<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists at Japan's Osaka University have proven that you don't need to kill a cow to get a prized cut of beef.</li><li>Through a technology called bioprinting, they've 3D-printed a cut of wagyu specialty <keyword id="11911166" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="steak" source="Orion">steak</keyword>.</li><li>The steak is composed of cell fibers taken from a cow, and assembled to create the layers of fat marbling seen in wagyu cuts.</li></ul><p>Scientists based in Japan's Osaka University have found a way to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25236-9">3D print wagyu beef in a lab</a> - a step they believe will one day help make widely available and sustainably-produced cuts of cultured meat that closely resemble original products. </p><p>Using stem cells that they took from <a href="https://steakschool.com/learn/why-wagyu-beef-is-so-good/">wagyu cows</a>, the scientists set out to create a structure with the <a href="https://wagyu-authentic.com/wagyu/">characteristic marbling (or sashi) seen in wagyu beef</a> that sets it apart from other cuts of beef.</p><p>By isolating beef cells, the scientists organized how the muscles, blood vessels, and fat should be stacked. The researchers then shaped these tissues into the form of a steak using a technique called <a href="https://www.allevi3d.com/what-is-3d-bioprinting/">3D bioprinting</a>, where cell structures can be layered to resemble real tissues in living things.</p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iVqu6Vgbhf8" frameborder="0"></iframe><p>The researchers believe that proving that a wagyu steak can be accurately 3D-printed could be a big step toward a sustainable future where cultured meat can be created that closely resembles existing products. Its origins from real meat also differentiate it from plant-based options, like those created by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beyond-meat-is-rolling-out-new-burgers-addressing-health-criticism-2020-11">Beyond Meat</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/impossible-foods-meatless-burger-how-its-made-2017-8">Impossible Foods</a>.</p><p>"By improving this technology, it will be possible to not only reproduce complex meat structures, such as the beautiful marbling (sashi) of Wagyu beef but to also make subtle adjustments to the fat and muscle components," Michiya Matsusaki, one of the study's researchers said in a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/926245">statement</a>. </p><p>Michiya Matsusaki, one of the project's researchers, <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/926245">said</a> that with these adjustments, customers might one day be able to order a cultured cut of meat with the amount of fat they desire, tailor-made to their tastes and health concerns.</p><p>Wagyu beef <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wagyu-beef-steak-cows-from-japan-so-expensive-2019-8">is known to be extremely expensive</a>, with high-grade wagyu fetching prices of up to $200 per pound and adult cows selling for more than $30,000. In 2019, Japan's wagyu exports raked in a record high of <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Commodities/Japan-s-wagyu-exports-sizzle-as-more-Asians-dig-in">$268.8 million in profits</a>, up 20% from 2018.</p><p>While this might be the first cut of wagyu beef ever to be 3D-printed, other attempts have been made to bioprint steaks. In February this year, Aleph Farms and the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology jointly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-09/israeli-farm-cultivates-lab-grown-ribeye-steak-using-3d-printing">bioprinted and cultivated a ribeye steak using real cow cells</a>. </p><p>However, it might be a while before one can sink their teeth into a cut of bioprinted beef. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have not created a regulatory framework for these products yet, per <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/09/3d-printed-ribeye-steak-usda-fda/">The Washington Post</a>.</p>

Scientists based in Japan have successfully 3D printed a hunk of wagyu beef complete with marbling

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6376241" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="kfc">KFC</keyword> announced on July 16 it would test chicken nuggets made with 3D <keyword id="1245500" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="bioprinting">bioprinting</keyword> technology in Russia this fall.</li><li>The chain partnered with 3D Bioprinting Solutions to create a chicken nugget that will mimic the taste and appearance of its original nuggets at a fraction of the environmental cost.</li><li>The release will be the first time a major chain will sell a <keyword id="980841" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lab-Grown-Meat">lab-grown meat</keyword> product and may serve as a proof-of-concept for the much-hyped <keyword id="9611875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cell-based-meat">cell-based meat</keyword> industry.</li></ul><p>KFC will test chicken nuggets made with 3D bioprinting technology in Moscow, Russia, this fall, the chain announced in a July 16 <a href="https://global.kfc.com/press-release/meat-of-the-future-kfc-and-3d-bioprinting-solutions-to-use-a-bioprinter-to-produce-kfc-nuggets">press release</a>.</p><p>The chicken chain has partnered with 3D Bioprinting Solutions to create a chicken nugget made in a lab with chicken and plant cells using bioprinting. Bioprinting, which uses 3D-printing techniques to combine biological material, is used in medicine to create tissue and even organs.</p><p>The 3D-printed chicken nuggets will closely mimic the taste and appearance of KFC's original chicken nuggets, according to the press release. KFC expects the production of 3D-printed nuggets to be more environmentally friendly than the production process of its traditional chicken nuggets. The fall release will mark the first debut of a lab-grown chicken nugget at a global fast-food chain like KFC.</p><p>"Crafted meat products are the next step in the development of our 'restaurant of the future' concept. Our experiment in testing 3D bioprinting technology to create chicken products can also help address several looming global problems. We are glad to contribute to its development and are working to make it available to thousands of people in Russia and, if possible, around the world," Raisa Polyakova, the CEO of KFC Russia and Commonwealth Independent States said in the press release. </p><p>Yusef Khesuani, cofounder and managing partner at 3D Bioprinting Solutions, said he hoped the KFC partnership would help accelerate the rise of cell-based meats and make them more widely accessible.</p><p>Although it's not currently widely used in food, lab-grown meat is a heavily <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/books/review/billion-dolllar-burger-chase-purdy.html">researched</a> product that many investors <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-share-when-eat-lab-grown-clean-meat-timeline-2018-11">hope</a> will be on the market soon. Memphis Meats, a cell-based meat startup, raised $161 million in its latest funding round, and major investors include CPT Capital, a venture fund that has also backed Impossible Foods and <keyword id="3169399" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Beyond-Meat">Beyond Meat</keyword>.</p><p>Also on July 16, KFC announced it would sell Beyond Fried Chicken at over 50 California restaurants for a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kfc-will-sell-beyond-fried-chicken-at-select-california-restaurants-2020-7">limited time</a> after successful tests in Nashville, Atlanta, and Charlotte.</p>

