2. “Democratization of cellular agriculture”
Nonprofit non-corporate non-university citizen science community of DIY bio/fab
enthusiasts, students, researcher, artists, writers etc. for cellular agriculture
“Shojinmeat Project” - Who we are
Open source cellular agriculture” by DIY bio Public communication by art and education
3. Ongoing projects
3
・DIY bio & cell culture experiments
・Workshops and micro-conferences
・Advocacy for cellular agriculture
・Media and social communication
・Art, design and creativity projects
・Visual contents production
・Fundraising / crowdfunding
7. 7
Food vs. Feed vs. Fuel
Agri-
cultural
resources
Food
Feed
Fuel
8. MeatSoy etc. Dairy
MeatDairySoy etc. New alternative protein
Plants
Tofu
Algae Insects Biosynthetic Cell culture
New protein
source
“Meat & dairy produced
in new ways”
Plant-based meat &
dairy equivalent
Now
Future
“Alternative protein” and “meat alternative”
8
12. Ongoing cellular agriculture projects
12
Clean meat Milk without cows Egg white without eggs
The products are not “imitations” - they are (or try to be) molecularly the same!
Clean
fish
meat
Ginkgo Bioworks -
Vanilla, scent, various
ingredients
Modern Meadow -
leather without
animals
14. Research track record 1
14
1997
Goldfish meat
@NASA
Appearance in
sci-fi - Concept
known since
19th century
2004
New
Harvest
founded
Jason
Matheny
contacts
NASA staff
2005
Netherlands
funds €2M
2007
In vitro meat
consortium
funding
discontinued
funds
2000
Works by
Oron Catts
@Harvard
Lead by Willem van Eelen
(deceased)
Patent filed in 1997
15. Research track record 2
15
2012
Sergey Brin from
Google contacts
former member of
In vitro meat
consortium
2013
Demonstration
by Prof. Post
2014
Shojinmeat
Project
2015
Memphis
Meats
2015
“Cellular agriculture”
- term coined
2013
New Harvest invests
in cell-ag startups
(Clara Foods, Perfect Day)
2016
SuperMeat
2017
Finless
Foods
€280k burger
16. 16
The positive impact
學
經
藝
Science & Technology
・Technological hurdles?
・Medical applications?
Politics & Economics
・Shift in food market?
・Industry landscape?
Arts and Culture
・Religious views?
・Social norms to change?
18. Labs, Hospitals
Brewery, Petrochemical complex
Culturing of cells has been optimised for laboratory scale
⇒€250k per burger
Culturing of cells becomes industrial scale
⇒Production at $2/kg
18
Conditions and purposes change
→Entire process needs a re-design
19. No 100mm dish but
use 25㎥ tank
No gloves but do tank
sterilisation
No pipettes but use
pipelines
If tanks are sterilised,
no antibiotics needed
Conditions and purposes change
→Entire process needs a re-design
19
20. Technological milestones
20
1. Inexpensive media
2. Scaling & automation
Conventional meat
price
parity?
3. Added value and
consumer acceptanceCapEx &
Staffing
Culture
medium
$200k+/kg
Conventional method
$2
設備費・人件費
培養液
Technological goals
1. Food grade culture medium
2. Scaled culture plant design
3. Tissue engineering for flavor
and texture
21. Bottlenecks in culture media
21
Gospodarowicz D and Moran JS, 1976, Annu Rev Biochem Eagle H, 1959, Science
Sugar, Amino acids,
Vitamins, Minerals
$20/L
Expensive for what’s
actually in
Albumin, Buffer,
Insulin, Transferin
$900/L
“Mad cow”? Viruses?
Expensive and supply
is insecure
Growth factors
Survival factors
$450/mg
Expensive… :-(
=
Basal
medium
Foetal
bovine
serum
Signal
compounds
23. Block et al., 1996
DMEM 450ml ¥1125
FBS 50ml ¥4900
Non essential amino acid ¥140
HGF 40ng/ml ¥78000 (20µg)
EGF 20ng/ml ¥700 (10µg)
¥84865($8000)
100g of liver cells cost ~$100,000
Liver cell culture for therapeutic applications
23
24. “Cooked medium” approach at Shojinmeat Project
24
Commercially available:
“Yeast extract for animal cell culture”
(Sheffield Bioscience Ltd.)
Dried yeast
(dog food)
Phosphate buffer & salt
Papain, 65℃, stir, ~24h
to “digest” yeast
Filtered before
use in cell culture
pH7.4
No bacterial contamination
Preparation cost: 10¢/L
25. Myoblast cell response
25
The trial solution showed signs of L6 growth and multiplication.
