Serum-free growth media

Simple Planet medium

© Simple Planet
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Simple Planet Moves Closer to Halal Certification with New Serum-Free Technology

Seoul-based startup Simple Planet announced the will pursue Halal certification for its cell-based food products, as part of its strategy to tap into the global Halal market. This initiative comes on the heels of a recent collaboration with the Halal Science Center (HSC) at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed last month. The partnership hopes to facilitate the certification process for cell-based products and expand their reach in Halal markets worldwide. Development of serum-free culture medium In addition to this collaboration, Simple Planet has developed an edible, serum-free culture medium using probiotics-derived metabolites, which is seen as a critical step toward meeting Halal certification requirements. Probiotics-derived metabolites are naturally free from Haram substances, making them a suitable and permissible …

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Simple Planet makes cultivated meat powder for f&&B applications

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Simple Planet Unveils Serum-Free Cell Culture Medium, Slashing Costs by 99.8%

South Korea-based alternative protein company Simple Planet has announced the development of a patented, serum-free cell culture medium designed for use in cell-based food production, biopharmaceuticals, and regenerative medicine. The medium, created through probiotics recycling, is expected to launch globally in 2025. According to the company, the formulation could reduce production costs by over 99.8% compared to conventional media. By replacing fetal bovine serum (FBS) with probiotics-derived metabolites, the medium eliminates ethical concerns and the high costs associated with animal-derived components. Successful trials & enhanced cell growth The new cell culture medium has undergone successful trials in collaboration with global research institutions and innovation centers. Testing has demonstrated that the formulation enhances myoblast cell proliferation while maintaining normal cell morphology, positioning it as a potential …

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British biotech Multus has launched Proliferum B, a new animal component-free alternative to Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) for the cellular agriculture industry.

Image courtesy of Multus
Ingredients

Multus Launches Animal-Free Alternative to Fetal Bovine Serum for Cultivated Meat

British biotech company Multus has launched Proliferum B, a new animal component-free alternative to fetal bovine serum (FBS) designed to accelerate cultivated meat production. Proliferum B, which is the first product developed using Multus’ machine learning-driven system, is said to address costs, reliability, and ethical concerns related to FBS. It accelerates early R&D without depending on the controversial and costly serum or having to develop a product. Co-founder and CEO Cai Linton comments, “We want cultivated meat to be affordable and accessible to all. To achieve that, we need to make media development much more efficient so cultivated meat companies can progress and scale faster.” Developed with industry-relevant cells Multus explains that the use of FBS in cell culture poses high costs and ethical issues, and …

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Japanese scientists have developed a new co-culturing system using rat cells and cyanobacteria to create a low-cost alternative to animal serum for cell growth.

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Science

Japanese Scientists Develop Low-Cost Medium to Grow Muscle Cells Without Animal Serum

Japanese scientists have developed a new co-culturing system using rat cells and cyanobacteria to create a low-cost alternative to animal serum for cell growth. Fetal bovine serum has contamination risks and waste accumulation, and is very costly. In addition, it does not align with the promise of producing meat without killing animals. Rat liver cells can also secrete the proteins (growth factors) needed for muscle cell growth, providing a serum alternative for cultivated meat production. However, they produce waste metabolites, like lactate and ammonia, which hinder muscle cell growth. “Although more growth factor-secreting cells and longer cultivation produce larger amounts of growth factors, the downside is that the cells also produce waste products like lactate and ammonia into the medium at the same time, which eventually …

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Meatly unveils a new affordable protein-free culture medium that it claims will revolutionize the production of cultivated meat.   

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Meatly Unveils “Groundbreaking” Protein-Free Culture Medium at £1 Per Liter

UK cultivated pet food company Meatly, formerly known as Good Dog Food, unveils a new affordable protein-free culture medium that it claims will revolutionize the production of cultivated meat.    The high cost of the growth media used to cultivate meat is a significant obstacle to achieving price parity with traditional meat products. To address this challenge, Meatly has developed a “first-of-its-kind” culture medium priced at only £1 per liter, slashing the costs a hundredfold or more. Moreover, prices can be even lower when larger volumes are purchased.  The solution, described as a groundbreaking development, does not contain serum, animal-derived components, microcarriers, steroids, hormones, growth factors, and antibiotics. It is made with food-safe ingredients, an essential step in making cultivated meat a safe, affordable, and sustainable alternative …

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Multus has recently unveiled what it claims is the world's first commercial-scale production plant for developing affordable, food-safe growth media for the cultivated meat industry.

