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EntoCellular: Redefining Sustainable Pet Nutrition

EntoCellular is taking significant strides in its mission to provide sustainable and ethical protein for the pet food industry. Co-founders Sophie Letcher and Michael Saad, both recent PhD graduates from the Kaplan Lab, are leveraging over a decade of research into insect cell culture to create “entoprotein.” This real animal protein is produced without the environmental or ethical drawbacks of traditional factory farming. In recent talks at the Tufts Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day and IdeaCon, Sophie shared her entrepreneurial journey and highlighted how insect cells offer a more resilient and cost-effective pathway to scaling cultivated meat. The team has already… Read More »EntoCellular: Redefining Sustainable Pet Nutrition

Shifting Gears: David Kaplan on the Future of Cellular Agriculture

At the 2026 Tufts Future Food Innovation Day, David Kaplan joined Bruce Friedrich to discuss how cellular agriculture is moving beyond the initial startup phase and into a more mature era of public-sector and institutional support. David shared his insights on the “second wave” of specialized companies entering the field and emphasized the need for better communication regarding the safety, control, and food security benefits of cultivated products. See below for a full playlist of all of the talks during the 2026 Tufts Future Food Innovation Day: Citation: Cellular ag moves beyond the startup phase

Dr. Camilo Riquelme-Guzmán Receives the “Dr. Humberto Maturana Romesín” Prize

The Kaplan Lab is incredibly proud to celebrate postdoctoral researcher Dr. Camilo Riquelme-Guzmán for receiving the prestigious “Dr. Humberto Maturana Romesín” prize for early career researchers. Awarded by the Chilean Society for Biology at their annual meeting in Valparaíso, this honor recognizes Camilo’s outstanding contributions to biological research. During the event, Camilo joined fellow awardees Diyanira Castillo Novales, Simón P. Castillo, and Korina Ocampo-Zuleta to present their work and discuss the future of the field with distinguished leaders like Dr. Michael Seeger and Dr. Rosa Devés. Camilo expressed deep gratitude for the mentors and colleagues who have supported his scientific… Read More »Dr. Camilo Riquelme-Guzmán Receives the “Dr. Humberto Maturana Romesín” Prize

David Kaplan Explores the Potential of Cellular Agriculture for a Sustainable Future

In this presentation for the Tufts Senior Connection, David Kaplan details the lab’s pioneering work in cellular agriculture, a field dedicated to producing high-quality meat and dairy products directly from animal cells without the need for traditional factory farming. By leveraging tissue engineering and plant-based scaffolding, the Kaplan Lab is addressing global challenges such as resource scarcity and food security while simultaneously enhancing the nutritional profile and safety of the foods we consume. Professor Kaplan highlights the dramatic reduction in production costs and the exciting future where personalized, sustainable food options can be tailored to meet individual health needs.

Natalie Rubio on the Journey of Cellular Agriculture

In this TEDxTufts talk, Dr. Natalie Rubio, a former PhD student in the Kaplan Lab, shares her decade long passion for cellular agriculture and the quest to produce meat from cells rather than animals. She recounts her unique research into growing meat from insect cells, which led to a NASA grant to study “space food,” and discusses the evolution of the field from theoretical idealism to the practical realities of industrial scaling. Dr. Rubio highlights the current challenges facing the industry, including high production costs and the technical difficulty of creating structured products like steaks. Despite these hurdles, she remains… Read More »Natalie Rubio on the Journey of Cellular Agriculture

2025 Fireside Chat: Insights from David Kaplan and Bruce Friedrich

At the 2025 Tufts University Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day, David Kaplan and Bruce Friedrich, president of the Good Food Institute, discuss the evolving state of cellular agriculture. They reflect on a year of significant progress, highlighted by major funding initiatives like the Bezos Earth Fund and deepening government support globally. Professor Kaplan emphasizes the importance of a collaborative scientific ecosystem and mentions the upcoming first Gordon Research Conference dedicated to future foods in 2026. The conversation addresses critical challenges such as the need for innovative scale up solutions beyond traditional pharmaceutical methods. David Kaplan calls for new paradigms in bioreactor… Read More »2025 Fireside Chat: Insights from David Kaplan and Bruce Friedrich

David Kaplan and Nicole Tichenor Blackstone chat with WBUR’s Radio Boston

David Kaplan and Nicole Tichenor Blackstone recently joined WBUR’s Radio Boston to discuss the transformative potential of cellular agriculture in reducing the environmental footprint of our food system. With a significant new grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Tufts is establishing the Foodtech Engineering for Alternative Sustainable Technologies (FEAST) center to advance research in cultivated meat. This initiative aims to address the environmental challenges of traditional animal agriculture by developing more sustainable and resource efficient protein sources. The conversation highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between engineering and environmental science to tackle the technical hurdles of scaling production. By… Read More »David Kaplan and Nicole Tichenor Blackstone chat with WBUR’s Radio Boston

Cultivated Meats: Pioneering Safety in Next-Gen Proteins

In a presentation at the ILSI AM2024, David Kaplan introduces the core concepts and future of cellular agriculture, focusing on the production of meat and dairy products directly from animal cells. He outlines the basic paradigm of isolating cells, multiplying them in bioreactors, and using edible scaffolding to create familiar food products without the need for traditional animal husbandry. Professor Kaplan also discusses the significant challenges facing the industry, such as scaling manufacturing, reducing costs, and ensuring safety, while highlighting the unique opportunities for “therapeutic foods” engineered for specific nutritional needs.

