Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast

Chris will be speaking at the upcoming Future Food Tech Alternative Protein Event in New York City this June. You can register for the event at https://futurefoodtechprotein.com. Get a 10% discount on tickets using the coupon code CM10. 

Chris Landowski is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Onego Bio, a company producing animal-free egg white proteins with precision fermentation.

Chris is a cellular agriculture trailblazer and the scientific mastermind behind the technology. 

The chosen method for producing egg white protein is based on harnessing the microflora Trichoderma reesei for protein production and Chris believes this technology is superior because of its efficiency and productivity.

Prior to co-founding Onego Bio, Chris spent 15 years developing breakthrough precision fermentation platforms at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

He has extensive experience in recombinant protein production and translating this knowledge to enable commercial scale production of animal-free proteins.

One thing I greatly appreciate about this episode with Chris is that he breaks down fairly technical concepts into very digestible bites.

Jeremy Agresti has spent his career developing tools to drastically change the pace of biology with massive-throughput measurements using microfluidics. His seminal contributions as pioneer of miniaturizing biology with microfluidics have resulted in a large number of publications and patents, which have been cited more than 9,000 times, and form the foundation of several companies in the space. His work has allowed Amyris to bring their biofuels and chemicals to market faster, and for companies like Bio-Rad, Illumina and 10x Genomics to bring new single-cell genomics tools and clinical diagnostic tests to market. Jeremy is a co-founder and advisor to Slingshot Biosciences and founder and CTO Triplebar, where he leads a team of scientists and engineers to leverage the power of evolution to bring new biology-produced products to the world and build a sustainable future for the planet.

Vanessa Haley-Benjamin - New Harvest Fellowship Series

On this episode, we’re excited to have Joshua March. Joshua is Co-founder and CEO of SCiFi Foods, a startup creating transformational products by combining cultivated meat with plant-based ingredients to make burgers shockingly close to the taste of conventional beef.

A serial entrepreneur with two exits to his name, Joshua was previously the Co-founder of Conversocial, a digital care platform for messaging that integrates with many of the world's leading brands.

Joshua has a passion for all things food science, environmental sustainability, and believes in the potential of synthetic biology to create superior products for a rapidly growing world. Originally from England and now based in San Francisco.

Sophie Letcher is a PhD student and New Harvest Research Fellow in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Tufts University. She is a part of David Kaplan’s (growing!) cellular agriculture research group, and so far, her research as focused on two main topics. The first is using bioelectricity (endogenous electrical currents) to control muscle cell proliferation and differentiation, and the second is furthering the field of entomoculture (insect cell culture for food). Prior to starting at Tufts, she received her B.A. at Kenyon College in Neuroscience, then worked as a research technician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA.

This episode was originally recorded in December 2021.

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com

On this episode I chat with Lejjy Gafour of CULT Food Science. We chat about Lejjy's background, his start within the cellular agriculture industry, touch on Future Fields, and learn about CULT Food Science.

Additional show notes will be posted soon.

Are you a regular listener? Be sure to Subscribe or Follow on your favorite podcast platform.

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place in Downtown San Francisco on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more about the event at https://cms2022.com

Alex Shirazi sits down with Deniz Kent, Co-founder and CEO of Prolific Machines. Prolific Machines is a Stealth startup based in San Francisco. They are working on technologies that seriously reduces the cost of cultured meat production. On this episode we chat about Deniz' background and how the company came to be.

Learn more about Prolific Machines at https://www.prolificmachines.com/

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place on October 28-29, 2022 in Downtown San Francisco. Learn more and register at https://cms2022.com

This episode of the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast features Patricia Bubner of Orbillion. Alex and Patricia chat about Orbillion, different cuts of cultivated meat products, and the importance of messaging within the industry.

Learn more about Orbillion Bio at https://www.orbillion.com/

On this episode I speak with Yonatan Golan of Brevel. I was introduced to Brevel in one of my favorite ways possible, at a networking event! The event was hosted by Black & Veatch at the Future Food Tech event in New York City. There I met someone from the Brevel team who eventually connected me to Yonatan. I am so glad I was able to speak with Yonatan about the fascinating topic of micro-algea and how it could very well be one of the biggest protein solutions. 

Learn more about Brevel at https://brevel.co.il/

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place in San Francisco on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://www.cms2022.com

This episode features Dr. Peter Nesaei and Dr. Reza Ovissi of OceanTastes, Inc. OceanTastes, Inc. is a cultivated seafood startup based in California. We discuss how the Peter and Reza met, their inspiration for creating OceanTastes, Inc. and the exciting journey ahead.

Learn more about OceanTastes, Inc. at https://www.oceantastes.com

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place in San Francisco on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com.

On this episode, Alex chats with Brett Thompson of Mzansi Meat Co., one of the first cultivated meat companies in South Africa and even on the continent of Africa. Learn about how Brett's background in plant-based foods and animal advocacy lead to the first investor check and what's next for Mzansi.

References in this episode:

South African Consumer Adoption of Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat: A Segmentation Study: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.744199/full

Plant-based and Cultivated Meat Adoption in Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria: https://www.credenceinstitute.org/_files/ugd/e40e4e_ec6909e70bc242e894d42d5eb34f85fb.pdf

The Cultured Meat Symposium is taking place on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com

On this episode, Alex Shirazi sits down with Caroline Wilschut of Meatable to chat about who we need to educate about cultivated meat products and the understanding of the technology over the last few years.

Learn more about Meatable at https://meatable.com

Elysabeth Alfano is the CEO of VegTech™ Invest, the advisor to the VegTech™ Plant-based Innovation & Climate ETF. The VegTech™ ETF has created a completely new impact asset class: plant-based innovation and alternative in the capital markets. The company has also launched the industry benchmark index, VegTech™ Plant-based Innovation & Alternative Proteins Index. Elysabeth is a plant-based industry expert and speaks globally on the intersection of sustainability and our global food supply system, including recently at the U.N. Global Leaders Compact Summit. She is the CEO of Plant Powered Consulting, and advised multinationals and C-Suite Executives on the industry landscape, direction and whitespaces. Finally, Elysabeth hosts the Plantbased Business Hour, which features the CEOs and thought leaders in the industry. The Plantbased Business Hour is considered, “The Gold Standard” for those who want to understand, participate in, and capitalize on this secular trend.

