We develop cell lines capable of growing and differentiating without growth factors to enable scale up
Ongoing Projects
We are leveraging on synthetic biology to generate self-sustaining and cheap-to-differentiate animal stem cells
We are developing inexpensive home-made media for expansion and differentiation of PSCs
We collaborate with the Future EATing (FEAT) research group and other colleagues in Italy to promote scientific dissemination of cultivated meat in Italy
We are leveraging on synthetic biology to generate self-sustaining and cheap-to-differentiate animal stem cells
We are developing inexpensive home-made media for expansion and differentiation of PSCs
We collaborate with the Future EATing (FEAT) research group and other colleagues in Italy to promote scientific dissemination of cultivated meat in Italy
Week-long forward programming of human pluripotent stem cell into skeletal myocytes (Pawlowski M., Ortmann D., Bertero A., et al Stem Cell Reports 2016)
Earlier Contributions
We contributed to 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.
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.
We contributed to 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.
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.