KFC will test lab-grown chicken nuggets made with a 3D bioprinter this fall in Russia

<div style="display:none;" id="kalturavideoplaceholder">kalturavideoplaceholder</div><p>The world of medicine is being transformed by 3D-printing technology.</p>
<p>In Beijing, doctors have performed the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/3d-printing-can-create-replacement-bones-2014-8">world's first surgery</a> using a 3D-printed vertebra. The procedure was done in the neck of a 12-year-old boy who had developed cancer.</p>
<p>In New York, similar breakthroughs are underway. At NYU Langone Medical Center, a team is using 3D-printing technology to help plan and execute "Jaw-in-a-day" surgery that was the first of its kind in the United States. Meanwhile, scientists<span> at Cornell University are at work on prototypes for a 3D-printed ear, and at Mount Sinai Hospital, research is focused on bioprinting trachea, more commonly known as windpipes. Once achieved, patients will be able to both breathe <em>and</em> speak.</span></p>
<p>Dr. David Hirsch, who led the NYU Langone team in the breakthrough jaw surgery, told Business Insider, "This technology is limitless. The only thing that's limited is our ability to think about new applications for it."</p>
<p><em>Produced by France Costrel. Edited by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/author/sam-rega" target="_blank">Sam Rega</a>.</em></p>

Doctors Show Why 3D Printing Holds 'Limitless' Potential For Medicine

<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51e58c8ceab8ea141400000e-1200-858/rtr3elhc.jpg" border="0" alt="3-d printer" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>A British surgeon successfully implanted a 3-D printed pelvis for a man who lost half his pelvis to bone cancer, Madison Beerbohm of Healthpoint Capital <a href="http://www.healthpointcapital.com/research/2014/02/12/3d_printed_pelvis/">reports</a>.</p>
<p class="p1">It was the first transplant of its kind.</p>
<p class="p1">The patient, who is in his sixties and has remained unnamed, suffered from a rare type of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma. It affected the entire right side of his pelvis. </p>
<p class="p1">Often leaving patients appearing completely healthy, chondrosarcoma often goes undetected until later stages of the cancer. It is generally resistant to radiation therapy, thus requiring treatment that includes the removal of the affected bones. <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p class="p1">According to orthopedic surgeon Craig Gerrand, who performed the surgery, it would have been impossible to attach a standard implant because so much bone had to be removed.</p>
<p>3D printing is revolutionizing the health care sector: The technology has been successfully used to make prosthetic limbs, custom hearing aids, now a pelvis, and <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/49348354">potentially human tissue</a> by what is called "bioprinting."</p>
<p class="p1">In order to create the 3-D printed pelvis, the surgeons took scans of the man's pelvis to take exact measurements of how much 3-D printed bone needed to be produced and passed it along to Stanmore Implants. The company used the scans to create a titanium 3-D replacement, by fusing layers of titanium together and then coating it with a mineral that would allow the remaining bone cells to attach. </p>
<p class="p1">After the titanium pelvis was attached, the team added a standard hip replacement to complete the surgery.</p>
<p class="p1">The procedure, which happened three years ago, was an unrivaled success. The man has been walking with a cane and remains happy with the results. </p>

