SBIR Phase I: Fiber-Assisted Perfusion for Cultured Meat Production

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the advancement of animal-free meat alternatives. Today, plant-based meats are consumed mostly by vegans and vegetarians willing to accept higher costs or different tastes compared with meat from animals. Recently, plant-based burgers and sausages have become popular, but the situation is very different for whole-cut meats.

Steaks or chicken breasts, for example, have unique textures and tastes that are not yet matched by animal-free alternatives. The proposed project will improve the texture of alternative meats and provide a path to improved nutrition, taste, and aroma.

The proposed project addresses a limitation of plant-based meats: they lack the distinct fibrous texture found in natural meats. This project advances ultrafine protein fibers with similar structure to animal muscle fibers. Project aims include ultrafine protein fiber production, development of sterile bioreactor systems to house fiber scaffolds for tissue engineering, and feasibility studies of culturing a variety of agriculturally relevant animal cells in the fiber scaffold bioreactors.

The first project aim will overcome the technical hurdle of producing edible protein fibers using scalable food-safe processes. The deliverable for Aim 1 will be edible fibrous protein scaffolds with textures approximating meats. Project Aim 2 will evaluate perfusion systems to securely house scaffolds under sterile conditions conducive to cell culture.

The deliverable for Aim 2 will be reusable custom tissue culture chambers. Project Aim 3 will compare a selection of animal cells based on their proliferation rates and viability when cultured in our fibrous tissue engineering scaffolds. The deliverable for Aim 3 will be animal cell-based muscle and/or fat tissues.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.