Skip to content

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

Undergraduate Researchers at the Forefront of Cellular Agriculture

The Kaplan Lab is proud to provide a fertile ground for undergraduate researchers to explore their passions and contribute to the future of food. Students like Kevin Zhang, Adham Ali, and Olivia Calkins are prime examples of the hands-on opportunities available at Tufts. From Kevin’s sensory evaluation of lab-grown fat to Adham and Olivia’s pioneering role as the first graduates with the new cellular agriculture minor, our undergraduates are deeply engaged in the lab’s work. Furthermore, Adham and Olivia have taken their commitment a step further by co-founding the Tufts chapter of the Alt Protein Project, demonstrating their leadership and… Read More »Undergraduate Researchers at the Forefront 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.

New Cells from Kaplan Lab Could Drastically Reduce Cultivated Meat Costs

A significant breakthrough from the Kaplan Lab promises to dramatically reduce the cost of cultivated meat, as detailed in a recent publication in Cell Reports Sustainability. The research, led by first author and former Kaplan Lab PhD student Dr. Andrew Stout, engineered bovine muscle cells to produce their own growth factors, eliminating the most expensive component of the cell culture media. Now the Director of Science at the Tufts Cellular Agriculture Commercialization Lab, Dr. Stout’s work represents a major step towards making cultivated meat an affordable and accessible food source. To learn more, check out the articles below! Citations: Cultivated… Read More »New Cells from Kaplan Lab Could Drastically Reduce Cultivated Meat Costs

“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)

Tender x TUCCA

Tender Food, a local company working to make delicious, nutritious, and affordable alternative meats, was recently awarded the highly competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF); in this second phase of the project, Tender will collaborate with TUCCA to evaluate the benefits of adding animal cells to Tender’s unique plant-based products. Read more here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tender-food-awarded-nsf-grant-plant-based-meats-enhanced-cultured-n8mxc/?trk=organization_guest_main-feed-card_feed-article-content

Tufts establishes world’s first minor in cellular agriculture

Olivia Calkins and Adham Ali, both members of the Kaplan Lab since their sophomore year, and co-founders of the Tufts Alt Protein Project, are two of the first graduates with the minor. Read more about them and the formation of the minor here: https://now.tufts.edu/2023/11/20/making-students-cellular-agriculture-dreams-come-true

A Taste of the Future: Kaplan Lab Students Visit Bay Area Food-Tech Innovators

PhD students from the Kaplan Lab recently had the unique opportunity to visit several cellular agriculture companies in the Bay Area. The trip provided a valuable, real-world perspective on the industry, allowing students to sample cultivated meat products and connect with scientists working to bring these innovative foods to market. This immersive experience, which bridged the gap between academic research and commercial application, offered a glimpse into the future of food and the exciting career paths available in the field. To learn more, check out the article below! Citation: A Taste of Life Beyond the Lab (Tufts Now)

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

Andrew Stout Featured on the Cover of Trends in Cell Biology

The Kaplan Lab is thrilled to celebrate 5th year PhD student Andrew Stout for his exceptional artistic and scientific contribution to the field of cellular agriculture. Andrew’s original artwork was selected for the cover of the January 2023 issue of Trends in Cell Biology. The vibrant illustration reimagines a traditional kitchen as a high-tech laboratory, complete with “Cas9” jars and “FGF-2” growth factor bottles, perfectly capturing the spirit of modern food innovation. The artwork serves as the visual gateway to the review article “Unlocking the potential of cultivated meat through cell line engineering”. In this work, Andrew and his colleagues… Read More »Andrew Stout Featured on the Cover of Trends in Cell Biology

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

Kaplan lab researcher passages cells

David is director of newly-formed TUCCA consortium

The Tufts University for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) consortium was recently formed to advance the field of cellular agriculture, with David’s lab the central hub at Tufts and collaborators across several Tufts schools, other institutions, and industry partners. Read more about the consortium here: https://now.tufts.edu/2022/10/18/new-cellular-agriculture-consortium-will-help-develop-foods-future

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

Insect cells show promise for space applications

Natalie Rubio and Sophie Letcher, a former graduate student and 2nd year graduate student in the Kaplan Lab respectively, have been working on “Deep Space Entomoculture”, which could potentially be better for deep space than mammalian cell alternatives. Read more about their work, which is highlighted in Tufts Now here: https://now.tufts.edu/2022/10/18/new-cellular-agriculture-consortium-will-help-develop-foods-future

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