CYTONEST, INC. — Department of Agriculture STTR Phase I: 8.5

Description

In the coming decades cell-cultured meat is expected to play a significant role in the developmentof sustainable climate-friendly food systems to feed the growing population. Analysis of beefproduction finds that switching from conventional to cultured beef production could result in a 95%reduction in land use and 92% reduction in carbon footprint. However to realize these impacts newinnovations in cell-culture infrastructure are needed to address in the cost inefficiencies andscalability issues that currently hinder commercial progress in this market. CytoNest will addressthese gaps by developing a novel perfusion-based dynamic cell culture system and scaled edible 3Dscaffolds enabling the cost-effective generation of cultured meat products that mimic the textureand structure of authentic whole-cut meats.The proposed scaffolding technology is uniquelytunable offering unmatched (>80%) uniform porosities size vasculature memetic channels andcell-specific biochemical and mechanical properties. Stable for the weeks-long cell cultureandcapable of supporting 3500 cm^3 volume per scaffold (e.g. L25 cm — W15 cm — H10 cm) thistechnology is well-positioned for commercial-scale cultured meat production. This project seeks toadvance this technology through the following objectives: 1) Investigate edible fiber-cellinteractions with immortalized bovine satellite cell lines and C2C12 myoblasts; 2) Determine meatstructure development parameters on scaffold; and 3) Develop a perfusion-based dynamic cellculture system to validate the scalability assumptions. Successful completion of these objectiveswill prepare CytoNest for future work focused onimplementing the proposed technology at scaleand demonstrating proof of concept with whole cut meat cultivation.