Development of Hollow-fibre Bioreactor Technology (HFB) to enable resource-efficient cultivated meat production

多年来，肉类一直是全球蛋白质的主要来源。然而，传统肉类生产的健康、环境和动物福利问题推动了对替代品的研究。养殖肉类产品代表了一个令人难以置信的机会，为传统养殖方法提供替代（和补充）方法，以满足全球人口不断增长的需求。这是最准确满足客户期望的替代方法。它释放了土地，比畜牧业需要更少的水。人造肉可以解决全球人口的蛋白质短缺问题，预计到2050年全球人口将达到95亿。然而，人工养殖肉类行业仍处于起步阶段，尽管工艺已经过测试和验证，但以低成本推广该技术仍然是一个巨大的挑战。该联盟汇集了创新的组织工程和生物反应器专家、细胞农业（CellAg）和英国最大的独立食品和饮料研发机构Campden BRI（CBRI）。该项目旨在优化，测试和验证中空纤维生物反应器（HFB）生产养殖肉制品的可扩展性。与目前最先进的生物反应器（例如搅拌罐/固定床）相比，HFB具有显著的优势，细胞密度增加，设计紧凑，成本效益高，排放量低，这将释放培养肉类生产的商业可行性。在CellAg领导的概念验证工作的基础上，该财团将开发一个HFB系统原型演示器，该演示器将在CBRI的设施中进行优化。CBRI将与CellAg合作，对生产样品进行测试，并对食品质量、安全、监管、经济和可持续性进行评估。该项目将使CellAg能够进一步开发和测试HFB，以快速将其项目后技术商业化，用于食品制造商和养殖肉类公司。该项目将通过开发尖端的养殖肉类生产系统，使CBRI处于创新食品研究的最前沿。在项目期间获得的知识也将由CBRI以电子学习课程和支持服务的形式进行生产。

For years, meat has been the main source of protein globally. However, the health, environmental and animal welfare concerns of traditional meat production have driven the search for alternatives. Cultivated meat products represent an incredible opportunity to provide an alternative (and complementary) method to traditional farming methods to keep up with the growing demand of the global population.It is the alternative that would meet customer's expectations the most accurately. It frees up land and requires less water than livestock farming. Cultivated meat could address the protein shortage for a global population projected to reach 9.5bn by 2050\. However, the cultivated meat industry is still in its infancy and although processes have been tested and validated, scaling the technology at low-cost remains an immense challenge.This consortium brings together innovative tissue engineering and bioreactor specialist, Cellular Agriculture (CellAg), and Campden BRI (CBRI), the UK's largest independent food and drinks R&D organisation. This project intends to optimise, test and validate the scalability of hollow-fibre bioreactors (HFB) to produce cultivated meat products. HFB has significant advantages compared to current state-of-the-art bioreactors (e.g.stirred-tank/fixed-bed) with increased cell density, compact design, cost-efficiency and lower emissions which would unlock the commercial viability of cultivated meat production.Building on proof-of-concept work led by CellAg, the consortium will develop an HFB system prototype demonstrator that will be optimised at CBRI's facilities. CBRI will then collaborate with CellAg to test production samples and develop food quality, safety, regulatory, economic and sustainability assessments.This project will enable CellAg to further develop and test the HFB to rapidly commercialise their technology post-project to food manufacturers and cultivated meat companies. This project will put CBRI at the forefront of innovative food research by developing a cutting-edge cultivated meat production system. The knowledge acquired during the project will also be productised by CBRI in the form of e-learning courses and supporting services.