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Cultivated Meat

UK Biotech Multus Unveils World’s First Commercial-Scale Serum-Free Growth Media Facility

British biotech Multus has recently unveiled what it claims is the world’s first commercial-scale production plant for developing affordable, serum-free growth media for the cultivated meat industry. The exact location of the facility has not been revealed yet.  This expansion comes after the company successfully raised £7.9 million in January to produce its growth media at scale, bolstered by a £2.15 million equity-free grant from Innovate UK through the EIC Accelerator.  In its initial phase, Multus raised Multus £1.6 million to launch Proliferum M, a growth medium for large-scale use in the food industry. Later, its ingredients received ISO 22000 certification, ensuring they are produced according to food safety standards. Accessing economies of scale Developing growth media without fetal bovine serum, a critical component for cell growth, has been a …

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Biotech SeaWith and Icelandic molecular farming company ORF Genetics are partnering to accelerate SeaWith's production of cultivated meat.

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Company News

SeaWith Partners with ORF Genetics to Produce Han-Woo Cultivated Beef with Plant-Based Growth Factors

South Korean biotech SeaWith and Icelandic molecular farming company ORF Genetics are partnering to accelerate the production of cultivated meat with plant-based growth factors. SeaWith is preparing to scale its cultivated meat platform to introduce Han-Woo cultivated beef products (a breed of small cattle native to Korea) under the “Welldone” brand to the market by 2025.  The collaboration, outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), will secure SeaWith a stable supply of ORF Genetics’s animal-free growth factors to develop sustainable meat at lower costs. The MoU also highlights plans for further joint R&D initiatives of growth factors for cultivated meat production. Growth factors made from barley ORF Genetics, which produces animal-free growth factors with proteins grown in barley using molecular farming, aims to reinforce the company’s position in the rapidly …

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Ivy Farm and Finnebrogue partner to bring cultivated Wagyu beef to the UK  

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Biotech Firms Awarded €1.2M for Creating Animal-Free Cell Culture Media to Make Cultivated Meat a “Commercial Reality”

Commercializing cell-based products such as cultivated meat remains challenging due to the substantial costs and ethical implications of fetal bovine serum. To find solutions, EIT Food, the world’s largest and most dynamic food innovation community, and the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe launched the Cultivated Meat Innovation Challenge to develop a more affordable and efficient animal-free cell culture media. The winners, UK biotech company 3D Bio-Tissues and Israeli biotech startup BioBetter have received €1.2 million from EIT Food. With the funds, the companies will continue their R&D efforts in developing lower-cost alternatives to bovine serum. Moreover, they will produce cultivated meat products using their innovations.  Dr. Adam M. Adamek, director of innovation at EIT Food, said: “The cost of cell-culture media is a significant barrier to scaling …

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Israel's BioBetter has opened its first food-grade pilot facility to accelerate the production of growth factors

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

BioBetter Opens Pilot Facility to Pave Way for Cultivated Meat through Molecular Farming

Israeli biotech startup BioBetter has opened its first food-grade pilot facility to accelerate the production of growth factors for the cultivated meat industry.  BioBetter pioneers a unique protein manufacturing platform that uses molecular farming to produce tobacco plant-derived growth factors (GFs) and bovine insulin-expressing plants. The company claims it has reached commercial-scale cultivation and can process 100 kg of tobacco plants daily at the new plant, aiming to process five tons by 2025. With these ambitious goals, the company has doubled its team to 50 workers to advance the plant’s operations, adhering to ISO2200 and HACCP standards. BioBetter says that since the plant meets all regulatory requirements for producing food-grade growth factors, it is awaiting approval from the Ministry of Health for food manufacturing licensing. “We stimulate …

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3DBT cell culture media city mix

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Company News

3D Bio-Tissues Opens Office in Hong Kong to Commercialise its Flagship Cell Media in China

UK-based clinical and cell ag company 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT) has recently expanded internationally with a new office in Hong Kong to introduce its flagship cell-boosting media supplement, City-Mix, to the Chinese cultivated meat market.  3DBT will also target the Chinese biotech industry, especially gene therapy, stem cells, regenerative medicine, Life Sciences companies, and academia. The company already started hiring R&D experts and sales and marketing specialists to develop a go-to-market strategy, build distribution networks, and establish manufacturing partners in China.  The announcement was made by the biotech investor BSF Enterprise (LSE: BSFA), which owns 3DBT. Recently, BSF raised £2.9 million to provide working capital for its subsidiary to accelerate its progress and develop systems to expedite the production and supply of its media growth and target manufacturers.  Commercial presence 3DBT, a Newcastle University …

