We apply our knowledge in genetic engineering and stem cell differentiation to empower cellular agricolture with the goal of reducing the ecological devastation associated to animal protein consumption

Week-long forward programming of human pluripotent stem cell into skeletal myocytes (Pawlowski M., Ortmann D., Bertero A., et al Stem Cell Reports 2016)

Ongoing Projects

We are leveraging on synthetic biology to generate self-sustaining and cheap-to-differentiate fish stem cells

​Earlier Contributions

In collaboration with the the non-profit organization Clean Research we published a perspective arguing that the current for-profit model for cellular agriculture is insufficient to rapidly drive the required innovation in the field, and must be complemented by cross-disciplinary basic research. We further proposed that a lean fish widely studied in biomedical sciences, zebrafish, would be a valid and much simpler model to establish a solid research framework to support the further development of cellular agriculture.
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We co-developed an OPTimized inducible OvereXpression (OPTiOX) technology that has been applied to rapidly and efficiently derive skeletal myocytes through forced overexpression of the master myogenic regulator MYOD1 in pluripotent stem cells. The resulting patent has been licensed to Meatable, a Dutch startup which aims to generate lab-grown meat.