Beefing Up Production: Optimising Microcarriers for a Scalable Cultivated Meat Bioprocess

Abstract

Cultivated meat recently debuted in the UK but the novel product is for dogs, not people, and cultivated cells constitute just 4% of the total ingredients. To meet the increasing demand for meat, a major increase in production is needed. A key scale-up challenge is developing efficient adherent cell expansion and differentiation methods. Edible microcarriers offer a scalable, low-cost solution whilst potentially enhancing nutritional and organoleptic properties. In this work, filamentous fungal mycelia were explored as naturally forming, ready-to-use edible microcarriers. The chosen mycelial strains are a completely natural food-grade substrate, that can be produced in large quantities via a simple and inexpensive fermentation process lasting just 72 hours. Depending on the strain and growth conditions (e.g. spore seeding density), these materials can have customisable morphology and size, and in many cases they can add flavour and nutritional value to the final product. Different mycelial strains were investigated and the most promising ones were tested for their ability to support the attachment and proliferation of adipose derived bMSC in static cultures. Future experiments will focus on optimising cell culture conditions (e.g. microcarrier seeding density, microcarrier size, etc) as well as evaluating their behaviour in spinner flasks.