Engineered Protein Polymers for Industrial Cell Culture (EPPICC)

在世界范围内，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有关的温室气体排放的57%。为了以环保的方式提供真正的肉类体验，企业正在开发人造肉，利用生物反应器中培养的动物细胞制成肉类产品。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线索——一种附着的基质和被称为生长因子的信号分子。目前，这些单独部件的生产复杂、昂贵且难以规模化。这些成分大大增加了养殖肉类生产的成本，使其比传统肉类贵得多。我们的激进解决方案使用了一种叫做Caf1的工程蛋白，我们利用细菌大量生产这种蛋白。Caf1形成模块化的惰性聚合物，可以通过插入生长因子或粘附因子的小片段来修饰。这就提供了对生长因子和基质的需求，在一个具有成本效益的产品中。Caf1生产成本低廉，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Caf1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部门发展的主要障碍。这些相同的材料可以用来生产用于治疗的细胞，但要做到这一点，我们的Caf1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Caf1的产品在用于临床细胞治疗制造之前必须满足的监管要求。在这个为期12个月的项目结束时，我们将有证据表明，Caf1是一项巨大的颠覆性技术，将对人们的生活和地球的健康产生深远的影响。

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.