A UK Surgeon Successfully 3D Printed And Implanted A Pelvis

<p>2014 could be a landmark year for an amazing medical technology: human organs built by 3D printers.</p>
<p>San Diego biotech firm Organovo promises that its "bioprinting" technology will successfully print a human liver by the end of 2014, the <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244884/The_first_3D_printed_organ_a_liver_is_expected_in_2014">company told Computerworld's Lucas Mearian</a>.</p>
<p>Mearian reports:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Like other forms of 3D printing, bio-printing lays down layer after layer of material -- in this case, live cells -- to form a solid physical entity -- in this case, human tissue. The major stumbling block in creating tissue continues to be manufacturing the vascular system needed to provide it with life-sustaining oxygen and nutrients. ... Organovo, however, said it has overcome that vascular issue to a degree.</p>
<p>The liver won't be suitable to be used as transplants in human beings. But it will be effective for scientific research and drug testing, Mike Renard, Organovo's executive vice president of commercial operations told Mearian.</p>
<p>That could be good news for Organovo's investors. It hopes to sell the 3D printer to drug companies to help them reduce the costs of drug testing. On average, it cost $1.3 billion to develop a new drug in 2013, according to research <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/03/pharmaceuticals-rd-idUKL5N0JH3S420131203">from Deloitte and Thomson Reuters</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the company is in dire need of getting a product out in the market. Right now, it doesn't generate any revenue of consequence, <a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1497253/000119312513435186/d604155d10q.htm">according to documents filed with the SEC,</a> and exists mostly on grants. We reached out to Organovo and asked for comment and will update if they respond.</p>
<p>But if this works as advertised, it could be a game-changer for the company, its investors, and potentially the human race.</p>
<p>Via a YouTube video, Organovo explained how its special bioprinting technology works. It starts with special "bio-ink" and works with cells from any source.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52bcc1fb6bb3f7ea70ab355c-634-360/organovo1.png?maxX=800" border="0" alt="Organovo 3D bioprinter" width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3CiJ26YS_U">Organovo</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p> If you looked inside these wells, you'd see the natural tissues grow. It looks like this:</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52bcc23a6da8115c360be61b-625-346/organovo.png" border="0" alt="Organovo" width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3CiJ26YS_U">Organovo</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p>The tissue doesn't look like a full organ, but the tissue samples should have the organ's properties. Scientists can infect those tissues with disease and then infuse them with different drugs.</p>
<p>Here's the a YouTube video that explains it all in more detail:</p>
<p><iframe width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/s3CiJ26YS_U"></iframe></p>

Biotech Firm: We Will 3D Print A Human Liver In 2014

New Delhi, The <keyword id="69007" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="world-economic-forum" source="Orion">World Economic Forum</keyword> (<keyword id="102110" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="wef" source="Orion">WEF</keyword>) on Wednesday named four Indian entities, including Giftolexia Solutions and Xacmaz Technology, in its annual list of 100 most promising <keyword id="756499" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="technology-pioneers" source="Orion">technology pioneers</keyword>, comprising companies making progress in sustainability, advanced manufacturing and inclusive healthcare. The other two Indian entities on the list are evolutionQ, which offers quantum-safe cybersecurity products to help clients in deploying and managing quantum technologies across their networks, and Next Big Innovation Labs -- which is developing customisable 3D bioprinter to bridge the gap between organ demand and availability via 3D bioengineered organs. <br /><br />Giftolexia Solutions is developing a deep technology-enabled screening tool to identify the risk of dyslexia in schoolchildren by analysing gaze patterns. <br /><br />Xacmaz Technology is developing a platform that converts satellite data into climate intelligence for climate risk, ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing and carbon markets. <br /><br />The global list also includes Farmerline (Ghana), which connects farmers, agribusinesses and governments to form an end-to-end and holistic solution to the sector's challenges. <br /><br />In Israel, <keyword id="17771175" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="electriq-global" source="Orion">Electriq Global</keyword> is pioneering new methods of separating hydrogen from water to create a renewable energy alternative to fuel. CarbonCapture, from the United States, is removing CO2 from the atmosphere via direct air capture technologies. <br /><br />"The 2023 cohort of Technology Pioneers is already bringing great changes to industries around the world. Selectees are at the forefront of innovation and disruption needed to help us solve the world's most pressing issues," said <keyword id="17771174" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="verena-kuhn" source="Orion">Verena Kuhn</keyword>, Head of Innovator Communities at the WEF. <br /><br />This year's Technology Pioneer cohort includes startups from 31 economies, with a third led by a woman chief executive. The US has the highest representation, with 29 companies, followed by China with 12. <br /><br />US-based ClimateAI applies artificial intelligence to climate risk modelling, and its platform provides short- and long-term insights into weather and climate impact. <br /><br />Based in Switzerland, Transmutex aims to develop a non-self-sustaining chain reaction nuclear energy system able to produce carbon-free energy with the highest safety profile. Meanwhile, Huue, in the US, is using biotechnology to create sustainable dyes to reduce the use of chemicals in fashion supply chains. <br /><br />M20 Genomics, based in China, is developing single-cell sequencing technology to effectively diagnose diseases and provide relevant treatment. Dot, in the Republic of Korea, is a pioneer in smart technology for the vision-impaired and the deaf-blind, helping them to lead more independent lives. <br /><br />Boston Materials, based in the US, develops advanced materials that are lightweight, corrosion-resistant and have energy-diffusion capabilities. Monolith, based in the UK, empowers engineering domain experts in various industries to reduce expensive, time-intensive testing and cut product development time. <br /><br />Following their selection as Technology Pioneers, this year's companies will join a group of alumni that include many household names, such as Airbnb, Google, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Spotify, TransferWise, Twitter and Wikimedia. <br /><br />Launched in 2000, the Technology Pioneers community is composed of early-stage companies from around the world that are involved in the design, development and deployment of new technologies and innovations and are poised to have a significant impact on business and society. <br /><br />The WEF provides the community with a platform to engage with public and private sector leaders and to contribute new solutions to overcome the current crisis and build future resiliency.

