SBIR Phase I: Fiber-Assisted Perfusion for Cultured Meat Production

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是推动无动物肉类替代品的发展。今天，以植物为基础的肉类主要由素食者和素食主义者消费，他们愿意接受更高的成本或与动物肉类相比味道不同。最近，植物性汉堡和香肠变得流行起来，但全切肉类的情况却截然不同。例如，牛排或鸡胸肉具有独特的质地和味道，这是不含动物的替代品所无法比拟的。拟议的项目将改善替代肉类的质地，并提供一条改善营养、味道和芳香的途径。拟议的项目解决了植物性肉类的局限性：它们缺乏天然肉类中独特的纤维质地。该项目开发了与动物肌肉纤维结构相似的超细蛋白质纤维。该项目的目标包括生产超细蛋白质纤维，开发无菌生物反应器系统以容纳用于组织工程的纤维支架，以及在纤维支架生物反应器中培养各种与农业相关的动物细胞的可行性研究。第一个项目的目标是克服使用可扩展的食品安全工艺生产可食用蛋白质纤维的技术障碍。AIM 1的交付产品将是可食用纤维蛋白支架，其质地类似于肉类。项目目标2将评估灌流系统，以在有利于细胞培养的无菌条件下安全地放置支架。AIM 2的交付产品将是可重复使用的定制组织培养箱。项目目标3将根据动物细胞在我们的纤维组织工程支架中培养时的增殖率和活性来比较选定的动物细胞。AIM 3的成果将是基于动物细胞的肌肉和/或脂肪组织。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the advancement of animal-free meat alternatives. Today, plant-based meats are consumed mostly by vegans and vegetarians willing to accept higher costs or different tastes compared with meat from animals. Recently, plant-based burgers and sausages have become popular, but the situation is very different for whole-cut meats. Steaks or chicken breasts, for example, have unique textures and tastes that are not yet matched by animal-free alternatives. The proposed project will improve the texture of alternative meats and provide a path to improved nutrition, taste, and aroma.The proposed project addresses a limitation of plant-based meats: they lack the distinct fibrous texture found in natural meats. This project advances ultrafine protein fibers with similar structure to animal muscle fibers. Project aims include ultrafine protein fiber production, development of sterile bioreactor systems to house fiber scaffolds for tissue engineering, and feasibility studies of culturing a variety of agriculturally relevant animal cells in the fiber scaffold bioreactors. The first project aim will overcome the technical hurdle of producing edible protein fibers using scalable food-safe processes. The deliverable for Aim 1 will be edible fibrous protein scaffolds with textures approximating meats. Project Aim 2 will evaluate perfusion systems to securely house scaffolds under sterile conditions conducive to cell culture. The deliverable for Aim 2 will be reusable custom tissue culture chambers. Project Aim 3 will compare a selection of animal cells based on their proliferation rates and viability when cultured in our fibrous tissue engineering scaffolds. The deliverable for Aim 3 will be animal cell-based muscle and/or fat tissues.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.