Learn more about Future Food Tech Alternative Proteins at www.futurefoodtechprotein.com

Laura is the Founder and CEO of Helaina. Founded in 2019, Helaina is the first company to produce human milk proteins that are identical to those in breast milk, creating a new category of infant formula. Disrupting the infant formula category which has been stagnant for decades, Helaina has raised more than $25 million. Laura became NYU’s youngest ever adjunct professor in Food Science & Technology in 2017 and was featured in Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in 2022.

Learn more about Helaina at www.myhelaina.com

Learn more about Future Food Tech Alternative Proteins at www.futurefoodtechprotein.com

Alex sits down with Will Patrick of Culture Biosciences, the company leading the way for bioreactors in the cloud. 

Design, monitor, and analyze high-throughput bioreactor experiments in Culture's Cloud Lab from your laptop. 

Culture essentially acts as a Bioreactor in the cloud allowing companies to radically accelerate their research. We learn about the basics of the platform and the ideal applications.

Learn more about Culture Biosciences at https://www.culturebiosciences.com/

Trevor Williams is a former high school agriscience teacher turned podcaster that started the FarmTraveler podcast in 2019.  Farm Traveler has one goal, that being to connect consumers with farmers, ranchers, and entrepreneurs in the agriculture industry.  Trevor has published over 150 podcast episodes, educational videos, and Farm Tours on the Farm Traveler Youtube channel, and produces two other agriculture-focused podcasts.

Subscribe to the Farm Traveler Podcast at https://thefarmtraveler.com/

Listen to Alex's episode on the Farm Traveler Podcast at https://thefarmtraveler.com/2022/04/13/ep-145-what-is-cultured-meat/

Thanks for tuning in to the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast. On this episode we are exciting to have Tim Olsen of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

Tim joined Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in 2020 as Head of Commercial for the Cultured Meat program. His goal is to commercialize technologies that enable large scale cost effective and sustainable production of cultured meat and seafood products. Previously, Tim directed laboratory operations and led the development of bioinks at Allevi, a 3D bioprinting company. Tim then held the Senior Scientist position on the Process and Product Development team at RoosterBio, a regenerative medicine company focused on fueling the rapid commercialization of scalable human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) and exosome manufacturing technologies. His skillsets include stem cell culture optimization, media development, and scaling manufacturing in bioreactor systems. Tim then transitioned into commercial operations at RoosterBio as the Northeast USA and Europe Account Manager to leverage his technical skillset to focus on bringing solutions to the customers who were working on bringing regenerative medicine products to the clinic and the market. Tim received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Clemson University (2015) and sits on the External Advisory Board for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The College of New Jersey, his undergraduate alma mater.

Dr. Aletta Schnitzler is the Chief Scientific Officer at Turtle Tree. Previously, Aletta held various roles at Merck KGaA across Cell Therapy Bioprocessing and Cultured Meat R&D and Strategy. Aletta received her Ph.D. in 2007 from Boston University School of Medicine in the fields of immunology and neuroscience, focusing on trophic factors that influence immune cell activation, as well as neural differentiation and maintenance of phenotype.

Learn more about TurtleTree:

https://turtletree.com/

Tobias Messmer is a Jr Scientist in the Stemness & Isolation team at Mosa Meat and a PhD student at Maastricht University.

After completing his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Molecular Biotechnology at Heidelberg University, and internships at Cambridge University and Harvard University, Tobias’ current work focuses on molecular characterization of muscle cells during the proliferation and differentiation stages of cultivating beef. In 2020, Tobias has co-founded the Cellular Agriculture Online Symposium (CAOS) - an online platform to facilitate scientific exchange in the Cell-Ag space.

Read the Blog Post:
https://mosameat.com/blog/cultivating-beef-without-fetal-bovine-serum

View the Publication:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00419-1

Jamie has a History degree from Oxford University and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from Nottingham University. Dedicated to reducing animal suffering, he has volunteered for a variety of effective animal advocacy organizations, including Faunalytics, The Humane League and the Good Food Institute. He is also working to grow the effective altruism movement by managing the local group Effective Animal Altruism London.

Joe Fassler's piece "Lab-grown meat is supposed to be inevitable. The science tells a different story." brought new discussions to the cultured meat industry.

Joe Fassler is deputy editor of The Counter, a nonprofit newsroom covering the business, politics, and culture of American food. Twice a finalist for a James Beard Media Award, his food journalism has been anthologized in The Best American Food Writing and appeared in publications like TheAtlantic.com, The Guardian, and Smithsonian.

Josh Balk is the Vice President of Farm Animal Protection at the Humane Society of the U.S. In addition, he is the cofounder of Hampton Creek, now Eat Just Inc, a food technology company famous for producing the Just Egg product.

Prior to working with HSUS, Josh is known for his work at Compassion Over Killing. He has been an advocate for animals for almost 20 years.

This is Josh's second episode on the future food show, where we dig a little bit deeper into the great work that he and his team are accomplishing and the future of food.

John Sanbonmatsu is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, where he teaches ethics, political theory, and the philosophy of technology.  He is author of the book, The Postmodern Prince:  Critical Theory, Left Strategy, and the Making of a New Political Subject, editor of the book, Critical Theory and Animal Liberation, and is the creator and curator of the www.CleanMeat-Hoax.com website.  His new book, The Omnivore's Deception:  What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and the Nature of Moral Life, is expected to be released at the end of 2022.

