growth medium

Image: Qkine on LinkedIn
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Qkine Launches Animal-Origin-Free & Food-Grade Growth Factors for Cellular Agriculture

Qkine, a producer of growth factors for cultivated meat and cellular agriculture, has launched a new product range. The new growth factors are animal-origin-free, food-grade, and subject to extensive quality analysis. They are produced using an efficient microbial fermentation process and provide proteins from agriculturally relevant species. The growth factors have been designed to meet the needs of customers developing dossiers for submission to regulatory authorities or conducting R&D focused on cultivated meat, fish, fat, and dairy. They have been developed in response to indications from regulatory authorities that processes using human growth factors will soon be subject to greater scrutiny. Qkine provides its customers with proactive support in novel food dossier preparation. The company is also collaborating with various partners on future growth factor …

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Luyef has received two substantial grants totaling $1.25 million to accelerate cultivated meat's market readiness.

© The Ganesha Lab
Investments & Finance

Chile’s Luyef Receives $1.25M to Develop Nutrients for Cultivated Meat Using Fermentation and Agro By-Products

Luyef (previously Luyef Biotechnologies), a biotech startup focused on cellular agriculture based in Santiago de Chile, has received two substantial grants totaling $1.25 million to accelerate cultivated meat production (detailed information about the grants below). The Ganesha Lab, LATAM’s global biotech scale-up for science and technology-based startups, announced the investment. Kris Blanchard, a biotechnology engineer from the University of Chile, co-founded Luyef in 2020, participating in The Ganesha Lab’s accelerator program in 2022. Luyef is developing technologies to scale cultivated meat production at industrial levels and uses precision fermentation to produce animal proteins. The company is commercializing a bovine myoglobin ingredient (heme) branded as TAMEE (The Authentic Meat-Eating Experience), designed to enhance the taste and color of plant-based and cultivated meat products. According to Pitchbook, other …

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The APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum has released two white papers addressing essential safety and regulatory concerns for cultivated meat.

© APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum
Cultivated Meat

APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum Releases White Papers to Harmonize Cultivated Meat Standards

The APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum has released two white papers that address essential safety and regulatory concerns for cultivated meat to support their commercialization while promoting safe innovations in the Asia-Pacific market. The new resources examine current gaps in cell line developments and cell culture media components — the building blocks of cultivated meat production — identified as the two regulatory topics of highest interest in 2024. The cell line development paper focuses on issues related to cell line documentation, stability, genetic modification, and trade requirements for cultivated food production. Meanwhile, the cell culture media paper addresses safety assessment protocols, evaluation of expression systems for media substances, categorization of media components, quality standards, genetic engineering standards, and conformity assessment procedures. The papers were developed with …

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Israel's Believer Meats has announced a strategic partnership with GEA Group to make cultivated meat more affordable, accessible, and sustainable

© Believer Meats
Manufacturing & Technology

Believer Meats & GEA Partner to “Produce Cultivated Meat Products at the Right Cost”

Israel’s Believer Meats and GEA Group, one of the world’s technology and equipment suppliers for food manufacturers, have announced a strategic partnership to make cultivated meat more affordable, accessible, and sustainable. The collaboration will focus on co-developing technologies and processes to improve the unit economics and sustainability of cultivated meat production, starting with chicken and potentially expanding to other products. The collaboration follows Believer Meats’ recent MOU with AGWA, Abu Dhabi’s new food and water cluster, and a notable collaboration with the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein at NC State. Gustavo Burger, CEO of Believer Meats, shared, “Believer is on track to overcome the biggest obstacles to scalability. By partnering with GEA—one of the world’s foremost engineering and biotech equipment manufacturers—we are taking the next step in innovating …

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Nutreco has completed the construction and brought into commercial operation the world's first dedicated food-grade powder production facility for cell feed.