Four Indian firms in WEF's 100 most promising tech startups list

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An Israeli firm wants to replicate a successful mouse embryo experiment with human cells.</li><li>The company, Renewal Bio, wants to use the technology to make "humanity younger and healthier."</li></ul><p>A biotechnology company based in Israel wants to replicate a recent experiment that successfully created an artificial mouse embryo from stem cells — only this time with human cells.</p><p>Scientists at Weizmann's Molecular Genetics Department <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)00981-3">grew "synthetic mouse embryos"</a> in a jar without the use of sperm, eggs, or a womb, according to a paper published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0092-8674%2822%2900981-3">the journal Cell on August 1</a>. It was the first time the process had been successfully completed, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/world-first-mouse-embryo-grown-without-womb-sperm-egg-study-2022-8">Insider's Marianne Guenot</a> reported.</p><p>The replica embryos could not develop into fully-formed mice and were therefore not "real," Jacob Hanna, who led the experiment, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/03/scientists-create-worlds-first-synthetic-embryos">told the Guardian</a>. However, scientists observed the synthetic embryos having a beating heart, blood circulation, the start of a brain, a neural tube, and an intestinal tract.</p><p>Hanna <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/08/04/1056633/startup-wants-copy-you-embryo-organ-harvesting/">told MIT Technology Review</a> after the success of the mouse experiment he is working to replicate the results with human cells, including his own.</p><p>"The embryo is the best organ-making machine and the best 3D bioprinter — we tried to emulate what it does," Hanna <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/world-first-mouse-embryo-grown-without-womb-sperm-egg-study-2022-8">said in a statement.</a></p><p>Other experts say it will <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/03/scientists-create-worlds-first-synthetic-embryos">take significantly more research</a> before synthetic human embryos are within reach.</p><p>Renewal Bio, the Israel-based company founded by Hanna, wants to use this science for organ tissue transplants that could solve infertility, genetic diseases, and issues related to old age.</p><p>For example, the MIT Technology Review reported that blood cells from the embryo could potentially be used to help boost immunocompromised systems.</p><p><a href="https://www.renewal.bio/">Renewal Bio</a> believes some of the world's most pressing problems are "declining birth rates and fast aging populations," according to the company website.</p><p>"To solve these complex and compounding issues, Renewal Bio aims to make humanity younger and healthier by leveraging the power of the new stem cell technology," the website reads. </p><p>Omri Amirav-Drory, the acting CEO of Renewal Bio, told the MIT Technology Review that the company did not want to "overpromise" or scare people with the potential technology, but that Hanna's experiment was "amazing."</p><p>The use of human embryo clones for research has frequently raised ethical concerns within the scientific community, including the potential <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/20674">that synthetic embryos may</a> experience pain or sentience, according to a 2017 paper published in the journal eLife.</p><p>Hanna told the MIT Technology Review that he could potentially get around these ethical concerns by creating synthetic human embryos with "no lungs, no heart, or no brain."</p>

A biotech company wants to take human DNA and create artificial embryos that could be used to harvest organs for medical transplants

