Leveraging thermal biology to optimise cricket rearing

在不断变化的世界中，蟋蟀是人类食物和动物饲料中有前途的可持续蛋白质来源。目前的重点是扩大和自动化蟋蟀生产，并针对特定结果优化生产（例如，最大限度地提高生物质产量或蛋白质含量）。昆虫的生长速度、营养成分和存活率都取决于温度，因此该项目将探索这些关系，使Aspire Food Group能够优化它们的饲养环境，以获得特定的结果，并在生产过程中灵活地应对温度变化。实习生将学习在工业和实验室环境下的昆虫饲养，一系列与生物技术和农业部门相关的生理、生化和分子生物学技能，以及批判性思维和沟通能力。

House crickets are a promising sustainable source of protein for human food and animal feed in a changing world. A current focus is to scale up and automate cricket production, and to optimise production for specific outcomes (e.g. maximise biomass production or protein content). Insect growth rate, nutrient content and survival are all dependent on temperature, so this project will explore these relationships, allowing Aspire Food Group to optimise their rearing environment for specific outcomes, and react flexibly to temperature variations during production. The interns will learn insect rearing in industrial and laboratory settings, a range of physiological, biochemical, and molecular biology skills relevant throughout the biotech and agricultural sectors, as well as critical thinking and communication.