Maia Keerie, Fengru Lin and Elizabeth Crawford attend Turtles in the Bay 2023. Photo - Ando Caulfield for Drew Altizer Photography

Fermentation

TurtleTree Unveils the “World’s First” Animal-Free Lactoferrin

Singaporean biotech TurtleTree today debuts what it claims is the world’s first precision fermentation-produced animal-free lactoferrin, named  LF+, at an event in San Francisco before its Q4 2023 market entry. Lactoferrin, known as “pink gold” because of its high value and iron-rich pink hue, is a bioactive milk protein and one of the most powerful ingredients in cow’s milk. It has excellent functional benefits for immunity, iron regulation, and digestive health, explains TurtleTree. Innovative breakthrough “The development and debut of this highly valuable animal-free dairy protein is yet another innovative breakthrough that creates more sustainable food choices and a more sustainable food system,” Good Food Institute president Bruce Friedrich commented.  Since it is present in cow’s milk at low concentrations, its extraction process is resource-intensive, …

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a collage of farm animals

Image: vegconomist

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

The Companies Removing Fetal Bovine Serum to Make Ethical, Slaughter-Free Meat

Last week, GOOD Meat received the first-in-the-world regulatory approval to use fetal bovine serum-free media in its cultivated poultry production process. With this significant milestone in the history of cultivated meat, we discuss the companies paving the way for ethical, slaughter-free meat. Removing fetal bovine serum (FBS) from cultivated meat production has been among the industry’s major challenges. FBS has been the default growth supplement for in vitro cell culture used by academic and industrial researchers and scientists, including in the cellular agriculture space. Ethically problematic Fetal bovine serum is made by harvesting the blood of bovine fetuses taken from pregnant cows during slaughter. Blood from the fetus is drawn out via a closed collection system and then transformed into a serum. FBS contains growth factors, hormones, …

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Vegan festival Singapore

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Fairs & Events

Singapore Vegan Festival Focuses on Affordability and Local Ingredients

From the 27th of August to the 4th of September, the fourth edition of Singapore Vegan Festival will highlight creative uses of affordable and local ingredients during its world-class chef masterclasses, vegan market, and panel speeches. The Singapore Vegan Festival (SVF) is a signature event of EatRoamLive, a cutting-edge media and events platform that caters to individuals who are passionate about following a plant-based lifestyle. It aims to increase the accessibility and affordability of vegan food and provides a platform to showcase its community partners ACRES, abillion, Centre For A Responsible Future, and Tzu Chi Foundation. Chef masterclasses and workshops The event features a broad line-up of local and international chef masterclasses teaching how to use locally sourced ingredients for delicious plant-based meals, as well …

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turtletree hires cellular bioprocessing expert

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People

TurtleTree Hires Cellular Bioprocessing Expert Dr. Aletta Schnitzler as Chief Scientific Officer

TurtleTree hires cellular bioprocessing expert as Chief Scientific Officer to help strategically execute the company’s innovation plans. Biotech company TurtleTree Labs has hired Dr. Aletta Schnitzler, formerly the R&D Director of Merck KGaA’s Cultured Meat division, as its Chief Scientific Officer. She is described as a “world-class expert in cellular bioprocessing”. Dr. Schnitzler has a PhD in Immunology and Neuroscience from the Boston University School of Medicine. After receiving her PhD, she made breakthroughs such as developing a xeno-free cell culture medium for mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) expansion. She then chose to transition from biopharmaceuticals to cellular agriculture. “Developing life-saving medicines through therapeutic cell manufacturing technologies was immensely gratifying. With cellular agriculture, the aim to better human health with nutritious and diverse alternative protein sources …

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Turtletree Sacramento

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

TurtleTree’s New Sacramento R&D Facility Set to Bring Cell-Based Milk & Dairy to Consumers