⇒”Yeast extract (dog food) is a potential FBS alternative.”
NOFBS
Control
(withFBS)
Mouse L6 Myoblast cell density (qualitative)
Red ~ Yellow ~ Blue(zero)
No DMEM
w/ DMEM
No DMEM
w/ DMEM
Conc. yeast
extract
Dil. yeast
extract
26. HeLa cells in yeast extract medium
26
HeLa cells in sYE (yeast extract) multiplied at 80% of that in FBS
HeLa cells in sYE medium grew in diameter more than in FBS
Cellcount(x10e5) (HeLa = Human cervical cancer cell line)
Day0 Day7
FBS
10%
sYE
10%
sYE 10% +
FBS 10%
27. 293T cells in yeast extract medium
27
sYE is capable of culturing 293T cells, which have relatively
strict requirement for FBS to thrive
Cellcount(x10e5) (293T = Human Embryonic Kidney cells)
Day0 Day7
FBS
10%
sYE
10%
sYE 10%+
FBS 10%
10% FBS
10% sYE
10% FBS
10% sYE
28. Cellular self-organisation in sYE
28
96-well suspension culture plate
Mouse myoblasts were multiplied to 1.0E5 in standard FBS medium
Cells were placed under suspension culture condition in sYE medium for 4 days
⇒Self-organised into a 3-dimensional aggregate of 0.3~0.5mm diameter
29. The limits
29
Species Cell identity sYE conc. Result
Human HeLa Human cervical cancer 10% Successful (but for how long?)
Human Human Embryonic Kidney 293T 10% Successful (same as above)
Mouse Germ cell 10% Unsuccessful
Mouse Ovarian somatic cell, primary 10% Successful (but for how long?)
Mouse Hepatocyte, primary 10% Successful (same as above)
Mouse Fetal cell, primary 10% Successful (same as above)
Mouse Myoblast, primary 10% Initially successful, but cell
division halts after ~3gen.
Mouse Embryonic stem cells 10% Unsuccessful
Yeast extract do have limits.
Unsuitable for undifferentiated cells.
30. Supplementing growth factors - Method 1
30
Glocose, amino acids,
AA2-P, NaHCO3, Na2Se
These (expensive) growth factors
will be made by recombinants
20~200kL cell
cultivator tank
~3t scale
production
Insulin, Transferin,
FGF2, TGF-b
“Essential 8”
clean meat
medium Growth factors
&
FBS ingredients
“All-in-1 batch”
31. Cost of goods (ingredients) analysis
31
Medium Meat
$41/L $100/lb
$15/L $36.6/lb
$4.7/L $11.5/lb
$3.7/L $9.0/lb
$0.77/L $2.2/lb
Scenario A~E
A: All GF’s down to 1/10 in cost
B: FGF2 & TGFβ at insulin price
C: A&B
D: All GF’s at $4/g
E: Basal medium at $0.23/L
Good Food Institute (2016)
32. ⇒$0/L
Originally $1500/L
Produces
growth factors
Muscle cells Liver cells
growth
factorsGF’s
&
FBS eq’s
Basal
medium
Inexpensive
Very
expensive
Medium ingredients
GF’s
&
FBS eq’s
Supplementing growth factors - Method 2
“Coculture”
33. Demonstration of coculture method
33
Control (0%) 10% conditioned
medium
25% conditioned
medium
50% conditioned
medium
Countofcellsofallsizes,
relativetothecontrol
group
Secondhand medium
is effective!
mouse placental cells
dishes with Day-12 foetal liver cells in FBS 10% medium
7 Days
Transfer culture medium
37. Sports drink culture media
90% DAKARA
80%
70%
60%
0%
(DMEM only)
50%
Days
Celldivisions
Proliferation of mouse L6 in DMEM/GreenDakara 10% FBS
#pH and osmolality of Dakara adjusted by NaHCO3(s) and 2M NaOH
Fluid name osmolality pH
DMEM(-, hi glu) 345 7.4
Pocari 338 3.4
Aquarius 291 3.37
Amino-Value 4000 289 3.63
AminoVital Gold 186 3.33
Vitamin Water 302 3.3
Green DAKARA 322 3.28
Amiiru Water 249 3.4
Mamoru Chikara 546 3.58
37
38. DIY-DMEM (home made medium)
38
Glucose, amino acids, vitamin B’s, salts
Mix and filter
to prepare
Chicken foetus
heart cells
primary culture http://animescience.net/?p=3647
39. Scaling as it is...
39
How cultured burger
was made in 2013
⇒$260,000
40. Not big enough if for food
40
Conventional “scaled” cell culture
41. Dr. Marianne Ellis, 2017 “Process scale” method
implementation cases⇒
“Culture methods suitable for scaling”
42. Integration of all elements into one scalable system
~0.1g scale ~10g scale ~100kg scale future pilot plant
Ready for plant engineering?