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists were able to grow "synthetic embryos" without the need sperm, eggs, or a womb.</li><li>Studying these structures in mice could teach us how to grow organs for transplantation.</li></ul><p>Scientists grew "synthetic embryos" from mice cells without using sperm, eggs, or a womb. </p><p>The process, a world first, was <a href="https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0092-8674%2822%2900981-3">described in an issue of the peer-reviewed journal Cell on August 1</a>.</p><p> The technology could be a starting point to grow organs from scratch, Jacob Hanna of Weizmann's Molecular Genetics Department, who headed the research team, said in a statement.</p><p>Independent experts said a lot more research would be needed before even considering growing a human embryo this way.</p><p>Still, this research makes this possibility a little more feasible, adding urgency to the ethical question, they said.</p><div type="image" title="Synthetic embryos are shown growing in a dish" height="985" width="1971" msid="93350746" hostid="261" sizebytes="62058"></div><h2>Cracking the synthetic embryo code</h2><p>"The embryo is the best organ-making machine and the best 3D bioprinter — we tried to emulate what it does," said Hanna.</p><p>Hanna and his group had previously managed to <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/804531">grow mouse embryos outside of the womb, in glass containers</a>.</p><p>But those embryos had been taken directly from real mice, and were fertilized. In the latest study, the embryos were grown from stem cells.</p><p>Cells learn what they are supposed to do by reading chemical signals sent to them by the body. </p><p>Scientists can mimic those signals to turn stem cells into fake organs in a dish for research, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-startup-pfizer-mini-brains-drugs-mental-illness-2018-10">like mini-brains used to test drugs, for instance.</a></p><p>Most of Hanna's synthetic embryos died early on in the process. But a few managed to grow for 8.5 days, about half of the gestational time for a mouse.</p><p>At that point, they were 95% similar to normal mouse embryos and had grown a placenta and the beginnings of a spine and brain, a digestive tract, a beating heart, per the study.</p><p>However, these are not "real" embryos, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/03/scientists-create-worlds-first-synthetic-embryos">Hanna told The Guardian.</a> For one, they were not able to grow to term when they were put in a mouse uterus, he said.</p><div type="image" title="A normal mouse embryo and a synthetic mouse embryo are shown at day eight of their development." height="2116" width="2000" msid="93350749" hostid="261" sizebytes="98458"></div><h2>Growing organs from synthetic embryos</h2><p>Because these synthetic embryos are made from stem cells, rather than via fertilization, it is easier to scale the process and make lots at once.</p><p>That could be invaluable for science, because it could make huge amounts of synthetic embryos available for research without relying on lab animals.</p><p>If these cells can be coaxed into making the beginning of organs, studying them might reveal the building blocks to make organs from scratch to transplant them into humans without a need for donors, Hanna said. </p><p>"Our next challenge is to understand how stem cells know what to do — how they self-assemble into organs and find their way to their assigned spots inside an embryo," said Hanna. </p><div type="image" title="Synthetic embryos in an &quot;artificial womb.&quot;" height="1600" width="2000" msid="93350750" hostid="261" sizebytes="99942"></div><h2>Still a long way from synthetic human embryos</h2><p>James Briscoe, a group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London not involved in the research <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/03/scientists-create-worlds-first-synthetic-embryos">told The Guardian</a> that the research raises ethical questions.</p><p>"Now is a good time to consider the best legal and ethical framework to regulate research and use of human synthetic embryos and to update the current regulations," he said.</p><p>We aren't going to see human embryos grown from stem cells anytime soon, Briscoe said. These synthetic mouse embryos were not capable of developing into a live mouse. We also know a lot less about human embryos, which take a lot longer to come to term and are a lot bigger.</p><p>Still, this innovation could put this field of research in motion, Paul Tesar, a developmental biologist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine who was not involved in the study, <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2022/08/01/synthetic-mouse-embryos-created-from-stem-cells-without-sperm-eggs-uterus/?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&amp;utm_campaign=492bf84a1c-MR_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-492bf84a1c-149563237">told STAT News</a>.</p><p>"This is just one step, but a very important step for us to be able to study early development," Tesar said. </p><p>"We're crossing into the realm of being able to generate an embryo from scratch, and potentially a living organism. It's been a really notable switch for the field."</p>

In world first, artificial mouse 'embryos' were grown without the need for a womb, sperm, or egg