As a passionate food scientist, Michelle looks to combat global food security and malnutrition in everything she does. She has expertise in dairy fermentation, formulation, and processing and is thrilled to ditch the cows for humans. Inspired by upstream solutions for infant nutrition at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she became obsessed with advancing human nutrition through better infant feeding options. Michelle seeks to harness the capacity to drive environmental and social change through creative food solutions with a consumer-first design. Her entrepreneurial expertise in social impact and sustainable business models drives her commitment to seeking mission-aligned partners.

Anita Broellochs is a mission-driven entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Balletic Foods (Balletic, Inc.), a cellular agriculture startup focused on creating high performance protein. Anita is also the inspiration behind SVCMS, the organization behind the Cultured Meat Symposium, and this very podcast.

Anita has a background in Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering and she has previously worked on developing optical clearing techniques of skeletal muscle for multi-photon microscopy for medical purposes at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg, in Germany.

Learn more about Balletic Foods at www.balleticfoods.com

Brian Kateman is the lead producer of Meat Me Halfway, a documentary about finding common ground at the dinner table. He is cofounder and president of the Reducetarian Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy to create a healthy, sustainable, and compassionate world.

Learn more about the Reducetarian Foundation:

https://www.reducetarian.org/

Learn more about Meat Me Halfway (Documentary):

https://www.meatmehalfway.org/

The Cultured Meat Symposium (CMS21) is taking place this October 22-23, 2021 in Downtown San Francisco. Learn more and register for the event at https://www.cms21.io.

Linda Lilly is the Director and Founder of The Cocoa Concept. She grew up in the south of Germany, studied Film and Literature in Munich and Vancouver before moving to London to work for Sony Pictures. After changing her take on nutrition and fitness in 2018, Linda went through a physical and emotional transformation herself that led her to not only lose over 20kg but also to spend more and more time researching products that will benefit her mind and body. In 2020 she founded her own company The Cocoa Concept with the purpose to introduce the benefits of Cocoa Husk Tea to the UK market. Whilst still working full time at Sony Pictures she realized that there is an opportunity, people like her who want to lead a healthy lifestyle who want to enjoy themselves without feeling guilty need to know about this product. She constantly tries to challenge herself, practice mindfulness and set positive affirmations to achieve her goals. Linda is currently a candidate at the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator Program.

The Cocoa Concept wants to underline the importance of what we are putting into our bodies – they create a pure product with a natural chocolatey sensation, no dairy, no artificial sweeteners, no sugars, or additives. Their first product is called Cocoa Husk Tea, which is made from the outer shell of the cacao bean. Cocoa Husk is a by-product in the chocolate making process that would otherwise go to waste. That's where The Cocoa Concept comes in and uses it to create a unique and healthy way to enjoy a calorie-free hot chocolate suitable for everyone – no matter whether you are vegan, dairy free or want to cut down your sugar intake. The Cocoa Concept was born to support people in leading a healthy lifestyle, elevate their fitness journey and promote mindful moments.  You can buy their product directly on their website or find it in cafes and health stores across London. They’ve recently been featured in Vogue Magazine as “the latest tea trend”.

Learn more about The Cocoa Concept here:

https://www.thecocoaconcept.com/

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2021 is taking place in San Francisco this October 22-23, 2021. Learn more at https://cms21.io.

David Kay is the Director of Communications and first employee at UPSIDE Foods. David leads the company's communications and public relations strategies, and helps develop and execute the company’s policy strategies. David played a key role in initiating the founding of AMPS Innovation, the trade coalition for the cultured meat, poultry and seafood industry in the US. David has spoken at or been interviewed in The Atlantic, Vice, The Chicago Tribune, Quartz and SXSW, and has given the keynote address at the Cultured Meat Symposium, Cell Agri, and the Food Innovation Summit.   Prior to joining UPSIDE Foods, David studied political science at Stanford University and worked with a variety of non-profits to encourage more sustainable eating practices.

This episode is sponsored by the Black & Veatch NextGen Ag Team. Learn more about Black and Veatch at www.bv.com

We're excited to welcome Didier Toubia of Aleph Farms back on the show!

Didier Toubia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, a cultivated meat company that is shaping the future of food by growing slaughter-free beef steaks directly from cow cells, preserving natural resources, and avoiding the use of antibiotics. Prior to Aleph Farms, Didier co-founded and led IceCure, which went public in 2010, and served as the CEO of NLT Spine, which was acquired by SeaSpine in 2016. Didier was trained as a Food Engineer and Biologist at Agrusup (Dijon, France) and holds a joint executive MBA from Kellogg (IL, US) and Recanati (Israel).

This episode is sponsored by the Black & Veatch NextGen Ag Team. Learn more about Black and Veatch at www.bv.com

Sonia Lo, Chief Executive Officer, Sensei Ag

Sonia Lo joins the Sensei Ag team with over 32 years of combined agriculture, technology and business experience. Ms. Lo began her career in technology with a UK media conglomerate. She then went on to build her first tech venture as CEO of eZoka Group, a UK-based internet startup that was sold in 2002. Following eZoka, Ms. Lo founded and served as Managing Director of Chalsys LLP, an advisory and direct investment firm which has invested over $120 million in 15 global growth stage companies. From Chalsys, she became the Director of Localization and Global Content for Google, Inc.

Most recently, prior to Sensei Ag, Ms. Lo was CEO of Crop One Holdings, Inc., a vertical farming company that owns FreshBox Farms in Millis, MA and a joint venture with Emirates Flight Catering in Dubai which building one of the world’s largest vertical farms with an anticipated output of three tons per day. Ms. Lo earned her BA in Political Science from Stanford University and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. She also holds Professional Chef and Pastry Qualifications from London and City College and has completed certifications in Green Supply Chain Management and Zero Energy Architecture.

This episode is sponsored by the Black & Veatch NextGen Ag Team. Learn more about Black and Veatch at www.bv.com

We are excited to have two fantastic guests on today's episode. Christie Lagally of Rebellyous Foods and Zack Olson of Black & Veatch.

