Liz Specht, PhD
Liz uses she/her pronouns.
Liz Specht is the VP of Science & Strategic Initiatives at Food System Innovations, where she leads the Sustainable Protein Action Lab and FSI’s Intervention Studio. Prior to joining FSI, Liz served as a strategic advisor and champion of the intersection between food system resilience and national security as an emerging technology policy fellow through Horizon Institute for Public Service, where she held placements at the Emerging Technologies Institute and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Before that, Liz served as the Senior VP of Science & Technology at the Good Food Institute, leading initiatives to analyze critical bottlenecks in sustainable protein technologies and to mobilize the scientific research community and R&D funding to address them. She holds a Ph.D. in biological sciences from UC San Diego and a B.S. in chemical & biomolecular engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Presentations
Around the web
What is cultivated meat?
NPR’s 1A podcast interviewed Dr. Liz Specht on the long-term benefits and science behind cultivated meat.
How we’ll eat in 2050
GFI’s Dr. Liz Specht talks to CNN about the major role alternative proteins play in the future of food.
Is it time to start eating algae?
GFI’s Dr. Liz Specht talks to National Geographic about algae’s potential in the world of alternative proteins. GFI grant recipient Umaro Foods is also featured.
Liz Specht is shaping the next generation of meat alternatives
Scientists, investors, and entrepreneurs want in on the meat-free revolution. Specht has been there to guide them — and accelerate the whole field.
The future of food: how the agriculture industry could go from farming to “ferming.”
GFI’s Dr. Liz Specht on the science behind precision fermentation and why governments need to invest in R&D for it to reach its full potential.
The next hottest alternative milk comes from microbes
GFI’s Dr. Liz Specht talks about precision fermentation and its potential to help bring plant-based alternatives to the next level.
The future of food: are there some things we shouldn’t eat?
Listen to GFI’s Dr. Liz Specht talk about the future of food on The Economist podcast The World Ahead.
Meat grown from fungus? It could save the world’s forests.
GFI’s Dr. Liz Specht explains how eating meat made from microbes could stave off half the world’s deforestation — but at a certain point, the land-saving effect is diminished.
Making Sense with Sam Harris: Food, climate & pandemic risk
GFIers Dr. Liz Specht & Bruce Friedrich join Sam Harris for a discussion of GFI, food, climate, antibiotic resistance, and pandemic risk.
Publications
Analyzing cell culture medium costs
This white paper explains different routes to lowering the cost of cell culture medium and making cultivated meat economically viable.
Translating biomedical advances to cultivated meat (Biochemical Engineering Journal)
This peer-reviewed article discusses how advances from the biomedical cell culture industry can contribute to the development of cultivated meat.
