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Draper Scholar Peter Hsi Presents Research on Traumatic Brain Injury

Kaplan Lab PhD student and Draper Scholar, Peter Hsi, recently presented his research on traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) at the 2023 Draper Research Symposium. As part of the Kaplan Lab’s Neuro group, Peter’s work focuses on utilizing a 3D silk model of the brain to investigate biomarkers for diagnosing TBIs and to evaluate potential treatments. This innovative approach, combining the Kaplan Lab’s biomaterial expertise with Draper’s cutting-edge technology, aims to improve our understanding and management of these complex injuries. To learn more, check out the article below! Citation: Draper Scholars present research on injury management (Tufts Now)

InSciDE Conference Presentation: TERMIS Americas 2023

Members of the lab including Marly Coe, Sydni Rosenfeld, Volha Liaudanskaya, Liam Power, Philip Houtz, Ying Chen, and Michael Whalen presented at the TERMIS Americas Annual Conference (Boston, MA) in 2023! Their oral and poster presentations were titled “A 3D Human Brain-like Tissue Model Of Neuro-regeneration After Traumatic Brain Injury” and “3D In-Vitro Scaffold Model of Blood-Brain Barrier” respectively. Check out more about the conference here: https://am2023.termis.org/.

Key Insights from the Inaugural Tufts Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day Keynote

At the inaugural Tufts University Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day, David Kaplan moderates a panel featuring industry pioneers Mark Post, Isha Datar, Bruce Friedrich, and Uma Valeti. The discussion marks a decade of progress since the world’s first cultivated beef burger and evaluates the field’s transition from proving scientific viability to tackling industrial scale up. Panelists emphasize that while cellular agriculture has grown to include over 150 companies globally, the next phase requires significant government investment and shared infrastructure to achieve cost parity with traditional meat production. The speakers highlight the essential role of public and private partnerships in raising this… Read More »Key Insights from the Inaugural Tufts Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day Keynote

73 Questions with David Kaplan: Science, Students, and Cellular Agriculture

In this stylized interview, David Kaplan provides a personal look into the daily life and inspirations behind the Kaplan Lab. He shares the history of the Biomedical Engineering department at Tufts, which he helped found over twenty years ago to meet a surge in student interest. Throughout the conversation, Professor Kaplan emphasizes that his primary motivation is his students, highlighting the passion and leadership of early researchers like Natalie Rubio, who helped establish the cellular agriculture program in earnest seven years ago. The discussion also covers the lab’s significant milestones, including a major USDA grant that has allowed Tufts to… Read More »73 Questions with David Kaplan: Science, Students, and Cellular Agriculture

Sophie Letcher – New Harvest Fellowship Series

In this episode of the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast, Sophie Letcher discusses her multidisciplinary path from neuroscience to her current role as a PhD student and New Harvest Research Fellow in the Kaplan Lab. Sophie details her innovative research into developmental bioelectricity, which explores how controlling the electrical charge of cells can instruct tissue growth and maturation. By manipulating these natural signals, she aims to enhance the efficiency of muscle development for cultivated meat, potentially leading to products with customized textures or improved nutritional profiles. The conversation also highlights Sophie’s work in entomoculture, the practice of growing meat… Read More »Sophie Letcher – New Harvest Fellowship Series

The Future of Food: Scaling Alternative Proteins

In this SXSW panel, experts discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of alternative proteins, focusing on the technological and financial milestones needed to bring cultivated meat to the mainstream. Dr. Natalie Rubio, representing Arc Biotech and the Kaplan Lab, shares her insights on the transition from academic research to the private sector and the critical need for specialized bioreactors. The conversation highlights the collaborative spirit between startups, non-profits like the Good Food Institute, and government bodies to overcome hurdles such as high production costs and regulatory approvals. The panelists remain optimistic about the potential for these technologies to address global challenges… Read More »The Future of Food: Scaling Alternative Proteins

Natalie Rubio and the Future of Insect-Based Cultured Meat

In this segment of Mission Unstoppable, graduate researcher Natalie Rubio explains how the Kaplan Lab uses insect cells to create sustainable alternatives to traditional meat. She focuses on tobacco hornworms because their high muscle and fat content provide a unique texture similar to lobster or crab. By harvesting cells from insect eggs rather than the animals themselves, researchers can grow meat in a lab setting without causing harm to sentient beings. The process involves using scaffolds to give the growing cells structure and prevent them from becoming a formless substance. Natalie demonstrates how natural materials like parsley can be stripped… Read More »Natalie Rubio and the Future of Insect-Based Cultured Meat