42
PCT/JP2016/067599 jp-pat file# 2016-568716
43. How is temperature controlled?
Mixing method?
Pipeline diameter & flow rate?
Sterilization method & frequency?
How are filters cleaned?
Plant engineering - what exactly? Speculative fish
meat culture plant
44. “Is it tasty?” - Tech to add value
44
Sausage/burger
Proven ※although expensive
Low cost large scale
cell culture
Sheet meat / “bacon”
Cell scaffold
Muscle/fat coculture
Steak / tissue
Tissue morphogenesis
Vascularization
Meat texture
Where we are
Regenerative
medicine
45. Culture medium
and starter cells
Myoblast
culture
Myogenesis,
Cell organization
Grow cells
Make tissue by
cellular scaffoldProcurement
How to make clean meat : method 1
45
46. Cellular scaffold also achieves the advantage of 3D culture
Sponge collagen scaffolds Liver cells on scaffolds
3D culture by cellular scaffolds
46
47. Edible scaffolds i.e.
collagen, chitosan,
chitin, arginate, cellu-
lose, polysaccharides
Simulate fibre
and meat texture
Moulds shape in
mm or bigger
scales
Other benefits of scaffolds
47
48. Culture medium
and starter cells
Procurement
How to make clean meat : method 2
Cell growth, vascularization
Tissue growth
※Further down the
development timeline
Integriculture Inc. is in collaboration
with Tokyo Women’s Medical
University on tissue engineering
48
49. Tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and
cellular agriculture
Cell culture
(human)
Cell culture
(animals)
Distribution
Distribution
Regenerative medicine Cellular agriculture
Med.
Ag.
Procu-
rement
Culture
medium
Cell-ag and Regen. Medicine share the same technology.
Main differences are in purity, traceability and regulations
49
50. 50
The positive impact
學
經
藝
Science & Technology
・Technological hurdles?
・Medical applications?
Politics & Economics
・Shift in food market?
・Industry landscape?
Arts and Culture
・Religious views?
・Social norms to change?
52. Global protein market outlook
52
Population
growth and
emerging
economies:
$2T market cap.
by 2030?
Global meat demand 1980-2030
Rabobank (2011)■Lamb ■Poultry ■Pork ■Beef
Demand,10milliontons
53. “Protein problem” in different stages
53
Is there
enough
protein?
Is it a
secure
source?
Is it
sustain-
able?
Many rely on
imports while
overfishing
continues
( Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, Ireland, 2010 https://www.esri.ie/pubs/WP340.pdf)
“Public expenses
due to meat is set to
reach $1.6T by 2050”
Farm Animal Investment Risk
and Return Initiative
Poor conturies
54. How cellular agriculture is a solution
54
Meat supply chain
Externalities
“Wicked problem” of climate change,
poverty and local ecological losses
55. How cellular agriculture is a solution
55
1
2
Reduce protein
consumption.
Change the way
we eat.
Find sustainable
protein source.
Preserve
culinary culture.
Meat supply chain
Externalities
“Wicked problem” of climate change,
poverty and local ecological losses
57. LCA uncertainties
57
Current LCA estimates depend on unestablished production
processes and uncertainties still may exceed 50%.
2014 estimate included
bioreactor sterilization.
Hanna Tuomisto 2011 Hanna Tuomisto 2014
58. “Matter cycle” of cultured meat
Convert to culture media
Large-scale cell cultureWaste fluid treatment
Algal production
Algae
Culture media
sewage
Fertilizer
59. 59
“Adjacent industries”
Entry from nearby fields
Beverage
companies
Food
companies
Medical supply
manufacturer
Plant engine-
ering firms
Effect to nearby fields
Functional &
pharmaceuti
cal foods
Food
branding
Biomanu
facturing
Regen.
medicine
Indoor
farms
Clean meat industry mind map
60. 60
Political and regulatory environment
2013 amendment on
biotechnology mentions
food applications
FDA conducts hearings
from NPO’s in 2016
Set to spend €400M
on alternative protein
research from 2018
€140M is to be spent
on biotechnology.
Set to invest $300M
on Israeli alternative
protein startups
(summer 2017)
No active discussions
yet due to lack of
significant players in
cellular agriculture.