© Nutreco
Company News

Nutreco Opens New Facility Dedicated to Food-Grade Cell Feed for Cultivated Meat

Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aqua feed, has opened a dedicated nutrient facility for cellular agriculture. “This new food-certified production facility is a first for the industry and a first for Nutreco,” announced the company.  Located in Boxmeer, the Netherlands, the facility has commenced operations and produces a food-grade powder for cell feed specifically developed for cultivated meat. Worth noting in this context is that this January, the British biotech Multus also announced a commercial-scale production plant for serum-free growth media for the cultivated meat industry. First successful batch Nutreco says its team has successfully launched its first commercial batch of 50 kilograms of cell feed powder and announces plans to produce several hundred kilograms per week to scale in tandem with the growth …

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Myocopia & University of Helsinki develop growth free medium

Myocopia / University of Helsinki
Cultivated Meat

University of Helsinki Develops “Game-Changing” Cultivated Meat Technology Without Growth Medium Using Stem Cells

Pekka Katajisto of the University of Helsinki’s HiLIFE (Helsinki Institute of Life Science) and his team at the Myocopia project have developed a technology based on stem cell research that they believe would allow the large-scale production of cultivated meat, thus bringing affordable products to the market. The Myocopia researchers argue that cultivating meat in bioreactors relies on expensive growth factors to make the cells grow and differentiate, and these costs hinder cultivated meat companies from growing sufficient volumes of meat cost-effectively. However, after researching how cellular metabolism regulates the division and differentiation of muscle stem cells, the Myocopia team has found another approach to achieve the same cell behavior without using a growth medium. “I believe our innovation is going to be a game …

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ProFuse Technology, an Israeli biotech company creating solutions for muscle growth in cultivated meat, announces it has been awarded a €2.4 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Transition program.

© ProFuse Technology
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

ProFuse Technology Awarded €2.4M European Innovation Council Grant for Muscle Growth Solutions in Cultivated Meat

ProFuse Technology, an Israeli biotech company creating solutions for muscle growth in cultivated meat, announces it has been awarded a €2.4 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Transition program. The EIC Transition program, part of Horizon Europe, helps startups advance and validate new technologies as they transition from the laboratory to real-world application environments. Selected among hundreds of applicants, this prestigious grant acknowledges ProFuse’s cutting-edge technology and its ability to transform cultivated meat production with increased yields, shorter cycles, and reduced costs. The EIC grant will enable ProFuse to enhance its muscle cultivation technologies,  including expanding production capabilities for large-scale cultivated meat production, obtaining necessary safety regulatory approvals, and strengthening collaborations with other cultivated meat companies.  Guy Nevo Michrowski, co-founder and CEO of ProFuse Technology, shares, …

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Multus and New Wave Biotech are joining forces to accelerate the production of cultivated meat.

© Multus
Cultivated Meat

UK: Multus and New Wave Biotech Partner to Lower the Costs of Cultivated Meat Using AI

Multus, a UK growth media innovator for cultivated meat, and London-based New Wave Biotech, a leader in AI bioprocess optimization software, are joining forces to lower the costs of cultivated meat using AI. Multus develops food-safe, animal-free growth media for the cultivated meat industry through AI, lab automation, and novel ingredients. New Wave Biotech develops AI bioprocess optimization software to help biotech companies launch their products more quickly and at a lower cost. Through the collaboration, Multus will harness the speed and accuracy of New Wave Biotech’s AI software to expand the production of its products at convenient prices. The software will help the growth media specialist create virtual experimentation on thousands of processes, leveraging real-life data for continual improvements. The AI eliminates unviable processes, accelerates …

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ProFuse Technology and Gelatex have partnered to advance cultivated meat production.

