Engineered Protein Polymers for Industrial Cell Culture (EPPICC)

用于工业细胞培养的工程蛋白质聚合物 (EPPICC)

• 批准号: 10046064
• 金额: $ 37.89万
• 依托单位: MARRA BIO
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Investment Accelerator
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10046064
• 关键词: Engineered; Protein; Polymers; Industrial; Cell

Worldwide, human consumption of meat is approximately 450 million tonnes per year and is increasing by 1% annually. This habit is fuelling the climate crisis, as meat production is responsible for 57% of all food related greenhouse gas emissions. To provide an authentic meat experience in an environmentally friendly manner, businesses are developing cultivated meat, using animal cells grown in bioreactors and formed into meat products.However, to achieve the quantities necessary, cells must be grown on a hitherto unimaginable industrial scale. To ensure the healthy growth of the cells, they need the correct biological cues - a matrix to adhere to and signalling molecules called growth factors. Currently, production of these individual components is complicated, expensive and difficult to scale. These components vastly increase the cost of cultivated meat production, rendering it far more expensive than traditional meat.Our radical solution uses an engineered protein called Caf1, which we produce in large quantities using bacteria. Caf1 forms modular, inert polymers which can be modified by the insertion of small fragments of either growth or adhesion factors. This supplies the need for growth factors and a matrix in a single cost-effective product. Caf1 is inexpensive to produce, robust, easy-to-use and requires no animal products.In this project we will demonstrate that Caf1 can be produced at large-scale and validate the functionality of several key variants. If successful we will have demonstrated that our technology can remove a major blockage holding back the development of the cultivated meat sector.These same materials could be used to produce cells for therapy, but to do so our Caf1 products must meet stringent regulatory requirements. As a first step to investigate the use of the technology for clinical cell therapy applications we will review the regulatory requirements which Caf1 based products must meet before they can be used in clinical cell therapy manufacture.By the end of this 12-month project, we will have established the evidence that shows that Caf1 is a hugely disruptive technology which will have a profound impact on people's lives and the health of the planet.

在全球范围内，人类每年的肉类消费量约为4.5亿吨，并以每年1%的速度增长。这种习惯正在加剧气候危机，因为肉类生产占所有与食品相关的温室气体排放量的57%。为了以环境友好的方式提供正宗的肉类体验，企业正在开发人造肉，使用在生物反应器中生长的动物细胞并形成肉制品。然而，为了达到所需的数量，细胞必须以迄今难以想象的工业规模生长。为了确保细胞的健康生长，它们需要正确的生物学线索--一种粘附的基质和称为生长因子的信号分子。目前，这些单独部件的生产是复杂的、昂贵的并且难以规模化。这些成分大大增加了人工养殖肉类的生产成本，使其比传统肉类昂贵得多。我们的激进解决方案使用了一种名为Caf 1的工程蛋白，我们使用细菌大量生产这种蛋白。Caf 1形成模块化的惰性聚合物，可以通过插入生长或粘附因子的小片段来修饰。这就满足了对生长因子和基质的需求，使其成为一种具有成本效益的产品。Caf 1生产成本低，坚固耐用，易于使用，不需要动物产品。在这个项目中，我们将证明Caf 1可以大规模生产，并验证几个关键变体的功能。如果成功，我们将证明我们的技术可以消除阻碍养殖肉类行业发展的主要障碍。这些相同的材料可以用于生产治疗用细胞，但要做到这一点，我们的Caf 1产品必须符合严格的监管要求。作为研究该技术用于临床细胞治疗应用的第一步，我们将审查基于Caf 1的产品在用于临床细胞治疗生产之前必须满足的法规要求。在这个为期12个月的项目结束时，我们将有证据表明，Caf 1是一种巨大的颠覆性技术，将对人们的生活和健康产生深远的影响。木星的远近