Christie Lagally is the founder and CEO of Rebellyous Foods, a food production technology company working to make plant-based meat price-competitive with traditional chicken products.

Ms. Lagally is a mechanical engineer and holder of multiple patents in manufacturing technology.  She spent much of her career in the aerospace industry working on commercial airplanes and spacecraft in testing, design, and manufacturing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.  Previously, Ms. Lagally served as a Senior Scientist for the Good Food Institute uncovering the technical barriers in the development of plant-based meat and clean meat (i.e. cultured meat). Ms. Lagally holds Bachelor's degrees in Organizational Psychology and Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

She is also an active member of the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington, a co-founder of the Humane Voters of Washington (a political action committee) and serves as a Washington State Council Member for the Humane Society of the United States.

Zack Olson is part of the Black & Veatch Growth Accelerator which drives smart, rapid, profitable growth; discovers opportunities; and challenges convention. He is a co-managing director of the Growth Accelerator’s NextGen Agriculture business, and currently leads that engineering team. Throughout his career he has been involved in projects that required developing innovative and cost-effective solutions, in close collaboration with the end client, particularly pertaining to energy performance improvements.

This episode is sponsored by the Black & Veatch NextGen Ag Team. Learn more about Black and Veatch at https://www.bv.com.

Lou Cooperhouse is recognized as a leading global authority in food business innovation and technology commercialization, with extensive leadership experiences throughout his 35-year career in the food industry.

He is a results-driven professional, and has led cross-functional teams in a wide array of industry settings that include: multinational corporations, foodservice and retail operations, new business startups, mid-sized and family-run companies, university entrepreneurship and innovation centers, and industry trade associations.

Lou also has considerable expertise in food safety and quality assurance systems, and has provide leadership at numerous FDA and USDA-inspected operations throughout his career, and has conducted third-party audits of dozens of food companies throughout the nation as well. \

Lou received a MS in Food Science and BS in Microbiology, both from Rutgers University, and has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Rutgers Business School.

Steve Matzke is Senior Manager of Pioneering Innovation for CP Kelco, a global provider of nature-based ingredients, and he is based in San Diego.  Steve received a master’s degree in chemical engineering from UC-Berkeley and has spent the majority of his career in process development and the manufacturing of fermentation-derived ingredients.  He has intimate knowledge of large-scale fermentation processes and has spent significant time in all three of CP Kelco’s fermentation manufacturing sites in the U.S. and China.  His current focus is in the alternative protein space and how CP Kelco can contribute to this evolving foodscape.

CP Kelco has nearly 90 years of experience serving food, beverage and consumer products manufacturers worldwide. The company unlocks nature-powered success and applies innovation and problem solving to develop tailored solutions for its customers. Pectin, gellan gum and citrus fiber are among the nature-based ingredients in CP Kelco’s portfolio. Learn more at https://cpkelco.com.

This episode is part of the New Harvest Fellowship Series.

Santiago Campuzano, a former Research Fellow, received his MSc from the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Andrew Pelling. While at the Pelling Lab, Santiago’s research demonstrated how celery can be repurposed as animal-free scaffolding capable of recreating alignment of skeletal muscle cells in vitro. Now residing in Vancouver, Santiago currently works as a Bioengineer at STEMCELL Technologies. Santiago is also an active member of the Open Science Network, a local community lab devoted to educating community members and facilitating multidisciplinary collaborations.

This episode is part of the New Harvest Fellowship Series. To learn more about New Harvest, visit https://new-harvest.org.

Cameron is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Calgary. His  research seeks to leverage protein biochemistry for the advancement of  cellular agriculture. Cameron’s work involves using microbes to produce  growth factors that can then be used to improve the outcomes of fish  cell culture. His other research interests include fungal secondary  metabolism and structural biology.

ORIGINAL PHOTO BY AZIN GHAFFARI/POSTMEDIA

This episode is part of the New Harvest Fellowship Series. Learn more about New Harvest at https://new-harvest.org.

John is a fourth year PhD Candidate working on cultured meat in the  David Kaplan Laboratory, alongside Andrew Stout, Natalie Rubio, Ning  Xiang, Michael Saad and Sophie Letche - a growing cell-ag team! John's  goal is to develop scalable techniques to overcome the challenge of  oxygen and nutrient delivery to cells within larger tissues. For  example, it is often quoted that cells can only survive ~200 microns  away from a blood vessel or other source of nutrition (e.g the culture  media). This means that even a 1 mm thick tissue might encounter cell  viability or survival issues within its core/central region. To address  this, John is investigating methods to generate macroscale constructs of  muscle and fat via perfused 3D tissue culture strategies. The hope is  that methods to support cell survival in larger constructs will enable  more advanced muscle and fat tissues to be grown in the future,  containing the higher order, macroscale structural organization seen in  products such as whole muscle cuts of meat. Imagine the large arrays of  aligned muscle fibers seen in steak and chicken breast, etc.

Joel Kenigsberg is a rabbi, educator and researcher with a special  interest in the application of ancient religious texts to modern  technological innovations. He has presented extensively on this topic at  international forums including at Oxford, UCL, London School of Jewish  Studies and the European Conference of Rabbis, as well as publishing  articles in both mainstream and academic press and consulting some of  the leading companies in the cellular agriculture field.

Rabbi Kenigsberg received his ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of  Israel.  He holds an MA from Bar-Ilan University in the  interdisciplinary field of science and Jewish religious law, and  graduated from the Manhigut Toranit (Torah leadership) program at the  prestigious Eretz Hemdah Institute of Advanced Jewish Studies in  Jerusalem, where he formed part of a team of scholars fielding  cutting-edge questions from around the world.

This episode is part of the New-Harvest Fellowship Series. Learn more about New Harvest at http://new-harvest.org.

