Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast

John Sanbonmatsu is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, where he teaches ethics, political theory, and the philosophy of technology.  He is author of the book, The Postmodern Prince:  Critical Theory, Left Strategy, and the Making of a New Political Subject, editor of the book, Critical Theory and Animal Liberation, and is the creator and curator of the www.CleanMeat-Hoax.com website.  His new book, The Omnivore's Deception:  What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and the Nature of Moral Life, is expected to be released at the end of 2022.

New Harvest is a nonprofit research institute that supports open, public cultured meat research. Founded in 2004, we are the world’s longest-running organization dedicated to advancing the field of cellular agriculture. This year New Harvest turns 20! As part of the NH@20 podcast series, we interview Executive Isha Datar and discuss milestone achievements over the past two decades, and get a glimpse of what might be coming next. The Cultured Meat Symposium is taking place on September 12-13, 2024. Learn more about the event at register at https://cms2024.com

On this episode, we’re excited to have Joshua March. Joshua is Co-founder and CEO of SCiFi Foods, a startup creating transformational products by combining cultivated meat with plant-based ingredients to make burgers shockingly close to the taste of conventional beef. A serial entrepreneur with two exits to his name, Joshua was previously the Co-founder of Conversocial, a digital care platform for messaging that integrates with many of the world's leading brands. Joshua has a passion for all things food science, environmental sustainability, and believes in the potential of synthetic biology to create superior products for a rapidly growing world. Originally from England and now based in San Francisco.

Sophie Letcher is a PhD student and New Harvest Research Fellow in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Tufts University. She is a part of David Kaplan’s (growing!) cellular agriculture research group, and so far, her research as focused on two main topics. The first is using bioelectricity (endogenous electrical currents) to control muscle cell proliferation and differentiation, and the second is furthering the field of entomoculture (insect cell culture for food). Prior to starting at Tufts, she received her B.A. at Kenyon College in Neuroscience, then worked as a research technician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. This episode was originally recorded in December 2021.

David Kay, Director of Communications at UPSIDE Foods discusses the FDA "No Questions" Letter regarding cultivated chicken as safe to eat. This is a huge milestone within the cell-cultured meat industry and one step closer to seeing cultivated meat products on dinner tables. Alex Shirazi of the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast discusses the meaning behind the announcement and the impact on the food industry. Learn more about UPSIDE Foods at https://upsidefoods.com/. Read the letter at https://upsidechickenletter.com/. Listen to the previous episode with David Kay at https://cmsymp.medium.com/david-kay-of-upside-foods-on-the-cultured-meat-and-future-food-show-podcast-5c0d2cefc4f2

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com On this episode I chat with Lejjy Gafour of CULT Food Science. We chat about Lejjy's background, his start within the cellular agriculture industry, touch on Future Fields, and learn about CULT Food Science. Additional show notes will be posted soon. Are you a regular listener? Be sure to Subscribe or Follow on your favorite podcast platform.

Alex Shirazi sits down with Deniz Kent, Co-founder and CEO of Prolific Machines. Prolific Machines is a Stealth startup based in San Francisco. They are working on technologies that seriously reduces the cost of cultured meat production. On this episode we chat about Deniz' background and how the company came to be. Learn more about Prolific Machines at https://www.prolificmachines.com/

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place on October 28-29, 2022 in Downtown San Francisco. Learn more and register at https://cms2022.com This episode of the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast features Patricia Bubner of Orbillion. Alex and Patricia chat about Orbillion, different cuts of cultivated meat products, and the importance of messaging within the industry. Learn more about Orbillion Bio at https://www.orbillion.com/

On this episode I speak with Yonatan Golan of Brevel. I was introduced to Brevel in one of my favorite ways possible, at a networking event! The event was hosted by Black & Veatch at the Future Food Tech event in New York City. There I met someone from the Brevel team who eventually connected me to Yonatan. I am so glad I was able to speak with Yonatan about the fascinating topic of micro-algea and how it could very well be one of the biggest protein solutions.  Learn more about Brevel at https://brevel.co.il/ The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place in San Francisco on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://www.cms2022.com

This episode features Dr. Peter Nesaei and Dr. Reza Ovissi of OceanTastes, Inc. OceanTastes, Inc. is a cultivated seafood startup based in California. We discuss how the Peter and Reza met, their inspiration for creating OceanTastes, Inc. and the exciting journey ahead. Learn more about OceanTastes, Inc. at https://www.oceantastes.com The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place in San Francisco on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com. On this episode, Alex chats with Brett Thompson of Mzansi Meat Co., one of the first cultivated meat companies in South Africa and even on the continent of Africa. Learn about how Brett's background in plant-based foods and animal advocacy lead to the first investor check and what's next for Mzansi. References in this episode: South African Consumer Adoption of Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat: A Segmentation Study: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.744199/full Plant-based and Cultivated Meat Adoption in Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria: https://www.credenceinstitute.org/_files/ugd/e40e4e_ec6909e70bc242e894d42d5eb34f85fb.pdf

The Cultured Meat Symposium is taking place on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com On this episode, Alex Shirazi sits down with Caroline Wilschut of Meatable to chat about who we need to educate about cultivated meat products and the understanding of the technology over the last few years. Learn more about Meatable at https://meatable.com

