas is a community for entrepreneurs, scientists, students, and subject matter experts who together form an ecosystem creating alternatives to conventional animal products. Our community focuses on three categories of food technology: plant-based protein, using plants to biomimic conventional animal products; fermentation, growing microorganisms to produce food ingredients; and cellular agriculture, cultivating genuine animal meat directly from cells.