Zachary Cosenza works on computational tools for design optimization and parameter estimation using optimal experimental design, machine learning, Bayesian optimization, and other statistical learning methods for design of cell growth media for bioprocesses in cell-based meat industry.

On this episode, Alex Shirazi chats with Dave Schnettler of Lab Farm Foods about the future of food tech investing and Lab Farm Foods.

Dave Schnettler is an early-stage tech investor and serial entrepreneur. He previously co-founded a digital marketing agency and investment syndicate. Dave brings his business expertise and knowledge of the cellular agricultural landscape to the Lab Farm Foods table, overseeing all non-tech aspects of daily operations.

This is the first episode with three guests joining us for the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast. Please welcome Martín Salinas, Henk Hoogenkamp, and Gastón Paladini  of Mollec Science.

Moolec Science is a global pioneer using Molecular Farming to introduce a hybrid concept between plant-based and cell-based technologies in the alternative proteins space. It is a newly formed Ag-Foodtech company consolidating a unique pipeline of projects and capabilities in the Molecular Farming space, with more than one decade under development.

Kai Steinmetz is a PhD candidate from the University of Auckland. His  research aims to create serum free and cost-effective growth and differentiation media for cultured meat production - both basal media  and serum requirements will be addressed. His research will also  establish a deer primary muscle cell culture for the first time ever and  test new media formulations on these cells.

Join Alex as he sits down (virtually) with Josh Balk, Vice President, Farm Animal Protection at the Humane Society of the U.S./ Founder of Hampton Creek. The two discuss where the world is headed in terms of the foods we eat and advancements in food technology.

Björn is a co-founder of ORF Genetics. He served as the CEO of the company from 2006 to 2013 and the Executive V.P. and Chief Scientific Officer of ORF Genetics since 2013. Björn received his Ph.D. in plant molecular genetics in 1997 from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and was a post-doctoral fellow at McGill University, Montréal for three years before moving back to Iceland. Björn is responsible for business development with special focus on developing animal portfolio of growth factors for cell-cultured meat.

Lavanya is the Head of Partnerships & External innovation, within  the Strategy & Transformation group at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt,  Germany, a global life science and pharmaceutical company. Based at the  company’s Innovation Hub in the Bay Area, she is leading the exploration  of how these parallel industries can accelerate cultured meat  development. Lavanya has held diverse roles in sales, marketing and  strategy within the biotech industry. She has a PhD in Molecular &  Cellular Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.   Learn more about Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany at  culturedmeat.emdgroup.com

Register for the Cultured Meat Symposium at http://cms20.com

Tiffany Lee is the director of regulatory and scientific affairs for the North American Meat Institute where she provides informed scientific analysis to its members on many issues, including food safety, food processing, food quality, diet and health, nutrition, public health initiatives, biotechnology, new technologies, research priorities, and animal health.

Lee earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Science degrees from Kansas State University in 2012. After practicing in a mixed animal clinic in Limon, Colorado, she returned to Kansas State University to pursue a PhD degree in Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology.

Register for the Cultured Meat Symposium 2020 event at http://cms20.com 

Scott Allan is a New Harvest Research Fellow and PhD student with the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies at the University of Bath,  UK.  He is working with Dr Marianne Ellis and Dr Paul De Bank on bioreactor design for scaling up cultured meat production, with a focus hollow fibre bioreactors.

Prior to this, Scott obtained his Masters degree in  Chemical Engineering from the University of Bath and has work experience  in both upstream and downstream oil & gas. His final year (senior year) project was an engineering design project,  with individual and group aspects, focusing on the design of a hypothetical large-scale production plant for cultured meat production. 

He is now actively pursuing research for a sustainable future in the  Ellis lab, with an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection  between tissue engineering and bioprocess design.

Register for the Cultured Meat Symposium at http://www.cms20.com

Carrie is a seasoned business executive with a passion for the environment, particularly the impact of our food supply on the planet.  Her expertise is in general management and project delivery.  She managed major real estate developments from ground zero to full operation.  At Avant Meats, Carrie provides the vision, guides the strategy and supervises the implementation. The company’s technology platform focus on fish and seafood products tailored for the food culture of consumers in China and in the region.

This episode was recorded in April 2020.

Register for the Cultured Meat Symposium 20 at http://www.CMS20.com 

Alex Shirazi interviews industry veteran Andrew Stout on this episode. 

Andrew is a 3rd year PhD candidate in Dr. David Kaplan's Biomedical  Engineering lab at Tufts University. There, he studies how synthetic  biology and metabolic engineering can be applied to cultured meat, with  particular focus on nutritional and/or functional enhancement of  cultured meat products and bioprocesses.

Before Tufts, Andrew obtained a B.S. in Materials Science from Rice  University, was a researcher in the lab of Dr. Mark Post at Maastricht  University (where he studied scaffolding materials for cultured meat),  and worked as a research associate at Geltor, Inc., in San Leandro,  California (where he worked on a team engineering microbial strains for  the production of animal free collagen).

Alex Shirazi sits down with Dr. Miotto and Leo Groenewegen to chat about the exciting new developments from CellulaREvolution, based in the UK.

 Dr. Martina Miotto and  is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at CellulaREvolution Ltd. She began her studies at the University of Ferrara (Italy), where she completed a BSc in Biotechnology and a MSc in Biomolecular and Cellular Sciences. Subsequently, she moved to

Newcastle University (UK) where she completed her PhD in corneal tissue engineering and a significant part of this involved the development of the technology underpinning CellulaREvolution. Following her successful PhD, Dr Miotto has focussed firmly on a commercial career pathway. She initially received a Newcastle University Enterprise Scholarship, followed by an ICURe Fellowship to explore further the market and value proposition. Afterwards, she was awarded an Enterprise Fellowship by the Royal Society of Edinburgh to receive mentoring and training in the business sector.

Since the spin-out of CellulaREvolution from the University in July 2019, Martina has led the scientific development of the company.

