The overarching goal of our new, interdisciplinary research group at MERLN is to bio-manufacture tissue mimics and life-like, edible tissues based on tailorable biopolymers, for cultivated meat and beyond.
The global demand for food, especially meat products and its concentrated animal agriculture, significantly contributes to the high levels of our human-made carbon emissions. Therefore, with an increasing world population, there is a growing need for sustainable and healthy food while improving animal welfare. Cellular agriculture, growing dairy products in an animal-free process, can be a promising solution. Major challenges on the way to affordable cultivated meat and alternative protein sources are scalable biomanufacturing processes and highly myogenic cell-matrix interactions while ensuring high nutritional value. Together we strive for a significant benefit for society.
In our group positioned within the Cellulaire Agricultuur Nederland network and supported by the National Growth Fund, we connect musculoskeletal research on multiple cell types and natural biopolymers with the unique features of engineered matrices to ensure real muscle tissue differentiation in 3D.
Our initial scope merges concepts from biotechnology, biomedicine and biofabrication on three interconnected levels (Fig. 1) The resulting biomanufacturing processes will allow engineering muscle tissue, such as whole cuts of beef, but will also be versatile to further advance biofabrication as a whole.
1) Structural-hierarchical design engineering: Experimental and computational modeling of fabrication parameters & leveraging next-generation biofabrication technologies to tailor microscopic structure and macroscopic architecture.
2) Muscle tissue and matrix engineering: Design of biomaterials to guide and enhance cell-matrix interactions for myotube formation and high-quality protein content in multi-cellular, 3D bioprinted tissue mimics
3) Biodiverse food engineering: Upscaling of multi-cellular tissue constructs for creating bio-diverse, nutritious, tasty food of the future
Fig.1 Interconnected research directions for biomanufacturing of cellular agriculture products with the example of a whole cut of beef; partially made using Biorender.com.