61. 61
Food regulations (Japan)
Clean meat is a
Feed Safety Act
Drug Safety Act
Food
Safety Act
Food
Labeling
Act
+Decision by food safety committee?
2018~
HACCP
standard
Consumers
Only food and recognized food
additives are allowed
⇒Antibiotics and cell growth
factors have regulatory hurdles
Raw meat? Processed meat?
62. 62
Food regulations (US)
General background
・New product⇒GRAS or Food Additive Petition
・USDA for meat, FDA for fish, FDA for additives
・Feed has whole set of different regulations
Precedent of enzymatic additives
・Regulatory issues in the use of recombinants in
enzymatic additives production was raised before.
・Whole industry collaborated to get over.
Other considerations
・Quicker to come up with its own toxicity test results
・Enzymatic additive is still distant as a “precedent”.
・Need a lobby to reach both FDA and USDA
In setting a regulatory
precedent for cellular
agriculture products,
“cultured fish meat as
additive” is probably
the most accessible.
#Discussion at New
Harvest 2017, NYC,
12.Oct.2017
63. Would vegetarians eat?
Is it Halal?
Goes with Buddhist “nonviolence”?
Animal welfare?
Consumer acceptance?
At the end, is it tasty?
Socio-cultural implications 63
64. A. Animals, religion B. Food security C. Food safety
D. Env. footprint
EU/US: A~D > C > B
E.Asia: B~C > D > A
Regional differences in agenda 64
66. “Max. happiness for the max. number of sentient beings”
※Not “ends justify means”, but an guide to arguments over what’s ethical
“Only 1 death is better than 5”...?
May be so in very short term, but...
What if the person is your brother? A
society where abandoning of family is
justified - would it be a good one?
If “killing for public good” becomes the
norm, no one is there to stop dictators
- would it do “max. happiness for max.
number of people in the long run?
Classic “Runaway trolley problem”
As it is, 5 will die, but if switch, 1 dies. Would you switch?
Practical ethics: “Utilitarianism” 66
67. “Animal welfare” deduced from utilitarianism 67
All interests are equal: “1 person, 1 vote”
No being’s happiness is more important than another
◆Are animals capable of experiencing happiness?
◆Should an animal count as one sentient being?
In “animal welfare”, speciesism is dismissed & animals
count as beings that can experience happiness
⇒From a utilitarian point-of-view,
“making a sentient being suffer is unethical”
68. Acknowledges health and environment, but mainly animal welfare and ethical
“Animal welfare” based
on utilitarianism
Reasons for vegetarianism 68
69. Announced in 2008 ⇒ taken down on 2014: technology wasn’t ready
$1M Award by PETA 69
70. ”Religion”←Not utilitarianism or other ethics
Ethical value of clean meat described by utilitarianism don’t directly
translate into East Asian religious (i.e. Buddhist) importance.
East Asian vegetarianism
70
71. Cuisine for for zen practitioners
・Common name for “Buddhist cuisine”
・All aspects must serve the purpose of zen.
-NO WASTED FOOD
-Use local produce to avoid food waste
-No cruelty (avoid fish and meat)
-Avoid certain vegetables that stimulate desires
-All donated food including meat must be consumed
-Preparation (cooking) is also part of zen practice
Clean meat being “murderless” does not make it Zen - there are multiple more important criteria.
“Shojin ryori” Buddhist cuisine
※contested
“Shojin” means “devotion to the righteous path”
Shojinmeat Project will stay committed to the path that obsoletes unsustainable meat
72. Holy text
↓
Rules
↓
Daily life
Religious rules in
Abrahamic religions
RulesMiddle way
Daily life
Holy texts
”Would clean meat serve the
pupose of Zen?”
・Overcoming personal desires is a
major theme in zen
・”Desire” includes meat apetite
・”Fake meat” is a compromise, but
compromise is permissible
(refer. “middle way”)⇒
・Clean meat falls in the same
category as fake meats i.e. tofu.
Use as reference up
on making decisions
Mentions
Religious rules in
Eastern religions
“The Middle Way”
73. Before 7th century:
Eating meat was common. People just had to eat
whatever was in hand.
675c. Imperial decree of “No Killing (of animals)”
To direct labour force to rice production and put a stop to
local animal-sacrifice rituals & reinforce imperial authority
※Newly arrived Buddhism was used as justification
Meat avoidance continues till 19th c. and commoners
only started eating meat around 1900 c.
