Dynamic cell cultivation of edible 3D printed scaffolds for cultivated meat
Channel: General ideas and needs in the field of additive manufacturing
Cultivated animal proteins, specifically cultivated meat, have significant potential to drastically decrease the environmental footprint and ethical challenges associated with traditional livestock farming. While foundational technologies exist and first products are already entering US, Singaporean, and Israeli markets, the manufacturing of high-value items such as steak or filet remains challenging.
Here, additive manufacturing approaches that allow the production of geometrically complex structures may prove instrumental. The control and flexibility of pore size, structure, and anisotropy provided by additive manufacturing technologies is crucial to ensure sufficient cell migration and nutrient transportation required for the cultivation of whole-cuts with a cross-section > 5 mm.
To date, it has been demonstrated that ETH spin-off sallea AG’s proprietary scaffold technology supports the cultivation of relevant model cell lines under static conditions. To confirm scaffold potential under dynamic conditions, it is intended to scale this process to an instrumented bioreactor with the assistance of the biochemical engineering and cell cultivation techniques group at the ZHAW.
