Summary:
UCLA researchers in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology have developed a novel methodology to improve the texture and overall quality of muscle grown ex vivo for sustainable biomanufacturing applications.
Background:
Livestock production is known to be ecologically expensive due to its use of large swaths of land and release of unsustainable amounts of greenhouse gases. With global meat consumption at an all-time high, new, more sustainable sources of meat are being developed. Cultured meat, a form of cellular agriculture, can sustainably produce muscle from a bioreactor that uses in vitro animal cells. The grown meat aims to mimic the texture of conventional meat, a trait that is defined by its general mechanical properties and the ability of the muscle cells to contract. To improve the properties of the meat during its growth, various strategies have been developed including mechanically stretching the cells, electrical stimulation, and seeding cells onto hydrogel scaffolds. However, these manipulations are challenging to implement at scale and fail to reduce costs of cultured meat production. Therefore, there is a need for a scalable technique that can improve the overall texture and quality of cultured meat.
Innovation:
UCLA researchers in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology have developed an approach to enhance the texture and quality of the cultured meat products. This method can increase the levels of protein content of the cultured meat and meat nutrient value. It can also enhance its mechanical properties, improving its overall texture. The invention identified compounds that can be added during the culture phase and then washed out several days prior to harvesting to omit the additives from the final food product. A similar method is frequently used in the traditional meat industry and as a result, it is highly scalable. Such compounds could be applied in any cultured meat setting, and used for cells on microcarriers of other materials or even for larger ‘cuts’ of muscle tissue. Moreover, the developed technique would dramatically help the adoption of cellular agriculture and the improve the quality of the final product.
Potential Applications:
• Cellular agriculture
• Cultured meat in food industry
• Tissue engineering
• Cell growth
Advantages:
• High quality protein source
• Improvement on the texture, taste, and smell of the meat
• Viable industrial method for cultured meat production in large scale
• More sustainable than conventional livestock production
Development to Date:
Invention has been conceived and fully described.
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Reference: UCLA Case No. 2021-285