Three Kaplan Lab undergrads present their Spring 2024 research

Sophomore engineering students from Roxbury Community College (RCC), Jack Limage (left photo) and Ania Jeleniewska (middle photo), presented at the RCC Internship Showcase today to culminate their Spring 2024 internships in the Kaplan Lab. Jack presented his work on “Silk Materials Development for Beta Cell Implantation” under the mentorship of Kaplan Lab post-doc, Logan Morton. Ania presented “Sustainable Fiber Production Utilizing Regenerated Proteins” under the mentorship of Kaplan Lab post-doc, Lauren Blake. That same day, Tufts BME sophomore Josh Kopstein (right photo), who was also mentored by Blake, presented at the Tufts Spring 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium on his research “Bioengineered Elastic… Read More »Three Kaplan Lab undergrads present their Spring 2024 research

BME Masters student, Lauren Cartwright, gives an udderly fantastic defense!

Big congrats to Lauren for successfully defending her masters thesis entitled, “Investigation of in vitro milk production using mammary epithelial cell culture.” Her thesis work evaluated the impact of different cell culturing environments on cell organization and the production of milk components in the form of fat, sugar, and protein. Her findings highlighted that although lactogenic hormones in the culture media are crucial, the features of the 3D culture environment play an even more significant role in influencing lactation behavior. Best wishes to Lauren in her next steps!

Reflections on the Ninth Anniversary of Cellular Agriculture

At a special event celebrating the ninth anniversary of the term “cellular agriculture,” a panel of industry pioneers gathered at Tufts University to reflect on the field’s history and future. Meera Zassenhaus, head of communications for the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA), moderates a discussion featuring New Harvest executive director Isha Datar, Perfect Day founder Ryan Pandya, and Kaplan Lab alum Natalie Rubio. The panel revisits the 2015 Facebook thread where the term was first coined and discusses how the industry has transitioned from an idealistic r&d phase to a more complex period of commercialization and institutional support.… Read More »Reflections on the Ninth Anniversary of Cellular Agriculture

The State of Cellular Agriculture: A Fireside Chat with David Kaplan and Bruce Friedrich

At the Tufts University Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day 2024, David Kaplan and Bruce Friedrich, president of the Good Food Institute, discuss the current state and future of the cellular agriculture field. Professor Kaplan expresses his “eternal optimism” regarding the industry’s growth, citing the incredible passion and dedication of students who are driving innovation from the ground up. He emphasizes that while the field faces economic and scaling challenges, the continued advancement of core sciences (such as cell isolation and low-cost media development) provides a clear path toward a more sustainable and secure food system.

“Pork Tank” Showcases Innovative Solutions in Cellular Agriculture

Students in the “Cellular Agriculture & Biofabricated Foods” course recently pitched their startup ideas in a “Pork Tank” competition, a “Shark Tank”-style event designed to generate solutions for the cellular agriculture industry. The event, which serves as the final project for the course, featured guest judges from the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) and the Kaplan Lab. This year’s winners, “Media Cycle Ventures” and “The Meating Place,” impressed the judges with their innovative approaches to some of the most pressing challenges in the field. Citation: Pitches from the ‘Pork Tank’: Generating Solutions in Cellular Agriculture (Tufts Now)

InSciDE Conference Presentation: American Association of Extracellular Vesicles 2023

Members of the lab including Peter Hsi and Vishal Tandon presented at the American Association of Extracellular Vesicles (AAEV) conference (Boston, MA) in 2023! Their poster presentation was titled “Insights into TBI progression using a 3D brain tissue model to study extracellular vesicles”. Check out more about the conference here: https://www.aaev.org/events-1.

InSciDE Conference Presentation: Advances in 3D Bioprinting and Cerebral Vascular Conferences 2023

Members of the lab including Liam Power, Philip Houtz, Ying Chen, and Michael Whalen presented at both the Advances in 3D Bioprinting Conference (Haifa, Israel) and the Cerebral Vascular Conference (Uppsala, Sweden)! Their poster presentations were titled “Interrogating Mechanisms of Chronic Blood Brain Barrier Damage using 3D In-Vitro Scaffolds”. Check out more about the conferences here: https://bioprinting.net.technion.ac.il/ and https://www.cvb2023.com/.