Meat in historical Japan
74. ・Totals half billion? Region-specific
・More common among upper castes
・Some upper caste members fund
cultured meat research
・Hinduism doesn’t explicitly forbid meat
but adherents choose to avoid meat.
Mr. Modi (Indian PM as
of 2017) is a vegetarian.
Vegetarianism in India
74
75. Then what if on 2040, meat alternatives rise to 30% market share and ever
more people stop consuming conventional meat?
・Uncontrollable ”hate campaign” against traditional farmers?
・Trade ban of conventional meat due to animal cruelty?
Why are animal experimentation,
Japanese whaling and Chinese cat/
dog consumption is problematised far
more than factory farming?
⇒Because they are “remote things” for
the protesters.
Possibility of “New Ethics”
76. (Transient) issues upon R&D:
・FBS production is not cruelty-free
“Unavoidable” issue:
・Extraction of cells
Likely to be solved in the future
May pose an issue during R&D
Can bovine foetus feel pain?
It may still inflict some pain.
Will animals still be chained?
Genetic selection of animals for the
sake of “tasty” - is it eugenics?
Ethical issues due to technological immaturity
77. ・Can countries with meat culture technology blame others for animal abuse?
・”Ethical patent infringement” to stop “large-scale systematic animal cruelty”?
Case study: Generic HIV drug lawsuit:
An Indian pharmaceutical company allegedly infringed
retroviral drug patent to manufacture generic HIV drugs,
because the original drugs by Western pharmaceutical
companies were too expensive for people in poor
African countries.
After high-profile court-martials, the Indian company
won the case on humanitarian basis.
Patent war under “New Ethics”
78. Chris Bryant (2017)
3rd Intl’ Conf. for Cultured Meat
Large variations exist between different marketing
research attempts and speculations, mainly due to
the lack of actual clean meat products on market.
←Factors
consumers
weigh
Consumer
acceptance
research result→
Consumer acceptance
79. Nomenclature - “clean meat”?
Universal agreement has not been reached, but studies
suggest that at least “cultured meat” is not a desirable option.
→”Clean meat” is being suggested by advocates.
And some suggest that
name is not the most
important issue after all...
80. All about “price & experience” in the end?
$300,000/kg
2013 2019 20252022
Clean Foie
Gras
$40/kg
“Designer
Meat”
$20/kg
$/kg
2027
i.e.
“fish fat beef”
“superfood algae pork”
“DHA/Ω3 boosted meat”
General meat
$6/kg
Ingredients
$3000/kg
Plans to market
different products
according to unit
production price
Test production year
81. Highly personalized and “democratized”
Even the largest corporations have <5% share
100’s of thousands of brands
Millions of cafe&restaurants
⇒Rich of foodie culture
Numberindemand
Degree of personalization
The food market
82. What would a corporate monopoly do?
Resulted in widespread accusation and allegations of :
“Technology being used for corporate profit than social good”
“Public mistrust due to technological secrecy”
83. “Citizen science and business” at Shojinmeat Project
How to make ⇒ Open
How to scale ⇒ Proprietary
Numberindemand
Degree of personalization
Product dev.
Citizen Science domain
Business domain
and other businesses
to come
84. Cellular agriculture ecosystem
84
Advocacy, Academic
research with universities
DIY bio, speculative art projects,
“avant-garde” advocacy
Sponsor
Research and project grants
Commercialization,
Production technology
development
Individual biohackers in
communities such as
85. Shojinmeat Project as citizen science
85
Non-Profit
organization
(TBC)
Citizen Science
Advocacy, Academic
research with universities
DIY bio, speculative art projects,
“avant-garde” advocacy
Sponsor
Research and project grants
(A spin-off startup)
Commercialization,
Production technology
development
87. 87
“Growing meat at home”
=DIY bio methodology=
Konjac cell scaffold
Cells from fertilized eggs
Egg white as antimycotic
Egg yolk as FBS
⇒DIY clean meat in kitchen
High school girl on DIY clean
meat experiment, TV news
DIY clean meat
recipe ‘Zine
(2017 Comiket92)
89. 89
DIY Biomanufacturing
Tasty originally
designed meat
DIY kidney!!
ヽ(・∀・)ノ
Homemade heart
by DIY cell growth
& differentiation
New category of
“meat”
“Green meat”
Algae meat mix
・Advanced home incubators allow DIY
distributed biomanufacturing
・DIY tissue engineering is widespread
and innovations occur everywhere
90. 90
Local farmers design meat
・Local farmers develop their own
clean meat recipe to build local meat
brands.
・Cattle breeders carry more value
for the starter cells.
・Individual hobbyists follow to make
their own recipe.