Callan MacDonald, a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, has won PETA’s first-ever Future Without Speciesism Cash Award for his AgriCell project.

Callan MacDonald © PETA

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Cambridge Student Wins Award for Open-Source Cell Bank to Advance Cultivated Meat Research

Callan MacDonald, a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, has won PETA’s first-ever Future Without Speciesism Cash Award for his AgriCell project, which could “revolutionize the cultivated meat industry, saving billions of animals.” AgriCell is a cell bank designed to standardize and archive primary cells — the building blocks for cultivated meat production — and provide a shared resource of reliable and well-characterized cells. The initiative seeks to address the challenges arising from the variability in primary cells, which can impact the cost-efficiency of growing meat in bioreactors, as well as the final product’s taste, flavor, and texture. PETA argues that companies continue to search for the best primary cell sources (freshly isolated from organ tissue) and tend to keep their successful cell sources …

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Company News

Bene Meat Technologies Unveils “Cutting-Edge” Cell Bank, Seeks FDA Approval for Cultivated Pet Food

Czech cultivated meat startup Bene Meat Technologies (BMT) has unveiled what it describes as a cutting-edge cell bank, for the long-term supply of cells for cultivating different meat products. Developed over extensive research, the cell bank grants access to a sufficient quantity and variety of cells for research and production. It holds over 5,000 samples of high-quality primary cells from various species taken from small tissue samples, minimizing animal impact. The company explains that due to standardized processes, it delivers optimal preservation, ensuring purity and stability. Additionally, the facility has secure systems to safeguard sample continuity and safety, even in emergencies. Ing. Zuzana Šaturová, manager of the cell bank, shared, “The cell bank is a crucial element in our effort to produce meat in an …

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Cultivated Meat

South Korea Designates Regulation-Free Zone for Cultivated Meat to Boost Production & Safety

The South Korean government has announced the designation of a special regulatory-free zone in Gyeongsangbuk-do province to accelerate the production and commercialization of cultivated meat in the country. The zone, officially named the Gyeongbuk Cell-Cultivated Foods Regulatory-Free Special Zone (RFSZ), aims to address the legal obstacles facing the development of cell culture food products, establish global standards for these novel foods, and develop a skilled workforce for the cultivated meat industry. The cultivated meat RSFZ will be operational for the next five years (until December 2028) with a budget of ₩19.9 billion ($14.4 million) as reported by local media. Demonstrating safety Ten companies, including SeaWith, TissenBioFarm, and DaNAgreen, will demonstrate the commercialization of cultivated meat, backed by R&D funding and tax breaks. Their goal will be to use cells from livestock …

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Cultivated Meat

Mewery Announces Significant Progress in Cultivating Pork at Larger Scale

Czech cultivated meat company Mewery, known for its cultivated pork and microalgae burger, announces a key milestone in its product development: successfully establishing a stable cell line. The new cell line exhibits the most favorable response to Mewery’s proprietary co-cultivation technology, which involves pork cells and also microalgae cells used for a proprietary serum-free medium. Vladislav Strmiska, CSO at Mewery, comments: “This achievement represents another important step forward in our ongoing efforts to bring cultivated meat to consumers.“ Meat without animals As the company explains, a stable cell line is a population of cells that can continuously grow and retain their desired properties over many generations. This continuous growth eliminates the need to take cell samples from animals, making cultivated meat a more sustainable and ethical alternative …

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Extracellular launches low cost, licence-free cell banks

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Cultivated Meat

UK: Extracellular Launches Licence-Free Cell Banks to Support Cultivated Meat Research

UK CDMO Extracellular announces the launch of new low-cost cell banks — free from licensing or commercial restrictions — intended for early-stage cultivated meat companies and researchers. The cell banks offer high-quality cow, pig, and sheep primary cells isolated from fat, muscle, and bone marrow tissues. They were developed through a collaborative project with the British biotechnology company Multus. Backed by the Good Food Institute and New Harvest, the cell bank project received InnovateUK funds to advance cultivated meat research. Last April, the UK government announced a £12 million investment into a new initiative to advance cultivated meat (called CARMA) to help the country lead the world in delivering secure food supplies. Cell banks without restrictions Will Milligan, co-founder and CEO of Extracellular, said: “Primary cells are the …

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