TurtleTree, the Singapore based producer of the world’s first human breast milk created with cellular technology, has officially announced the opening of a new R&D facility in West Sacramento, which will develop precision fermentation technology, marking a “significant stride towards the production of consumer-ready milk and dairy” according to the company. The company, whose recently launched subsidiary Turtle Tree Science is working to bring cell-based meat and dairy products to market, produces milk ingredients such as lactoferrin – a protein usually derived from cow’s milk which the team has optimised for humans from the blueprint of human breast milk. Turtletree announced this June it was preparing to commercialise the lactoferrin as its first product to market. The new facility is set to create around 40 …

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TurtleTree

©TurtleTree Labs

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

TurtleTree and Solar Biotech Join Forces to Bring Cell Cultured Milk Closer to Market

Bio food tech startup TurtleTree has entered a new strategic partnership with industrial biomanufacturing specialist Solar Biotech. The deal is an important step in TurtleTree’s scale-up process for the manufacture of its cell-based milk ingredients. Solar Biotech, led by industrial biotech expert Alex Berlin, brings bioproducts from benchtop to industrial bioprocessing commercial scale using proprietary technology and solar energy. This is a key move for TurtleTree as one of the biggest challenges for food tech companies is developing the technologies required to scale up bio-manufacturing processes. Based in Singapore and the US, TurtleTree recognizes that a key factor in reaching price parity with traditional food production methods is the availability of technologically advanced large-scale food-grade bioprocessing facilities. Backed by Green Monday Ventures and Prince Khaled’s …

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Singapore/ US based TurtleTree ready to commercialize Human Lactoferrin as first major product

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

TurtleTree Labs Prepares to Commercialise its First Human Cell-Based Milk Product

Singapore’s cell-based milk pioneers TurtleTree Labs has announced it is preparing to commercially launch its first product – lactoferrin – a protein usually derived from cow’s milk which the team has optimised for humans from the blueprint of human breast milk and is making it available to all. “We have seen tremendous interest from global partners in our portfolio of human and cow’s milk products” In addition to its protective role, lactoferrin plays an important role in brain development and inflammatory responses. While it will be a few years before cell-based whole milk meets regulatory requirements, TurtleTree has decided to go commercial by moving deeper into the realm of milk components. In December of last year, TurtleTree announced an oversubscribed $6.2 million Pre-A funding round …

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TurtleTree Labs

© TurtleTree Labs

Science

Turtle Tree Scientific Has Just Brought Us Closer to a Future of Animal-Free Meat

Turtle Tree Scientific, a newly formed arm of Singapore’s Turtle Tree Labs, announces a partnership with Dyadic International, Inc, stating that “by leveraging industry-proven technology, this partnership brings us one step closer to the future of cell-based meat and dairy products that are cruelty-free, accessible, and sustainable.” Dyadic International is a global biotechnology company focused on further improving and applying its proprietary C1 gene expression platform to accelerate development and lower production costs. TurtleTree Scientific will be using this platform to develop a range of recombinant proteins growth factors that can be manufactured at high yields and low cost in bioreactors. TurtleTree Scientific was launched to produce food-grade and pharma-grade growth factors and cell culture media that exhibit high bioactivity. According to the company, currently, …

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Co-founders Fengru Lin & Max Rye, TurtleTree Labs

Co-founders Fengru Lin & Max Rye, TurtleTree Labs

Company News

TurtleTree Labs Raises $6.2M From Stellar Lineup of Investors

More great foodtech news from Singapore as TurtleTree Labs, creators of real dairy milk through cell technology, announces an oversubscribed $6.2 million Pre-A funding round of new and existing global investors. It is also announced that the “vegan prince”, HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud will join as Advisor.

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TurtleTree Labs

©TurtleTree Labs

Company News

TurtleTree Labs, World’s First Company to Create Milk From Cells, Closes Pre Seed Round

Biotech startup TurtleTree Labs, has announced a pre-seed round to create real milk from animal cells, with no animals required. The investment round, led by Lever VC and with participation from vegan Prince Khaled’s KBW Ventures, will be used to acquire additional scientists and to create additional prototypes.

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