Cell Based Tech Weekly – Breakthrough in Scaffolding, The Impact of Heme, Cargill Launches EverSweet Stevia

🎓Harvard researchers published a breakthrough in cell based meat scaffolding called immersion Rotary Jet-Spinning (iRJS)…picture a cotton candy machine. https://cellbased.link/c4301

• What This Means: The scaffold enables creation of 3D muscle tissue that mimics the texture of real meat. Scaffolding 101: scaffolds provide structure for cells to replicate and enables the growth of a variety of structures of meat such as steaks or chicken breasts.

• Go Deeper: The study was conducted using bovine gelatin to develop the scaffold. I asked Luke MacQueen, first researcher listed on the study, if the gelatin material could be swapped out for a plant-based material using the same iRJS process. MacQueen replied in email: “We used gelatin for comparison with denatured collagen (found in meat), but it can easily be swapped with other materials or blends. For example, we routinely make fibers from plant proteins and have even spun fibers from popular meal replacements (e.g., Soylent)”. 

• Bottom Line: While plant based materials can be used in iRJS, I am still unsure if they are as efficient at creating meat structure as animal gelatin. It is possible recombinant gelatin proteins produced through microbial fermentation (e.g. Geltor) may be a valuable input to cell based meat. 

🎓 More Research in Massachusetts…Researchers at Tufts published findings about the impact of heme proteins in cell based meat production. Specifically, how hemoglobin and myoglobin aid in proliferation and differentiation of bovine muscle satellite cells. https://cellbased.link/5dd

• What They Found: There is a potential benefit of adding myoglobin to cell culture media for increased cell proliferation and adding myoglobin or hemoglobin for the coloration of cell-based meat. 

• Go Deeper: Researchers were using animal based hemoglobin in this study (not plant based like the Leghemoglobin found in Impossible Burger that comes from soy root). I asked one of the researchers Robin Simsa, M.S. how a cell based meat company would go about sourcing heme molecules that come from animals: 

• Simsa explained in an email that cell based meat companies could produce recombinant heme proteins produced through microbial fermentation → this is the same process that Impossible uses to produce soy leghemoglobin.
  • Simsa also noted other options to increase heme content in skeletal muscle cells through genetic engineering (upregulation of myoglobin expression) or different process designs, such as hypoxic cell cultivation or addition of certain supplements to the growth media. 

Advancements

Cargill announced the launch of their EverSweet™ stevia. https://cellbased.link/eli

• Why We Care: EverSweet™ is produced using microbial fermentation to synthesize Reb M and Reb D glycosides, two molecules from the stevia plant. 

• Why It Matters: This technology enables Cargill to economically and efficiently produce a low calorie sweetener that tastes better than traditional Stevia on the market, because Reb M and Reb D are otherwise found in very small quantities inside of the plant.