Developing marbled cultivated beef
2019-2021
Dr. Rowat is developing microporous plant-based scaffolds to allow myotubes and adipocytes to co-culture and produce thick cuts of marbled cultivated meat.
PRODUCTION PLATFORM: Cultivated
TECHNOLOGY SECTOR: Scaffolding
Project aims
This project aims to optimize myotube growth on nanofibers by tuning diameter and stiffness. It uses plant-based microporous scaffolding that favors adipocyte growth, and integrates these scaffolds to co-culture myotubes and adipocytes in order to grow marbled cultivated meat.
This work will enable growth and differentiation of multiple cell types simultaneously and will improve the texture and sensory appeal of cultivated meat.
Principal researcher
Dr. Amy Rowat
Associate Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Dr. Rowat has experience using physical properties of cells to understand physiology and disease. She combines physics and engineering techniques with biology to form heterogeneous scaffolding for texturing cultivated beef.
Bridging the gap between the science of cultured meat and public perceptions
Check out this recent review paper from Dr. Rowat on the public acceptability of cultivated meat.
View related grant projects
Cellular building blocks
Learn about Dr. Marcelle Machluf’s work designing cellular building blocks for cultivated meat with at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
Plant-based scaffolds
GFI is building plant-based tissue scaffolds for cultivated meat with Dr. Masatoshi Suzuki at University of Wisconsin, Madison
3-D printing bioinks
Learn about GFI grantee Dr. Sara Oliveira’s work 3D bioprinting scaffolds for cultivated meat the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Portugal.
Explore research opportunities
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Cultivated
Naturally adhesive and edible non-animal scaffolding materials
There is a limited number of edible non-animal scaffold materials that are naturally adhesive for use in cultivated meat production. Identifying a larger and more diverse set of these materials,…
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Cultivated
Incorporating growth factors into scaffolds to reduce costs and introduce spatial heterogeneity
Growth factors (GFs) can be incorporated into scaffolds as a strategy for both reducing costs and improving product quality of cultivated meat. Open-access research is needed to test the feasibility…
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Cultivated
Scaffolds and structural approaches to optimize fat distribution and content in cultivated meat
The inclusion of fat and marbling in cultivated meat is likely to increase its flavor, texture, and consumer appeal. Structural approaches using edible microcarriers, hydrogels, and 3D bioprinting present promising…
Check out related resources
How do you marble cultivated beef?
GFI research grant recipient Dr. Amy Rowat is building micro-scaffolds to create the marbling in beef cultivated directly from cells.