Leo Groenewegen is co-founder Chief Executive Officer at CellulaREvolution Ltd. Leo has extensive experience in the fields of Biotech and Pharmaceuticals. During his career he has enabled a wide array of firms to out-perform by achieving scientific, financial and commercial excellence. As Chief Executive Officer, Leo ensures that the overall goals of the company are achieved.

Leo Groenewegen has previously held a position as CFO at a Swedish based biotech company, where besides financing he was also responsible for Investor relations, PR/Communications and Business Development. Some of his other experiences included positions at reputable consulting firms such as IMS Health and Deloitte.

Diese Folge ist eine special edition Episode, die von Anita Bröllochs moderiert wird. Die Folge wurde auf Deutsch aufgenommen. 

Jannis Wollschlaeger hat seinen Master an der Hochschule Biberach und seinen BS and der Universität Ulm absolviert. 

Jannis hat seine Promotion an der Hochschule Reutlingen begonnen und seine Forschung fokussiert sich auf er an der Entwicklung eines definierten, kostengünstigen Co-Kulturmediums, tierfreien Biotinten und einem vereinfachten CAD-Modell der natürlichen Fett- und Muskelgewebe Struktur für den 3D-Druck von Fleisch. 

Jannis ist seit Dezember 2019 Teil des New Harvest Fellowship Programms. 

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This is a special edition episode hosted by Anita Broellochs. This episode is recorded in German. 

Jannis Wollschlaeger completed his Master Thesis at Hochschule Biberach University of Applied Sciences and his BS at Ulm University.

Jannis started his PhD at Reutlingen University and has been focusing his research on the development of a an inexpensive co-culture medium, animal-free bio-inks and a simplified CAD model of the natural fat and muscle tissue structure for 3D Printing Cultured Meat / Meat Bioprinting

Jannis has been part of the New Harvest Fellowship Program since December 2019.

Alex Shirazi interviews Jordan Jones, who is working on exciting new  technologies that could lead to tremendous milestones in the world of  cultured meat.

Jordan Jones grew up in Memphis, TN. He graduated as Valedictorian from  Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering. His interest in biomedical  engineering began in high school through an internship at Memphis  Bioworks. While there, he was able to study cartilage regeneration using  human stem cells.  Jordan then began pursuing a Bachelor of Science  degree in Biomedical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute  (WPI). He received several merit scholarships including the  Marshall/Chavez/Means award. Jordan was a research assistant in Dr.  Glenn Gaudette’s laboratory from 2014 to 2016. He worked on numerous  research projects focused on cardiac regeneration, decellularization,  and designed bioreactor systems. For his senior thesis, Jordan designed a  system that utilized decellularized plant vasculature as a model for  medical diagnostics and drug testing.

After graduating from WPI, Jordan worked in the medical device industry  from 2016 to 2018. He then returned to WPI to pursue a PhD in Biomedical  Engineering. In 2018 Jordan’s research was displayed at The Centre  Pompidou in Paris, France, in the exhibit “La Fabrique Du Vivant”.  Shortly after returning to WPI, Jordan became a New Harvest research  fellow. He is currently working on developing lab-grown meat. Jordan  uses decellularized plant tissues to form a vascularized scaffold  suitable for 3D bioengineered tissues, including structured meats such  as steak.

Established in 2004, New Harvest is the non-profit research institute building the field of cellular agriculture. We're partnering with new Harvest for a multi-part series on the Cultured Meat and Future Food Show. 

On this episode, we're excited to have Sam Peabody who sits down (virtually) with Alex Shirazi to discuss new and exciting research in the field of cultivated meat. 

Samuel S. Peabody IV is a 1st year Ph.D. student of Animal Science at Texas Tech University. His area of research includes the study of Microbiology and Food Safety. His current studies are examining the safety aspects of cell cultured meat, poultry, and seafood.

This episode is co-hosted with Anita Broellochs.

Nina Buffi obtained her degree of Microengineering in 2009 at the Swiss Institute of Technology Lausanne. After an internship at the University of British Columbia, where she developed a microfluidic chip for impedance cell spectroscopy, she joined the Microsystems Laboratory at EPFL, where she obtained her PhD with a thesis titled "Design and construction of a portable whole-cell living bacterial biosensor for the detection of arsenic in water". In 2014 she moved to Berlin and later she joined OSPIN, a company aiming to establish an open bioprocessing platform as the operating system of modern biotechnology. Since January 2018 she is the OSPIN´s CTO.

Jan studied biophysics and after simulating the complex dynamics of biomolecules on super computers he worked as a product designer in software industry for a while. Later he became an innovation manager at a biomedical think tank in Berlin where he got interested in tissue engineering. In 2014 he founded OSPIN, at the beginning with focus on creating automated bioreator systems for tissue engineering projects. Meanwhile OSPIN's technology has developed into a modular platform for bioprocess automation with many different applications. Of course Jan is excited about cultured meat and the fascinating challenges in bioprocessing it poses.

We're excited to announce the New Harvest Fellowship Series.

Established in 2004, New Harvest is the non-profit research institute building the field of cellular agriculture. We're partnering with New Harvest for a multi-part series on the Cultured Meat and Future Food Show.

We've had conversations with members of the New Harvest leadership previously on this show. Please see our episode with Executive Director Isha Datar and Research Director Dr. Kate Krueger.

On this episode, we are delighted to have Natalie Rubio, kicking off the New Harvest Fellowship Series.

Natalie is a Ph.D. student at Tufts University in the Biomedical Engineering Department. She works in Dr. David Kaplan's tissue engineering research group.

Her research is primarily focused on growing cultured meat from insect cells and developing edible scaffold systems.

Prior to graduate school, Natalie worked for New Harvest and Perfect Day Foods. Currently, she is a scientific advisor for two cellular agriculture start-up companies (Bond Pet Foods, Matrix Meats).

