Novel edible cellulose microcarriers for the cultured meat industry

70年前，丘吉尔曾说过一句名言：“为了吃鸡胸肉或鸡翅而养整只鸡是荒谬的，我们应该在合适的培养基下分别培养这两部分。”人造肉是一种更健康（少抗生素）、更合乎道德（更好的动物福利）、更高效（更好地利用土地）和可持续的肉类生产方式，可以满足不断增长的人口对蛋白质的需求。据估计，到2030年，人造肉市场将达到300亿英镑（麦肯锡）。为了扩大生产过程的规模，需要一些使能技术，比如可食用的微载体，允许干细胞的固定、增殖和分化，然后收获最终产品。Naturbeads纤维素珠的生产工艺（目前正在从试点工厂扩展到示范工厂）允许定制纤维素珠的特性，以促进细胞的附着、生长和分化。我们已经开发了一个原型，显示细胞培养板（2D）的性能优于商业上可用的支架，目前仅用于研发，因为它们的成本过高。在这个项目中，我们的目标是从概念验证转向商业原型，我们可以在项目结束时出售，用于工业研发，以锁定客户以扩大生产规模。Naturbeads将与Cellular Agriculture合作，在生物反应器（3D）中测试纤维素微载体的性能，以优化细胞增殖、搅拌槽分化和细胞分离的参数。天然珠载体由纤维素制成，这是一种天然的、可食用的、具有生物相容性的生物聚合物，可以从PEFC（森林认证认可计划）的林业集团中可持续地采购。它也不贵，提供了一种低成本的支架结构，有可能降低培养肉的生产成本，使其在未来五年内达到与传统肉类同等的价格。

Seventy years ago, Churchill famously said: 'We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.' Cultured meat is a healthier (less antibiotics), more ethical (better animal welfare), more efficient (better use of land) and sustainable way to produce meat and meet the protein demand of a growing population. The market for cultured meat is estimated to reach £30B in 2030 (McKinsey).To scale the production process there is a need for enabling technologies, like edible microcarriers that allow anchorage, proliferation and differentiation of stem cells, and then harvesting of the final product. Naturbeads cellulose beads production process (currently scaling from pilot to demo plant) allows customizing the properties of the cellulose beads to promote cells attachment, growth, and differentiation. We have already developed a prototype that shows performance in cell culture plates (2D) superior to commercially available scaffolding that are currently only used in R&D due to their prohibitive costs. With this project we aim to move from proof of concept to a commercial prototype that we can sell by the end of the project for industrial R&D to lock in customers for scaled up production. Naturbeads will work together with Cellular Agriculture to test the performance of the cellulose microcarriers in bioreactors (3D) to optimize the parameters for cell proliferation, differentiation in stirred tanks, and cell detachment.Naturbeads carriers are made of cellulose a natural, edible, and biocompatible biopolymer, that can be sourced sustainably from forestry groups part of PEFC (Programme for the endorsement of Forest Certification). It is also inexpensive, offering a low-cost scaffolding structure with the potential to lower production costs of culture meat, allowing it to reach price parity with conventional meat within the next five years.