© ProFuse Technology
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

ProFuse Technology and Gelatex to Expedite Cultivated Meat by Enhancing Muscle Growth 

Israeli biotech ProFuse Technology, a firm at the forefront of muscle tissue growth, and Gelatex Technologies, an Estonian materials technology company specializing in nanofibers, have partnered to advance cultivated meat production. The companies have announced that they have been working on a comprehensive solution for optimizing muscle growth that will expand production capacity and expedite the commercial viability of cultivated meat. Using a media supplement developed by ProFuse and Gelatex’s plant-based scaffolds, the companies claim to have reduced the average cycle of chicken muscle growth in just 48 hours and a fivefold increase in muscle protein compared to conventional methods of muscle growth. Guy Nevo Michrowski, CEO of ProFuse Technology, said, “By innovating through collaboration, we are assisting in reshaping the future of meat production. Together, Profuse and Gelatex …

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a cultivated meat burger

© Extracellular
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

New Strategic Partnership Aims to Rejuvenate Cell Media to Reduce Costs of Cultivated Meat

A recently announced joint development agreement (JDA) between UK bioprocessing company CellRev and Saint-Gobain Life Sciences (SGLS), a global leader in fluid management solutions, aims to create the “industry-first” cell media rejuvenation process for cellular product developers and manufacturers. Through the JDA, the companies will use their expertise to design and develop a “game-changing” solution to recycle cell media to reduce waste, thus reducing the costs of cultivating meat or any other cell-based product. Cell culture media is an unavoidable but expensive component of the cell culture process. As the cultivated meat field scales, reducing its cost and waste will be crucial to producing products at lower prices. UPSIDE Foods’ recently launched cell-cultivated chicken at Bar Crenn costs $150 for a six-course meal.  Narendar Yeshwanth, VP of R&D and Innovation …

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a cultivated meat burger

© Extracellular
Manufacturing & Technology

New Strategic Partnership Aims to Rejuvenate Cell Media to Reduce Costs of Cultivated Meat

A recently announced joint development agreement (JDA) between UK bioprocessing company CellRev and Saint-Gobain Life Sciences (SGLS), a global leader in fluid management solutions, aims to create the “industry-first” cell media rejuvenation process for cellular product developers and manufacturers. Through the JDA, the companies will use their expertise to design and develop a “game-changing” solution to recycle cell media to reduce waste, thus reducing the costs of cultivating meat or any other cell-based product. Cell culture media is an unavoidable but expensive component of the cell culture process. As the cultivated meat field scales, reducing its cost and waste will be crucial to producing products at lower prices. UPSIDE Foods’ recently launched cell-cultivated chicken at Bar Crenn costs $150 for a six-course meal.  Narendar Yeshwanth, VP of R&D and Innovation …

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multus animal-free growth medium product

© Multus
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Multus Raises £7.9M for “First-of-its-Kind” Animal-Free Growth Media Facility

British biotechnology company Multus announces it has raised a £7.9 million funding round for the “first-of-its-kind” facility to produce food-safe, animal-free growth media for the cultivated meat industry.  The round was led by Mandi Ventures and included Big Idea Ventures, SynBioVen, and Asahi Kasei. Additionally, Multus received an equity-free grant of £2.15 million from Innovate UK through the EIC Accelerator, which funds and invests in game-changing innovation startups through the EIC Fund. Growth media accounting for majority of cost According to Multus, animal-free growth media is necessary for the affordable scale-up of cellular agriculture. “Growth media causes the majority of costs, and tackling this challenge provides the greatest benefit for industrial-scale cultivated meat production. This next-generation growth media allows cultivated meat producers to reduce development costs and …

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3D Bio-Tissues team posing for a photo

3DBT's team © 3D Bio-Tissues

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

UK’s 3D Bio-Tissues Announces Successful Cultivated Meat Prototypes 

UK-based biotech company 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT) announces the successful development of three small cultivated meat prototypes using its tissue templating platform, which creates structured, functional, and scalable tissues. The biotech company, focused on developing bio-equivalent tissues for clinical and cellular agriculture, said that this development differs from those of other cultivated meat producers since its process does not utilise scaffolding as structural support for cell attachment. Dr. Che Connon, 3DBT’s CEO, said: “We announce this exciting progress of creating small meat fillets a few centimetres in diameter to demonstrate how highly aligned muscle fibres can be brought together to create a recognisable meat structure.”       London’s BSF Enterprise acquired 3D Bio-Tissues in May of this year. Following the announcement, 3DBT said it was working to …

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BioBetter uses the tobacco plant to cut cultivated costs