Alex Shirazi chats with filmmaker Liz Marshall about the upcoming  documentary: Meat The Future (2020). Learn more about the film at  www.meatthefuture.com

 Liz Marshall is an award-winning Canadian filmmaker. Since the 1990s she  has written, produced, directed, and filmed diverse international and  socially conscious documentaries.  Her work has been released theatrically, been broadcast globally, made  available digitally, and has screened for hundreds of grassroots  communities around the globe. Marshall’s visionary feature-length films  explore social justice and environmental themes driven by strong  characters. 

Marshall’s current feature documentary Meat The Future , chronicles the  birth of the “clean” “cultured” “cell-based” "cultivated" meat industry  in America through the eyes of pioneer Dr. Uma Valeti. Previous titles  include Midian Farm (2018), Water On The Table (2010), the HIV/AIDS  trilogy for the Stephen Lewis Foundation (2007), to name a few.

Bruce Friedrich is co-founder and executive director of The Good Food Institute. With branches in the United States, India, Israel, Brazil, Europe, and Asia Pacific, GFI is accelerating the production of plant-based and cultivated meat in order to bolster the global protein supply while protecting our environment, promoting global health, and preventing food insecurity and animal cruelty. His TED talk from April 2019 has been viewed more than 2.2m times and has been translated into 23 languages. 

Gary Schefsky is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of New Luna Ventures. He is also an investor, professor, educational writer and a leading proponent of sustainable impact measurement.

New Luna Ventures is a leading impact venture capital advisor and investor in the food, agriculture, energy, community enrichment, and enabling software industries. they help entrepreneurs build sustainable ventures and connect disruptive ideas with investors and partners.

Mr Schefsky’s experience in impact investing, knowledge, & add-value support resonants with food 2.0 entrepreneurs. His depth of experience with entrepreneurship, emerging market opportunities, and as an investment professional also provide New Luna Ventures with a powerful combination for success.

Tony Hunter is a Global Futurist, Speaker and Foresight Strategy consultant specializing in the Future of Food.

He uses his FutureCUBED™ methodology as a structured way of viewing the food, beverage and ag industry’s long term future in 10+ years while linking it back to current events. This enables a practical, real world approach to the task of using foresight strategy to predict the long term Future of Food.

He is a passionate believer that AgriFood Tech offers massive opportunities to solve the problems of sustainability and feeding the growing global population. Tony travels the world using his distinctive combination of scientific qualifications, business experience and detailed understanding of exponential food technologies to deliver a unique perspective on the Future of Food.

This week, we will be doing something a bit different. I've decided to leave in some of the introductory conversation that I have with guests as I explain the recording process.

Stay safe. Stay indoors. Save lives.

Contribute to the campaign here:

https://www.ulule.com/jackie-mays-ulule-campaign/

Kevin Cochran makes his full circle return to the restaurant industry in his newest venture, Jackie Mays Burger Grill. Jackie Mays is the culmination of a career spent in the service of customers, whether in retail, e-commerce, business, or sustainability. After ten years of working up the ranks in many restaurants to becoming the first General Manager of Freebirds World Burrito, Kevin gave up the food business two decades ago for the high tech world, and worked the last ten in clean technology. In his previous role as Chief Operations Officer for an emerging energy and sustainability management company, Kevin led programs to track energy and carbon footprints for organizations like HP, Tesla, VMware, and the City of Sacramento.

Trained at top universities in the US and Europe, with an MBA and a certification in Sustainability, he currently serves as a Director on the Board of the Sustainability Management Association. A through-line in Kevin’s career has been a personal passion to combat climate change, of which you can read more on his BLOG at www.sustainabilityX.com. Coming full circle, Kevin’s current venture Jackie Mays, and its climate-friendly and cruelty-free mission, seeks to transform the fast food industry, change the world, and your diet.

Alex Shirazi chats with Björn Öste about starting a food company, his career in tech, and the success of Oatly through the decades.

Björn Öste is the founder and CEO of Good Idea, Inc and co-founder of  Oatly. In the last 21 years, Bjorn has spent traveling the globe building markets and supply chains.

His focus has been on the business development side of things.  Identifying industry partners, investor groups, various subject matter experts across multiple fields, and markets and disciplines. He sees virtually endless opportunities in the “high tech” food industry where the incumbents have surrendered product innovation to small, focused and dedicated expert companies like the ones he represents.

He finds it exceptionally rewarding to be able to work with products on a  global scale that make a real and meaningful difference in the daily lives of many individuals.

Alex Shirazi and Ira van Eelen sit down in Maastricht, Netherlands to discuss the historic journey of cultured meat through the last few decades. 

Ira van Eelen is a Co-founder of KindEarth.Tech and RESPECT.farm

She is a designer with a demonstrated history of working in event design, healthcare ICT, marketing and the think tank industry. The legacy as the daughter of Willem van Eelen and 40 years of  Clean/Cultured/Cultivated/JUST/InVitro Meat history is converted into speaking about the potential of- and understanding the urgency of this innovation, so that the audience can embrace the idea. She am proud to be able to work on two passions. Cultured meat as legacy from my father and preventive oral healthcare as gift to her son.

She is one of the organizes of Kind Earth Tech where Next year, KET events will take place in Paris, Singapore, Amsterdam, London and back in San Francisco early 2021.

Robert Petrarca is the co-founder and CEO of Maxine's Heavenly, a line of vegan, gluten-free, oat based cookies with about 1/2 the sugar as leading natural brands of cookies.  Maxine's Heavenly cookies are mom's homemade recipe made so much better for you.  Founded in 2013 and formally launched in 2016, Maxine's Heavenly has experienced triple digit growth for the last three years, gaining traction through major retailers like Whole Foods Market, Natural Grocers, INFRA/NCG, and Walmart.

Previously, Robert co-founded TTC, a nonprofit cultural arts company that created a unique revenue partnership model with CA State Parks and local food and wine purveyors in the North Bay.  TTC was and continues to be a rapid growth organization that scaled revenues over 700% in the first three years.

