SBIR Phase II: Microbe-based scaffold for the generation of structured cell-based meat

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目的更广泛影响是通过开发新技术来促进养殖肉类生产，以对抗动物养殖业的深刻负面影响。大约30%的地球表面、70%的可耕地和29%的全球淡水供应专门用于动物养殖。畜牧业排放的温室气体占全球排放量的18%，是对地球生物多样性的最大威胁之一。在美国使用的所有抗生素中，有很大一部分(70%)用于农场动物，这是抗生素耐药细菌出现的主要原因，给美国带来了550亿美元的经济负担，使美国的医疗体系不堪重负，每年有200万人感染，25万人住院，至少2.3万人死亡。准备应对动物养殖负面影响的新兴行业是养殖肉类行业，据估计，该行业将减少7%-45%的能源消耗，78%-96%的温室气体排放，99%的土地使用，82%-96%的用水，并可能消除肉类生产中使用抗生素的需要。该项目旨在进一步开发一种新技术，使栽培肉的生产在经济上可行。拟议的项目旨在解决阻碍栽培肉经济可行性的主要障碍之一--细胞培养基成本。栽培肉的价格必须与传统肉类相比具有竞争力，才能成为工业化养殖生产的肉类的可行替代品。因此，就像动物饲料一样，细胞培养基必须像草或政府补贴的玉米一样便宜，才能以相当的利润率生产栽培肉类。该项目的目标是通过进一步开发专有脚手架技术消除昂贵的介质成分来降低介质成本，并通过采用超高效、高密度的生物反应器来减少生产养殖肉类所需的介质总量。为此，将进一步开发在第一阶段工作中产生的支架技术，以纳入生长因子，这是细胞培养基中最昂贵的元素，从而降低培养基总成本。然后，支架将被改装用于高密度、灌注型生物反应器，这些生物反应器使用一小部分介质作为传统的搅拌槽生物反应器，从而减少介质的总体消耗。这两项战略将共同降低培育肉类生产的总体成本。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 II project is to combat the profound negative impacts of the animal farming industry through the development of new technologies to advance cultivated meat production. Approximately 30% of the Earth’s surface, 70% of all arable land, and 29% of the global freshwater supply is dedicated to animal farming. Livestock is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the largest threats to earth’s biodiversity. A significant fraction (70%) of all antibiotics used in the United States are used on farm animals and this is a primary cause of the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, leaving the United States with an economic burden of $55 billion and a healthcare system overwhelmed with 2,000,000 infections, 250,000 hospitalizations, and at least 23,000 deaths per year. An emerging industry poised to combat the negative impacts of animal farming is the cultivated meat industry, which is estimated to decrease energy use by 7-45%, greenhouse gases by 78-96%, land use by 99%, water use by 82-96%, and could eliminate the need for antibiotics use in meat production. The project aims to further develop a novel technology that will allow for the economically feasible production of cultivated meat.The proposed project aims to solve one of the major barriers impeding the economic feasibility of cultivated meat – cell culture media cost. Cultivated meat must be priced competitively with conventional meat if it is to be a viable alternative to meat produced via industrial farming. Thus, as with animal feed, cell culture media must be as inexpensive as grass or government-subsidized corn to allow for the production of cultivated meat at a comparable profit margin. The goal of this project focuses on reducing media costs by eliminating expensive media components through further development of proprietary scaffolding technology and reducing the overall volume of media required to generate cultivated meat through the adaptation of ultra-efficient, high-density bioreactors. To do this, the scaffolding technology generated during the Phase I effort will be further developed to incorporate growth factors, the most expensive elements of cell culture media, thereby reducing the overall cost of media. Then, the scaffolds will be adapted for use in high-density, perfusion-based bioreactors that use a fraction of the media as conventional stirred-tank bioreactors, thereby reducing the overall consumption of media. Together, these two strategies will lower the overall cost of cultivated meat production.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.