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/past-noncompliance-barred-pig-transplant-patient-from-human-heart-2022-1">Organ scarcity</a> means patients accept risky transplants, die on the waitlist, and are sometimes denied life-saving treatment.</li><li>This year scientists have advanced <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doctors-changed-human-lungs-blood-type-for-the-first-time-2022-2">experimental paths</a> to make more organs available.</li></ul><p>Leilani Graham was just 13 years old when she went into cardiac arrest for the first time. A congenital issue made her heart stop suddenly, almost killing her, until medical workers shocked it back to life with a defibrillator.</p><p>It would happen three more times before Graham, age 24, had to have her heart replaced.</p><p>She was lucky to have gotten a heart. On average, <a href="https://www.organdonor.gov/learn/organ-donation-statistics">17 people die every day</a> on the waiting list, out of nearly 106,000 people listed for a transplant. Some never even make the waiting list.</p><p>But Graham would have picked a different heart if she'd had a choice. Coming from a 52-year-old donor, it was a risky, or "marginal," donation — one of many Band-Aid fixes for the lack of organs across the US.</p><div type="image" title="selfie leilani graham red background" height="933" width="933" msid="94501537" hostid="261"></div><p>When the time comes to replace her heart again — sooner rather than later, she fears, because of its age — she'll likely be lower on the list than people awaiting their first transplant.</p><p>Between deadly delays, marginal donations, and sticky ethical questions about who gets prioritized for transplants, the shortage of life-saving organs is a medical crisis. That's why researchers are pursuing everything from pig organs to blood-type conversions in order to make more hearts, lungs, and kidneys available.</p><p>"The idea of getting an organ that didn't necessarily have to come from a dead donor, that could come from a pig that has been genetically modified, is something that definitely intrigues me," Graham told Insider. She now sits on an ethics advisory committee for transplant research at New York University Langone Hospital, including pig-organ research.</p><div type="image" title="hands in medical gloves hold diseased heart" height="1080" width="1080" msid="94501538" hostid="261"></div><p>If pig organs turn out to be just as effective as human organs, she added, "That is more appealing to me than using marginal donors."</p><p>While much of the shortage is driven by imperfect <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/03/transplant-deaths-mistakes-senate-finance/">logistics and bureaucracy</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/supply-isnt-the-problem-with-organ-transplants-11575644400">rather</a> than supply, cutting-edge research could make organs — human, pig, or synthetic — more accessible in Graham's lifetime.</p><p>Here's what researchers are trying.</p><h2>1. Transplanting organs from genetically engineered pigs to humans</h2><div type="image" title="doctor in face mask selfie with patient with nose tube" height="1739" width="2319" msid="94501539" hostid="261"></div><p>In January, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center transplanted a pig heart into a human patient for the first time. Hospitals had declined to list the man, David Bennett, for a human heart because supplies are short and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/past-noncompliance-barred-pig-transplant-patient-from-human-heart-2022-1">he had a history of failing to follow doctor's orders</a>. The pig-heart procedure was highly experimental.</p><p>"It's got danger written all over it," Arthur Caplan, a bioethics professor at NYU, told Insider at the time, saying it would be a "miracle" if the man survived. Two months later, Bennett <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/first-pig-heart-transplant-patient-dies-2-months-after-surgery-2022-3#:~:text=David%20Bennett%20Sr.%2C%20the%20first,procedure%2C%20giving%20doctors%20valuable%20insights.">died</a>, possibly related to a pig virus lurking inside his new heart.</p><p>NYU Langone is taking a more incremental approach to learning to put pig organs into human bodies.</p><p>This year, researchers there transplanted genetically modified pig kidneys into two deceased humans, then <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/two-gene-edited-pig-hearts-transplanted-into-humans-nyu-2022-7">pig hearts</a> into two brain-dead humans. Eventually, if procedures like this continue to be successful, they could move into phase 1 clinical trials with consenting patients like Bennett.</p><div type="image" title="side by side of human heart and pig heart" height="600" width="1200" msid="94501541" hostid="261"></div><p>"There will be an iterative process of learning, changing tactics," Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of NYU Langone Transplant Institute, said during a press conference in July.</p><p>He added that he hopes gene-edited pigs will become a "renewable, sustainable source of organs, so no one will have to die waiting."</p><h2>2. Stopping organ decay after death</h2><div type="image" title="electrocardiogram shows mostly flat heartbeat with image of muted cells on the left versus clear heartbeat and bright cells on the right" height="1620" width="2732" msid="94501543" hostid="261"></div><p>In a <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41586-022-05016-1&amp;amazonTrackingID=null&amp;site=bi&amp;vikingID=62e9a96b056870302d4a2e56&amp;platform=browser&amp;sc=false&amp;disabled=false&amp;sessionID=1663641431931ovta77ys">study</a> published in August, researchers at Yale School of Medicine <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dead-pigs-regain-cell-function-blurring-line-between-life-death-2022-8">restored dead pigs' heartbeats and stopped organ decay</a>, seemingly halting the death of cells. If the technique works for human organs in the future, it could allow clinicians to preserve many more organs for donation after death. </p><p>One hour after the pigs died, the researchers connected them to a system of pumps, heaters, and fillers called OrganEx. By artificially flushing the pigs' organs with blood — a process called perfusion — they restored molecular and cellular function in the heart, brain, liver, and kidneys.