John Yuen – New Harvest Fellowship Series

In this episode of the Cultured Meat and Future Food Show, John Yuen discusses his doctoral research at the Kaplan Lab, where he focuses on overcoming the challenges of nutrient and oxygen delivery in large-scale tissue constructs. John explains that while cells can typically only survive a few hundred microns from a source of nutrition, his work aims to develop perfused 3D tissue culture strategies to grow thicker pieces of muscle and fat. By investigating methods to create vascular-like networks within these tissues, he hopes to enable the production of whole cuts of meat with the complex structural organization found… Read More »John Yuen – New Harvest Fellowship Series

Andrew Stout – New Harvest Fellowship Series

In this episode of the New Harvest Fellowship Series, Andrew Stout discusses his doctoral research at the Kaplan Lab where he applies synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to enhance the nutritional profile of cultured meat. Andrew details his pioneering work in engineering bovine cells to produce beta carotene, a plant nutrient not naturally found in beef, which acts as a powerful antioxidant. By integrating these phytonutrients directly into the meat, he aims to create a “superfood” version of cultivated protein that could potentially reduce the oxidative damage often associated with red meat consumption. Beyond the biochemistry of his research, Andrew… Read More »Andrew Stout – New Harvest Fellowship Series

Natalie Rubio – New Harvest Fellowship Series

In this episode of the Cultured Meat and Future Food Show, Natalie Rubio discusses her pioneering doctoral research at the Kaplan Lab, where she focuses on growing cultured meat from insect cells. Funded by a New Harvest fellowship, her work addresses some of the primary technical hurdles in cellular agriculture, such as the high cost and scaling difficulties of traditional mammalian cell culture. Natalie explains that insect cells are inherently robust and require simpler growth media, making them a potentially more sustainable and cost effective foundation for the next generation of alternative proteins. Beyond the technical aspects of her research,… Read More »Natalie Rubio – New Harvest Fellowship Series

Entomoculture: Reimagining the Future of Food with Insect Cells

In this presentation from the New Harvest 2019 Conference, Natalie Rubio introduces the concept of entomoculture, which combines the sustainability of edible insects with the technology of cellular agriculture. She argues that culturing insect cells offers significant advantages over traditional mammalian cell culture, as insect cells are more robust and can grow at room temperature in simpler, serum free media. By targeting specific muscle and fat body tissues, this research aims to create familiar, high protein food products that avoid the sensory barriers often associated with eating whole insects. Natalie shares her success in cultivating fruit fly and caterpillar muscle… Read More »Entomoculture: Reimagining the Future of Food with Insect Cells

Exploring the Future of Food with Insect-Based Proteins

In a featured segment from CBS Boston, Natalie Rubio discusses her groundbreaking research at the Kaplan Lab on the potential of insect based cellular agriculture. As a doctoral candidate, she explores using stem cells from tobacco hornworm caterpillars to create sustainable meat and seafood substitutes. This work is driven by a commitment to improving animal welfare and reducing the environmental footprint of our food system, particularly by decreasing the methane emissions and water usage associated with traditional livestock. The research highlights a growing movement toward using advanced biotechnology to solve global food challenges. By growing tissues in a controlled lab… Read More »Exploring the Future of Food with Insect-Based Proteins

Scaffolds 101: Building the Foundation for Cultured Meat

In this 2017 New Harvest presentation, Natalie Rubio discusses the critical role of scaffolding in transforming two dimensional cell cultures into structured meat products like steak or chicken breast. She explains that scaffolds provide the necessary surface area for muscle cells to adhere to and guide their development into organized tissues. While cellular agriculture has historically adapted techniques from the medical industry, Natalie emphasizes that food production introduces unique requirements, as scaffolds must be edible, sustainable, and capable of enhancing the final product’s texture and nutritional profile. Natalie details several potential scaffolding materials, including silk, collagen, and plant derived cellulose.… Read More »Scaffolds 101: Building the Foundation for Cultured Meat

Exploring the Limitless Potential of Silk in High-Tech and Medicine

In this presentation, David Kaplan and Fiorenzo Omenetto discuss their transformative research into “reverse engineering” silk into a versatile, water-based solution that serves as a foundation for a wide array of sustainable technologies. From biocompatible medical implants and non-invasive drug delivery systems to programmable green electronics and shelf-stable vaccine storage, their work showcases how this ancient protein can be reimagined to solve modern challenges in global health and environmental sustainability. Their collaborative efforts continue to push the boundaries of materials science, bridging the gap between nature’s strongest natural polymer and the next generation of high-tech applications.