SynBioBeta 2026
Event description
This year at SynBioBeta 2026, Bruce Friedrich, founder and president of the Good Food Institute, will explore how advances in biology and engineering are opening the door to more efficient meat production. Bruce’s talk, “Using Science to Remake Meat: The Next Agricultural Revolution,” connects the rapid progress in alternative proteins to a broader shift across the bioeconomy.
Drawing from his new book, Meat, Bruce will reflect on the past decade of innovation—from the first plant-based burgers to the rise of cultivated meat—and what it will take to scale these technologies. The opportunity is clear: produce the foods people love with fewer resources, strengthen food security, and build more resilient supply chains.
Set within SynBioBeta’s global gathering of leaders in synthetic biology, this session highlights how programmable biology is moving from breakthrough to real-world application—including in how we make meat.
Event location
GFI speaker
Bruce Friedrich
PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER
Bruce Friedrich serves as GFI’s chief thought leader and relationship-builder, working in close partnership with GFI’s global teams and food system stakeholders around the world.
Bruce is a TED Fellow, Y Combinator alum, and popular speaker on food innovation. He has penned op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Nature Food, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Wired, CNN, and many other publications. He has represented GFI on the TED Radio Hour, New Yorker Radio Hour, the Ezra Klein Show, Making Sense (Sam Harris), and a variety of other podcasts and TV programs. Bruce’s 2019 TED talk has been viewed more than 2.4 million times and translated into 30 languages.
Publishers Weekly selected Bruce’s book Meat as a top 10 new release in science, writing: “This packed account makes food science feel like an urgent and essential undertaking.” The book has also received praise from Nobel Laureate in economics Michael Kremer, former UNFCCC head Christiana Figueres, and CSIS director of global food and water security Caitlin Welsh, who penned the foreword. Says Welsh: “This book explains the imperative to transform our food systems, and lays out a game plan to get us there…. Meat is as important as it is enjoyable.” Find out more on the book’s website, MeatBook.org.
Bruce graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law and also holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University, the London School of Economics, and Grinnell College.
Upcoming events
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Join charisma expert Olivia Fox Cabane, who will share research-backed techniques for building trust, communicating with confidence, and increasing your influence in high-stakes interactions.
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Learn how researchers are developing innovative approaches to reduce growth factor costs and make cultivated meat production more affordable.
The Future of Meat: Technology, Sustainability, and the Meats of Tomorrow
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Fish & CHIPS: Collaborative Huddle for Ideation & Problem Solving
Calling all cultivated seafood researchers and innovators! Join us for our next collaborative huddle on September 29th at 11:30 am ET.
Fish & CHIPS: Collaborative Huddle for Ideation & Problem Solving
Calling all cultivated seafood researchers and innovators! Join us for our next collaborative huddle on September 29th at 10:30 pm ET.
