Liz Specht, Ph.D.
SENIOR ADVISOR
Liz uses she/her pronouns.
Liz has a bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Johns Hopkins University, a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of California San Diego, and postdoctoral research experience from the University of Colorado Boulder with a decade of academic research experience in synthetic biology, recombinant protein expression, and development of genetic tools. Liz joined GFI in 2016, and went on to lead the Science and Technology team from late 2020 through spring of 2024.
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.
Modernizing meat production will help us avoid pandemics
GFI’s Dr. Liz Specht explains how the Covid-19 outbreak stresses the need to change how we make meat.
Publications
Meat by the molecule: Making meat with plants and cells (The Biochemist)
This article from The Biochemist provides a high-level overview of plant-based and cultivated meat.
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.
Featured blogs
Meet Dr. Liz Specht, GFI’s associate director of science and technology team
A Q&A with The Good Food Institute’s Associate Director of Science and Technology about her past, her future, and the future of science in food.