Researchers Boost Cultivated Meat Cell Growth at Lower Cost

Researchers from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel have developed a new scaffold system that significantly improves the growth and development of bovine stem cells for cultivated meat production. The study focuses on how cellulose-based structures infused with growth factors can help produce muscle-like tissue more efficiently and at a lower cost to create structured meat alternatives.

The team engineered a biocompatible, porous, and anisotropic scaffold made from directional freezing of nano and microcrystalline cellulose. These scaffolds supported the growth and differentiation of bovine mesenchymal stem cells into the fat and muscle lineages. By preloading the scaffolds with growth factors, the researchers were able to guide cell development without continuously supplying expensive external growth media.

The study found that the infused scaffolds achieved similar levels of cell growth and differentiation while using at least 10 times less growth factors compared to conventional media delivery. The researchers said this approach could significantly reduce production costs and help advance the development of structured cultivated meat as a sustainable alternative to traditional meat production.

For more information, read the study from the Current Research in Food Science.