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Aleph Farms partners with Enzymit to develop insulin proteins for cell growth in cultivated meat

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Cultivated Meat

Aleph Farms & Enzymit Develop Insulin Proteins for Cheaper Animal-Free Serum

Cultivated meat company Aleph Farms and biotech company Enzymit announce the successful development of new processing aids for animal-free serum in the form of insulin-like proteins, to support cell growth. This breakthrough will enable cost-efficiency in cultivating meat at scale. The cultivated meat industry is rapidly growing but relies on expensive and low-scale pharmaceutical inputs that often do not meet the requirements for cell growth in bioreactors. Aleph Farms, poised to reduce growth media costs to launch its petit steak at scale, explains that insulin proteins are not widely available in quantity, quality, and cost for large-scale production. Therefore, cell ag companies looking to grow slaughter-free meat must develop non-animal-derived processing aids to advance their operations, says Aleph Farms. Developing processing aids “Developing more suitable processing …

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E-FISHient Protein

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Cultivated Seafood

E-FISHient Protein Nominated for Awards as it Cultivates “Improved” Tilapia Fish Meat

Israel’s E-FISHient Protein was founded last year as part of a collaboration between Bio Meat Foodtech and the Volcani Institute. The startup is working to produce cultivated tilapia, one of the most widely consumed types of fish worldwide with a market value of over $14Bn. The aim is for the product to not just match but improve on the quality of conventional tilapia; it will be lower in calories, richer in protein and omega-3, and better-tasting. While the work is still in its early stages, E-FISHient has already been recognised for its innovation. The company was a semifinalist in this year’s Aviram Awards, which support ventures in the MENA region. It was also one of six finalists in the FoodTech 2022 competition by Tnuva and …

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mosa meat logo world burger

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Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Mosa Meat and Nutreco Sign LOI to Produce Low-Cost Cell Feed Supply Chain

Dutch food tech company Mosa Meat and Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aqua feed, have signed a Letter of Intention (LOI) announcing their commitment to develop and produce a low-cost cell feed supply chain to scale up the production of cultivated beef. “Our partnership with Nutreco represents our commitment to further develop the cellular agriculture supply chain and bring down costs,” shared Maarten Bosch, Mosa Meat’s CEO. Both companies have been working for several years on a project called ‘Feed for Meat’, which was awarded a REACT-EU grant in 2021, implemented to reduce the costs of cell feed and thus lower the costs of cultivating meat. Significant cost saving Founded in 2016, Mosa Meat is a privately held company backed by Blue Horizon, Bell …

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Cultivated meat made with serum-free cell growth media

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Cultivated Meat

“Regulatory Milestone” as GOOD Meat Receives Approval for Serum-Free Cell Growth Media

GOOD Meat, Eat Just’s cultivated meat division, has become the first producer worldwide to receive regulatory approval for the use of serum-free cell growth media in cultivated products. To date, most cultivated meat producers have used fetal bovine serum to grow their cells. However, the serum is expensive, of inconsistent quality, and comes with ethical issues. GOOD Meat believes that the use of serum-free media will make cultivated meat production more scalable, efficient, and sustainable, along with reducing costs. Regulatory approval has been granted by the Singapore Food Agency, which previously made history when it approved GOOD Meat’s cultivated chicken nuggets for sale in late 2020. A year later, cultivated chicken breasts were also approved. For the time being, GOOD Meat remains the only brand …

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jimi biotech's company banner

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Investments & Finance

Jimi Biotech: Producer of First Cultivated Beef in China Closes Angel Round, Has Sights on Unicorn Status?

Jimi Biotech, a company that states that it unveiled the first cultivated beef in China four months after it was founded, announces the completion of an angel round of RMB20 million (around $3 million) to accelerate cultivated meat production in the country. The round was led by Plum Ventures, and Fanqie Capital, and included Green Leaf Ventures and Joyvio Capital. Former Alibaba engineer and founder of NYSE-listed company Mogujie, Chen Qi, invested in the company’s seed round. According to the company, the fresh funds will be invested in its R&D and HR departments. Leadership position Plum Ventures co-founder, Shichun Wu, commented: “In the fast-moving cultivated meat industry, Jimi has established its leadership position in cultivated meat technologies. With its strong capabilities in R&D and commercialization, …

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