Elysabeth Alfano is the CEO of VegTech™ Invest, the advisor to the VegTech™ Plant-based Innovation & Climate ETF. The VegTech™ ETF has created a completely new impact asset class: plant-based innovation and alternative in the capital markets. The company has also launched the industry benchmark index, VegTech™ Plant-based Innovation & Alternative Proteins Index. Elysabeth is a plant-based industry expert and speaks globally on the intersection of sustainability and our global food supply system, including recently at the U.N. Global Leaders Compact Summit. She is the CEO of Plant Powered Consulting, and advised multinationals and C-Suite Executives on the industry landscape, direction and whitespaces. Finally, Elysabeth hosts the Plantbased Business Hour, which features the CEOs and thought leaders in the industry. The Plantbased Business Hour is considered, “The Gold Standard” for those who want to understand, participate in, and capitalize on this secular trend. Learn more about Future Food Tech Alternative Proteins at www.futurefoodtechprotein.com

Laura is the Founder and CEO of Helaina. Founded in 2019, Helaina is the first company to produce human milk proteins that are identical to those in breast milk, creating a new category of infant formula. Disrupting the infant formula category which has been stagnant for decades, Helaina has raised more than $25 million. Laura became NYU’s youngest ever adjunct professor in Food Science & Technology in 2017 and was featured in Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in 2022. Learn more about Helaina at www.myhelaina.com Learn more about Future Food Tech Alternative Proteins at www.futurefoodtechprotein.com

Alex sits down with Will Patrick of Culture Biosciences, the company leading the way for bioreactors in the cloud.  Design, monitor, and analyze high-throughput bioreactor experiments in Culture's Cloud Lab from your laptop.  Culture essentially acts as a Bioreactor in the cloud allowing companies to radically accelerate their research. We learn about the basics of the platform and the ideal applications. Learn more about Culture Biosciences at https://www.culturebiosciences.com/

Trevor Williams is a former high school agriscience teacher turned podcaster that started the FarmTraveler podcast in 2019.  Farm Traveler has one goal, that being to connect consumers with farmers, ranchers, and entrepreneurs in the agriculture industry.  Trevor has published over 150 podcast episodes, educational videos, and Farm Tours on the Farm Traveler Youtube channel, and produces two other agriculture-focused podcasts. Subscribe to the Farm Traveler Podcast at https://thefarmtraveler.com/ Listen to Alex's episode on the Farm Traveler Podcast at https://thefarmtraveler.com/2022/04/13/ep-145-what-is-cultured-meat/

As a public health attorney, food policy expert, author, and thought leader, Michele uses her passionate and fearless voice to advocate for a better food system through her writing, media appearances, and consulting. Michele’s extensive writings on the politics of food and alcohol led to the publication of her first book in 2006, Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back. NYU Professor Marion Nestle described it as “brilliant.” Michele founded the Plant Based Foods Association in 2016. As Executive Director of the nation’s only membership association to promote the interests of plant-based food companies, she grew the organization to over 300 members and led a team of policy and retail experts. Her leadership and strategic efforts enabled PBFA to fight the powerful meat and dairy lobbies, while forging new marketplace opportunities for the industry. Michele currently runs her own strategy consulting business, where she offers advice on policy, media relations, investing, and coaching for women. Michele Simon is admitted to practice law in California, has a master’s degree in public health from Yale University and received her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. We cover a lot of diverse topics and I will be first to admit that it was very interesting to understand certain viewpoints as it comes to reducing animals in the food system, restaurants offering vegan options (and whether that’s a good thing), and taking a closer look at reporting that’s out there in the industry now.

Thanks for tuning in to the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast. On this episode we are exciting to have Tim Olsen of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Tim joined Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in 2020 as Head of Commercial for the Cultured Meat program. His goal is to commercialize technologies that enable large scale cost effective and sustainable production of cultured meat and seafood products. Previously, Tim directed laboratory operations and led the development of bioinks at Allevi, a 3D bioprinting company. Tim then held the Senior Scientist position on the Process and Product Development team at RoosterBio, a regenerative medicine company focused on fueling the rapid commercialization of scalable human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) and exosome manufacturing technologies. His skillsets include stem cell culture optimization, media development, and scaling manufacturing in bioreactor systems. Tim then transitioned into commercial operations at RoosterBio as the Northeast USA and Europe Account Manager to leverage his technical skillset to focus on bringing solutions to the customers who were working on bringing regenerative medicine products to the clinic and the market. Tim received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Clemson University (2015) and sits on the External Advisory Board for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The College of New Jersey, his undergraduate alma mater.

Dr. Aletta Schnitzler is the Chief Scientific Officer at Turtle Tree. Previously, Aletta held various roles at Merck KGaA across Cell Therapy Bioprocessing and Cultured Meat R&D and Strategy. Aletta received her Ph.D. in 2007 from Boston University School of Medicine in the fields of immunology and neuroscience, focusing on trophic factors that influence immune cell activation, as well as neural differentiation and maintenance of phenotype. Learn more about TurtleTree: https://turtletree.com/

Tobias Messmer is a Jr Scientist in the Stemness & Isolation team at Mosa Meat and a PhD student at Maastricht University. After completing his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Molecular Biotechnology at Heidelberg University, and internships at Cambridge University and Harvard University, Tobias’ current work focuses on molecular characterization of muscle cells during the proliferation and differentiation stages of cultivating beef. In 2020, Tobias has co-founded the Cellular Agriculture Online Symposium (CAOS) - an online platform to facilitate scientific exchange in the Cell-Ag space. Read the Blog Post: https://mosameat.com/blog/cultivating-beef-without-fetal-bovine-serum View the Publication: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00419-1