Cultivating the Future: Cellular Agriculture at Tufts University

For many years scientists have wondered if there is a way to synthetically produce meat, a popular and beloved food, without its environmental repercussions and harm to animals. Currently, the answers to these wonders lie in the hallways of Tufts University’s Science and Technology Center. In the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA), run by David Kaplan, PhD, students are actively researching the production of “in vitro meat” in the field known as cellular agriculture.

With the world’s population projected to expand to 9.7 billion by 2050, food production will have to increase by at least 70% (Pilařová et al., 2022). Animal products make up roughly 35% of the caloric content of the current food supply (National Research Council (US) Committee on Technological Options to Improve the Nutritional Attributes of Animal Products, 2018). In its current form, the meat industry accelerates the impacts of climate change through deforestation, methane and nitrous oxide pollution, and consumption of resources such as crops and fresh water. Simultaneously, millions of animals are being slaughtered daily for meat production.

Cellular agriculture poses a solution to the current meat production industry and all of its externalities as it is more efficient, ethical, and sustainable. Cellular agriculture refers to the field of cultivating agricultural commodities such as chicken and beef from cells rather than whole animals. As Dr. Kaplan puts it, “we are growing food or meat without the animal.” Cellular agriculture utilizes cell culture, tissue engineering, and related biotechnologies to create these products.

Many students are actively pursuing research in TUCCA such as Emily Lew, a 4+1 Master’s student studying Biomedical Engineering. Lew began her research as an undergraduate under former mentor John Yuen Jr, PhD, working on the aggregation of porcine adipose to make 3D constructs of fat tissue. Lew is currently pursuing her masters thesis on porcine adipose tissue focusing on cell line establishment as well as sensory profiling for cultivated pig fat. Lew explains that she chose this research because it “filled a large need in the industry as there is a severe lack of sensorial data of cultured meat.” Lew explains that cellular agriculture not only “changed [her] career path but also [her] outlook on science by combining [her] academic pursuits of cell biology with [her] personal interests in environmentalism, food systems and animal welfare.”

Graduate student conducting research in the TUCCA lab. Photo: Alonso Nichols

Kevin Zhang is a current junior at Tufts double majoring in Biology and Biotechnology who currently works in TUCCA. Zhang first heard about cellular agriculture before college and was excited to discover that the Kaplan Lab had a group dedicated to it. Zhang began pursuing research in TUCCA in his sophomore year under the former mentor Dr. Yuen, and now currently, with Lew. Since beginning his work in TUCCA, Zhang has immersed himself in numerous projects and research from developing cell lines for cultured meat to developing methods to create macroscale 3D structures of tissue. Zhang is now beginning a project of his own focusing on the vascularization of adipose tissue researching the process of co-culturing adipose tissue with endothelial cells in an attempt to allow for macroscale tissue growth. Zhang explains that “the most exciting part of being in the lab is getting to see microscopic cells grow into tangible constructs of meat that provide solutions to major societal issues and furthermore getting to be involved in creation of these solutions.”

In addition to research, TUCCA works on educational outreach and professional development. In collaboration with the School of Engineering, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science, The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Arts and Sciences, TUCCA reaches many schools and disciplines at Tufts. Currently, Tufts offers a certificate in cellular agriculture through the graduate School of Biomedical Engineering as well as 3 course offerings open to undergraduate students interested in cellular agriculture. One of these courses, “Value Creation in Cellular Agriculture” will be making its debut in Fall 2023. Taught by Jake Marko, an instructor in cellular agriculture at Tufts University, this course intends to be open to every major regardless of STEM background. Marko explains that "there are so many different fields that intersect when it comes to cellular agriculture that extend beyond engineering... Disciplines such as marketing, sociology, philosophy, economics and various others are all essential to the industry and complementary to engineering." Dr. Kaplan explains that he “wants to see cellular agriculture grow in all schools at the university” and courses like Value Creation in Cellular Agriculture are only the beginning.

In addition to all the work TUCCA has done for Tufts, it has  also made great strides in the broader world. In January 2023, TUCCA hosted the first Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day where “more than 100 researchers, business leaders, educators, and other stakeholders met to showcase and explore the latest in sustainably created food” (Tufts Now, 2023). In April 2023, they were recognized for creating the first and only publicly available muscle cell line for the Atlantic Mackerel fish. In 2021, TUCCA was awarded a grant of $10 million by the USDA to fund their research and growth. These are only a fraction of what TUCCA has accomplished and contributed.

Dr. Kaplan remarks that the current food system involving “industrial farming, the marine environment, pesticides, heavy metals, and plastic waste” is “a disaster waiting to happen for high quality food and food equity on this planet”. Cellular agriculture is a radically necessary alternative to meat production in its current form, and, as Dr. Kaplan puts it, “cellular agriculture has all the answers, and if you think of having an impact I can't think of anything better.”

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References

About | Cellular Agriculture at Tufts University. (n.d.). Cellularagriculture.tufts.edu. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://cellularagriculture.tufts.edu/about

National Research Council (US) Committee on Technological Options to Improve the Nutritional Attributes of Animal Products. (2018). Current Trends in Consumption of Animal Products. Nih.gov; National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218176/

Pilařová, L., Kvasničková Stanislavská, L., Pilař, L., Balcarová, T., & Pitrová, J. (2022). Cultured Meat on the Social Network Twitter: Clean, Future and Sustainable Meats. Foods, 11(17), 2695. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11172695

Tufts University’s first Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day | Tufts Now. (2023, January 25). Now.tufts.edu. https://now.tufts.edu/2023/01/25/leaders-cellular-agriculture-gather-tufts-transform-way-we-eat-meat