</p><p>The hearts even contracted to pump blood, indicating renewed electrical activity, and restored full blood circulation in the pigs' bodies. There was no sign of electrical activity in the brain. Still, the scientists say they've uncovered a previously unknown capacity for mammal cells to recover after blood has stopped flowing.</p><p>"Cells actually don't die as quickly as we assumed that they do, which basically opens up the possibility for intervention," Zvonimir Vrselja, a neuroscientist on the research team at Yale, said in a briefing at the time. "If properly intervened, we can maybe tell them not to die."</p><h2>3. Changing organs' blood type</h2><div type="image" title="dry pink lung inside glass dome with suction cups and tubes attached to it" height="1875" width="2500" msid="94501544" hostid="261"></div><p>Part of the reason getting an organ can be difficult is because it has to be compatible with the patient's blood type. Some researchers are working to eliminate that criterion.</p><p>In a February <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abm7190">paper</a>, scientists announced they had removed the Type A antigens, or signature sugar molecules, from the blood of human lungs. If a person receives an unmatched organ, the organ's antigens activate the body's immune response, which can lead to rejection. Type O blood and organs don't have antigens and can be donated to anybody of any blood type. So the researchers <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doctors-changed-human-lungs-blood-type-for-the-first-time-2022-2">essentially converted Type A lungs into universal lungs</a>.</p><p>The conversion may have been temporary, but they plan to run more trials in mice.</p><p>At Northwestern University Medical Center, surgeons recently took the opposite approach: scrubbing antigens from the blood of the transplant patient. Using this method for the first time, they transplanted mismatched lungs and kidneys into a living patient and sent her home in August, <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/people/health/ct-northwestern-medicine-colette-hurd-crossmatch-transplant-0815-20220817-wevgavyzmvgwrihbwbr4abtyym-story.html?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Don%27t%20miss%3A%20News&amp;utm_content=6821660780014">The Chicago Tribune reported</a>.</p><h2>4. Growing synthetic organs from stem cells</h2><div type="image" title="stem cells" height="1500" width="2000" msid="94501545" hostid="261"></div><p>Some scientists believe they could one day grow synthetic organs using stem cells — self-replicating, nonspecialized cells, which develop into all the other types of cells in our bodies.</p><p>In an August <a href="https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0092-8674%2822%2900981-3">paper</a>, researchers announced they had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/world-first-mouse-embryo-grown-without-womb-sperm-egg-study-2022-8">grown synthetic embryos from mouse stem cells</a>, with no eggs, sperm, or womb.</p><p>"The embryo is the best organ-making machine and the best 3D bioprinter — we tried to emulate what it does," Jacob Hanna of Weizmann's Molecular Genetics Department, who headed that research team, said in a statement.</p><p>Hanna started <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-human-embryos-dna-mouse-medical-transplants-2022-8">a company called Renewal Bio</a> to pursue the possibility of turning stem cells into organs for transplants. But much more research is needed before <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/world-first-mouse-embryo-grown-without-womb-sperm-egg-study-2022-8">growing human embryos</a> this way.</p><h2>5. Tricking the body into accepting a new organ without immune-suppressing drugs</h2><div type="image" title="pills in hand" height="1914" width="2552" msid="94501549" hostid="261"></div><p>In June, a team of Stanford physicians <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2117028">announced</a> that they had transplanted new kidneys into three children who had a rare genetic disease, and the children didn't need immune-suppressing drugs afterward.</p><p>Normally, transplant patients take medication for the rest of their lives so that their bodies don't launch an attack against their new organ. That doesn't always prevent rejection and it significantly increases risk of cancer and various infections. Eliminating the need for immune-suppressing drugs could increase the quality and length of transplant patients' lives.</p><p>"Everybody I know who's a transplant patient has shielded from COVID and had to really change their lifestyle for the past couple years. So getting rid of immunosuppression would be incredible," Graham said.</p><p>The Stanford doctors first injected the children with stem cells from the bone marrow of their parents, who were also their organ donors. They hoped that those stem cells would mature into immune cells, arming the children with new immune systems that would recognize their new organs. Five to 10 months later, they transplanted the kidneys. At the time of the report, two or three years after the procedures, the children were back in school, playing sports, with no signs of illness and no immunosuppressants, the doctors <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2022/06/kidney-transplant-without-immunosuppressants.html">reported</a>.</p><p>"I just think it's important to highlight the good work that doctors are doing to try to increase quality of life, and then the bravery of the patients who are willing to undergo it," Graham said.</p><p><em>This story has been updated. It was originally published on September 24, 2022. Hilary Brueck and Marianne Guenot contributed reporting.</em></p>

