Overview

Advancements in cellular agriculture are leveraging the power ofpluripotent stem cells (PSCs) to produce cell-cultivated meat (also known as cultured meat or lab-grown meat). By enabling the generation of muscle, fat, and connective tissue cells in vitro, PSCs offer a sustainable and ethical alternative to conventional animal farming, with significant implications for food security, environmental conservation, and animal welfare.

Why Use Stem Cells in Cultured Meat?

Stem cells provide a renewable and scalable platform capable of differentiating into all the major cellular components of meat. Unlike primary animal cells, stem cells can be maintained indefinitely and directed toward specific lineages including myocytes, adipocytes, and fibroblasts, enabling continuous and controlled meat production without the need for animal slaughter.

Current Challenges

Cell-cultivated meat production faces challenges including cost, scalability, and reproducibility. Traditional media formulations are expensive and often rely on animal-derived components. Additionally, robust protocols for differentiating stem cells into food-grade, species-specific cell types are still evolving.

How Defined Bioscience Can Help

Defined Bioscience provides animal-free, chemically defined media and growth factor solutions that help overcome the primary hurdles in cell-cultivated meat production. HiDef-B8 serves as a cost-effective, robust foundation for stem cell maintenance and early lineage specification, supporting both scalability and reproducibility. Importantly, Defined Bioscience provides thermostable growth factors (like FGF2-G3) that improve cost-efficiency by maintaining biological activity at lower concentrations and extended storage conditions. In addition, species-specific FGF2 homologs have been engineered to improve compatibility and performance in non-human systems, addressing a key bottleneck in animal cell culture for food applications. Defined Bioscience has collaborated with numerous startups and academic labs working at the forefront of cultured meat innovation, providing technical support and custom solutions.

Relevant Posters and Application Notes and Posters

• Growth Factor Production for Enhanced Growth of Fish Multipotent Stem Cells for Cell-Cultivated Meat: Highlights differences in FGF2 homologs that influence performance in animal cell culture.
• FGF2 Homologs in the Context of Cell Culture: Evaluates thermostable growth factors that improve cost-efficiency and reproducibility in food-grade media.
• Growth factor production for enhanced growth of fish multipotent stem cells for cell-cultivated meat: Details structural and functional analysis of growth factor for fish multipotent stem cells.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Development of a serum-free and animal component-free medium for the expansion of bovine satellite cells: Demonstrates how defined media formulations can support sustainable and reproducible cultured meat workflows.
• Beefy-9: A serum-free and animal-free medium for bovine satellite cell expansion: Describes the development and evaluation of Beefy-9, a cost-effective, animal-free medium formulation for expanding bovine muscle progenitor cells, showcasing defined culture conditions applicable to meat production.

Key Defined Bioscience Products for Cellular Agriculture

• HiDef-B8: Animal-free, defined media for stem cell maintenance.
• FGF2-G3: Thermostable FGF2 variant that reduces cost by maintaining activity over longer periods and at lower concentrations.
• FGF2 Homologs Screening Kit: Species-optimized growth factors designed to improve compatibility and efficiency in cross-species cell culture systems.
• FGF2 Screening Kit – Chicken: Includes native chicken FGF2 to evaluate species-specific growth performance.
• FGF2 Screening Kit – Tuna: Tailored for aquatic cell culture models using tuna-specific FGF2.
• FGF2 Screening Kit – Beef/Pork: Designed for mammalian muscle cell expansion with a thermostable bovine/porcine FGF2 homolog.

Contact and Collaboration Opportunities

Defined Bioscience is collaborating with researchers and food tech companies advancing cellular agriculture. Contact us for support in optimizing protocols or developing custom media.

Email: info@definedbioscience.com 

With Defined Bioscience reagents, innovators in cultured meat can reduce cost, enhance reproducibility, and accelerate product development in sustainable food systems.