The Cultured Meat Symposium is taking place on November 14-15 in San Francisco. Register now at www.CMS19.com

Philip Saneski is the VP of Product and Commander-in-Chef of ReGrained, a mission-driven brand ingredient platform that connects urban craft breweries to sustainable food systems.

Philip’s culinary background in Michelin-Star and James Beard Award finalist kitchens was succeeded by working with food entrepreneurs' concept to commercialization at a product development consultancy, where he also led the launch of the Research Chefs Association Evolution of Food Waste product development student competition.

His unique food background, involvement with non-profit impact organizations, curiosity about ingredients historically considered “waste,” and passion for formulating delicious products at scale make him a natural fit for ReGrained.

As Commander-in-Chef, he oversees production, innovation, sourcing, culinary operations, food science and every opportunity to do a collaboration dinner popup.

Guy Crims, or “Guy the Butcher,” as he’s generally known, is a veteran of the butcher business and a legend in the world of Japanese Wagyu. In 2017 alone, Crims was responsible for bringing 4.3 metric tons of Wagyu beef into the U.S.  

Crims, a California native, became fascinated with the butcher business when he was 14 after reading The Jungle, Upton Sinclair’s novel depicting the American meatpacking industry in early 20th century. His first job was at a family-owned butcher shop in Pacifica. Crims followed the original owner to a butchery in San Francisco, where he continued to hone his craft. 

In college, Crims studied architecture, not food—although the two passions merged when he worked on a slaughterhouse design project that advocated for the humane treatment of livestock. He continued to blend both roles as a managing partner at Pape Meat Company and most currently, as a managing partner of One Henry Adams, which includes Udon Time, Niku Steakhouse and The Butcher Shop by Niku.

In 2017, Crims was invited to tour Japan with the Japanese Wagyu Beef Committee—the only non-chef included on the tour. There, Crims met Omakase Restaurant Group co-owner Jackson Yu. Chef Yu enthusiastically introduced Crims to his business partner Kash Feng, who was in the early planning stages of a Wagyu-focused butcher shop and restaurant concept slated for a space at One Henry Adams. As plans started to coalesce, Feng tapped Crims as the master butcher for both the restaurant and butcher shop concepts.

Yuki Hanyu got his Ph.D in chemistry from Oxford University in 2010.

After working as a research scientist in Tohoku University and Toshiba Research and Development Center, he founded the "Shojinmeat Project", the world’s first citizen science community for DIY open-source cell-based meat.

Based on the low-cost cell culture technology developed in Shojinmeat Project, he founded IntegriCulture Inc. in 2015 to commercialize cell-based meat.

The company develops the general-purpose large-scale cell culture system (CulNet System) to scale and commercialize cell-based products such as cosmetics, foie gras and meat, while Shojinmeat Project develops DIY cell-based meat and engage in public communications through art and doujin projects.

He aims to build a Lunar and Martian cell-cultured food production facility to support thousands of colonists there in the future, and develop technologies so that anyone can design and make cell-based meat for fun.

Mike Selden is the Co-founder and CEO of Finless Foods, a cellular agriculture company developing future food technology. In this episode, we explore the differences between cultured beef and seafood products, seafood consumption in the Asia pacific region compared to the United States, and Silicon Valley deep tech.

This episode will feature another podcast, the My Food Job Rocks podcast!

Adam Yee is the host of the My Food Job Rocks podcast, a podcast about food science and technology. On this episode, he interviews Hugh Thomas, co-founder of Ugly Drinks. The episode title is EP. 105 – The Beauty in Branding Ugly, with Hugh Thomas, CEO and CoFounder at Ugly Drinks.

Thank you Adam and Hugh for a great discussion! You can learn more about Adam's podcast at www.myfoodjobrocks.com

Fabio and Alex chat about the next wave of future foods and the aspects of a successful product on store shelves.

Fabio Ziemssen is the Director of Food Innovation at NX-FOOD a METRO AG subsidiary responsible for concepts in the digital environment of food and food innovation.

As a blogger for the e-Food Blogs he organized meetings throughout Germany for the Food Startups scene such as German Food Startup Meetups, Next Generation Food Think Tank, FoodStartup Market, and more.

Since 2017 Fabio Ziemssen is also Co-Founder of the Coworking Space Super7000 and #FoodNext Initiative.

Vitor Espirito Santo is the Director of Cellular Agriculture at JUST focused on the planning and implementation of the clean meat program in the company, from early stage cell line selection and characterization to early bioprocess optimization. He has more than 10 years of experience in the development of cell-based models and therapies (primary cells, cell lines, stem cells) for biotechnology applications

Vitor has a MSc in Biomedical Engineering and PhD degree in Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells, both obtained at University of Minho in Portugal.

Prior to JUST, Vitor worked briefly at Immunocore (UK) for the development of immunotherapies for cancer research. He also worked for 5 years at iBET (a private biotechnology institute) in Portugal as a Senior Scientist.

Vitor has been an invited lecturer in Master and PhD programs of several Portuguese Universities, lecturing in topics of drug delivery, biomaterial design, stem cells, and cell models for pre-clinical research, among others.

Dr. Kate Krueger chats with Alex Shirazi about her background in the  cellular agriculture space and her work as Research Director at New York  based New Harvest. 

Kate Krueger is Research Director at New Harvest where she leads new  initiatives in cellular agriculture. Prior to New Harvest, Kate worked  as a scientist at Perfect Day foods (formerly Muufri) a cellular  agriculture startup where she contributed to Perfect Day’s cell ag  protein patent. Kate holds a PhD in Cell Biology from Yale and is  passionate about using tech for the betterment of society.

Tom is Founder and CEO of Stem! He formerly held fellowships at the  University of Cambridge and at the World Economic Forum and has  advocated sugar reduction initiatives through Sky News and Channel 4  television appearances.