Researchers at the Roslin Institute, part of the University of Edinburgh, have developed a line of self-renewing pig fat cells that could support large-scale cultivated meat production by enabling consistent, efficient generation of fat tissue without genetic modification.
“These fat cells have the potential to be a game-changer in the field of cultivated meat”
The cells, designated as FaTTy, are derived from early-stage pig stem cells and exhibit the rare ability to both proliferate indefinitely and reliably differentiate into fat cells. This capacity addresses a long-standing technical barrier in cultivated meat production, where most animal stem cells lose their ability to develop into fat cells over time, making scalable fat production difficult.
“These cells not only grow indefinitely but also retain their ability to become fat at such high efficiency—something we have never seen before in livestock stem cells. It opens the door to new possibilities in cultivated meat and beyond,” noted Dr Tom Thrower, lead researcher at the Roslin Institute.
The research, published in NPJ Science of Food, involved isolating stem cells from five piglets and cultivating them under various conditions. Only one cell line demonstrated the necessary stability and self-renewal properties without requiring gene editing or animal-derived supplements. Over a 40-day period, the cells were shown to consistently accumulate fat, which was visualized using fluorescent markers.
Chemical analysis revealed that the lab-grown fat closely resembles natural pig fat in composition, with slightly elevated levels of monounsaturated fats, a profile that may appeal to health-conscious consumers and food developers.
Open access to accelerate cellular agriculture
Fat remains a critical component in the sensory profile of meat products, providing flavor and texture. Its reliable replication in cultivated formats is considered essential for market viability. The new FaTTy cell line may offer a viable pathway for producing animal fat at scale for integration into hybrid or fully cultivated meat products.
The cell line is currently being made available to academic and commercial partners to support further research into cellular agriculture and fat tissue engineering.
Professor Xavier Donadeu, principal investigator at the Roslin Institute, stated, “This discovery represents a very special development. These fat cells have the potential to be a game-changer in the field of cultivated meat, and help make this a reality in the very near future.”