© BioBetter
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

BioBetter Uses the Tobacco Plant to Help Slash the Cost of Cultivated Meat

Tobacco has long had a bad reputation due to the association between smoking and lung cancer. But Israeli startup BioBetter uses the tobacco plant for a more positive purpose — reducing the cost of cultivated meat production. BioBetter has found a way to use the plant to create the growth factors needed to produce meat in bioreactors. The growth factors currently in use are mostly derived from cattle, making them expensive and of unreliable quality. It has been estimated that between 55 and 95% of the marginal costs of cultivated meat production are due to growth factors and cell culture media. Reducing the cost of growth factors is therefore a vital part of making cultivated meat commercially viable. BioBetter’s method has the potential to slash …

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Opalia CEO and co-founder Jennifer Côté. © Opalia
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Opalia’s Animal-Free Milk Closer to Launch After Removal of Fetal Bovine Serum

Opalia’s animal-free milk is now closer to commercialisation after the Canadian company replaced its cell culture medium, fetal bovine serum (FBS), with a non-animal-derived alternative. FBS comes from the placenta of pregnant cows, making it a controversial ingredient in products that are intended to be animal-free. The serum is also expensive, prone to contamination, and highly variable between batches. But now, Opalia has found a replacement substrate that is FDA-approved, making its cell-based milk more ethical and potentially speeding up the process of regulatory approval. Alternatives to FBS Several companies have been working on alternative cell culture media — such as Aleph Farms, which is collaborating with WACKER to develop a non-exclusive medium that will be available to other companies. Meanwhile, scientists have found a …

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Cultivated Beef Steak

© Aleph Farms

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Aleph Farms Partners With WACKER to Make Affordable Cell Growth Media Widely Available

Aleph Farms has announced a partnership with protein production technologies supplier WACKER to develop affordable cell growth media for cultivated meat production. The partnership will streamline the production processes for growth medium proteins in order to bring down costs. The proteins produced will be animal-free, acting as a substitute for the fetal bovine serum (FBS) currently most commonly used in the sector. FBS is extremely expensive, accounting for the majority of the cost of cultivated meat, and often has issues with contamination and variable quality. Non exclusive agreement Perhaps most importantly, the new agreement will be non-exclusive, meaning other cultivated meat companies will also be able to access the affordable cell growth media. This could make it possible to bring down costs across the board, …

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cells grown without serum

© University of Nottingham
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

New Stem Cell Lines That Can Be Grown Without Serum Could Slash the Cost of Cultivated Meat

Scientists obtain animal stem cells that can be grown without serum, with the potential to dramatically reduce the production costs of cultivated meat. Researchers from the University of Nottingham‘s School of Biosciences, in collaboration with the Universities of Cambridge, Exeter, Tokyo, and Meiji, have developed stem cell lines that can be grown under chemically defined conditions. This breakthrough could make it possible to produce cultivated meat without serum, feeder cells, or antibiotics. Currently, most cultivated meat production relies on fetal bovine serum (FBS), which is expensive, of inconsistent quality, and has attracted ethical concerns. The ability to cultivate cells in a chemical growth medium could greatly improve the consistency and safety of cultivated products, as well as dramatically cutting costs. For the purposes of the …

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Biftek INC.

© Biftek INC.
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

CULT Food Science Portfolio Company Biftek to Commercialise Animal-Free Growth Medium

CULT Food Science has announced that one of its portfolio companies, Biftek, has made significant progress towards commercialising its animal-free growth medium. Biftek says it will soon transport its first sample to a Singapore-based cultivated meat company. Called “Lyophilized Biftek Growth Medium Supplement”, the medium has been developed to be suitable for global shipping without cold chain logistics. Unlike with animal-derived growth mediums, there is no variation between batches, meaning the quality is consistent. Another key advantage of animal-free mediums is the potential for lower costs. The expense of cultivated meat remains a problem, but 80-90% of production costs come from fetal bovine serum, currently the most widely-used growth medium. Biftek realised that if it could develop a cheaper alternative, cultivated meat costs could be …

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