About 17 Americans die waiting for transplants each day. Scientists are trying to make more organs in 5 creative ways.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d9c97cc754caa47f512ebf2-2400/space rocket.jpg" border="0" alt="space rocket" data-mce-source="CC Yuzhny/Rocosmos" /><p class="source"><span>CC Yuzhny/Rocosmos</span></p><p class="caption">A space craft named "Soyuz MS-15" takes off for the International Space Station with meat cells onboard.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station just printed meat in space for the first time.</li><li>On September 25, the Israeli food-tech startup Aleph Farms loaded a spacecraft with vials of cow cells.</li><li>When the cells arrived at the space station, cosmonauts fed them into a 3D printer, which produced thin steaks.</li><li>The experiment is a sign that meat could be grown in harsh environments on Earth.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Businessinsider.com for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Space food is notoriously lackluster, but new technology is slowly revolutionizing the way astronauts eat. Whereas the first astronauts in space <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronaut-food-in-space-timeline-2019-7">squeezed their meals from toothpaste-like tubes</a>, today's astronauts chow down on ice cream and fresh fruit, and season their meals with liquid salt and pepper.</p><p>But there are still limits to the types of food that can withstand microgravity. Anything that can produce crumbs, for instance, is considered dangerous, since food particles can <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/nasa-s-ban-fresh-baked-bread-about-crumble-ncna771506">clog a spacecraft's electrical systems or air filters</a>. Food also needs to last for an extended period of time, in case resupply missions go awry.</p><p>So tech companies are experimenting with ways to grow food onboard a spacecraft.</p><p>In late September, the Israeli food-tech startup Aleph Farms oversaw the growth of meat in space for the first time, with the help of a 3D printer. The experiment isn't entirely new - Aleph Farms has been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aleph-farms-israeli-startup-makes-first-lab-grown-clean-steak-meat-photos-video-2018-12">cooking up lab-grown steaks</a> since December 2018 - but it does suggest that meat could be grown in all kinds of harsh environments.</p><h2>Cosmonauts fed meat cells into a 3D printer</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d9ce2e0e8815b06f329ec29-2000/credit- 3d bioprinting solutions caption- cosmonaut oleg kononenko on board of the international space station during the first experiment with 3d bioprinterdecember 2018.jpg" border="0" alt="lab grown meat iss International Space Station" data-mce-source="3D Bioprinting Solutions" data-mce-caption="Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on board of the International Space Station during the first experiment with 3D bioprinter in December 2018." /><p class="source"><span>3D Bioprinting Solutions</span></p><p class="caption">Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on board of the International Space Station during the first experiment with 3D bioprinter in December 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>To make their lab-grown meat, Aleph Farms starts by extracting cells from a cow through a small biopsy. The cells are then placed in a "broth" of nutrients that simulates the environment inside a cow's body. From there, they grow into a thin piece of steak.</p><p>Those who've tasted the product say it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/14/worlds-first-lab-grown-beef-steak-revealed-but-the-taste-needs-work">leaves something to be desired</a>, but it's meant to mimic the texture and flavor of traditional beef.</p><p>"We're the only company that has the capacity to make fully-textured meat that includes muscle fibers and blood vessels - all the components that provide the necessary structure and connections for the tissue," Aleph's CEO and co-founder, Didier Toubia, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sabra-company-funded-lab-grown-steak-clean-meat-2018-5">told Business Insider</a> last year.</p><p>But to grow the meat in space, Aleph Farms had to alter their process slightly.</p><p>First, they placed the cow cells and nutrient broth in closed vials. Next, they loaded the vials onto the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft in Kazakhstan. On September 25, the spacecraft took off for the Russian segment of the International Space Station, orbiting about 250 miles away from Earth.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d9cb1a655824d4d965d242c-2400/3d printer in space.jpg" border="0" alt="3d printer in space.JPG" data-mce-source="3D Bioprinting Solutions" data-mce-caption="Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on board the International Space Station during the first experiment with 3D bioprinter in December 2018." /><p class="source"><span>3D Bioprinting Solutions</span></p><p class="caption">Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on board the International Space Station during the first experiment with the 3D bioprinter in December 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>When the vials arrived at the station, Russian astronauts - known as cosmonauts - inserted them into a magnetic printer from the Russian company <a href="https://bioprinting.ru/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bioprinting.ru/en/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1570639219467000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGo1vUq3g8MKDTP_XRy3pZY91z1zw">3D Bioprinting Solutions</a>. The printer then replicated those cells to produce muscle tissue (the "meat"). The samples returned to Earth on October 3.</p><p>The experiment isn't the first time food has been artificially grown in space. In 2015, astronauts grew romaine lettuce on the International Space Station. NASA is now developing a "<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/growing-plants-in-space/">space garden</a>" that can produce lettuce, strawberries, carrots, and potatoes on the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/questions-nasas-new-spaceship">Gateway</a>, a proposed space station that could orbit the moon.</p><h2>The experiment is a sign that meat could be grown anywhere on Earth</h2><p>The ability to print meat in microgravity isn't just good news for astronauts. It also suggests that companies could print meat in extreme environments on Earth - particularly in places where water or land is scarce.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-like-eat-food-grown-space-nasa-2015-11">This is what it's like to eat food grown in a 'space garden'</a></em></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d9c9788754caa47f512ebed-1600/space meat.jpg" border="0" alt="space meat" data-mce-source="Afik Gabay" data-mce-caption="Aleph Farms' slaughter-free steaks." /><p class="source"><span>Afik Gabay</span></p><p class="caption">Aleph Farms' slaughter-free steaks.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Normally, it takes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste">up to 5,200 gallons of water</a> to produce a single 2.2-pound steak (the large slabs typically sold at the grocery store). But growing cultured meat uses <a href="https://www.apnews.com/d38532a02708451db8cc83cf7862e9b5">about 10 times less water and land</a> than traditional livestock agriculture. Lab-grown meat is also quicker to produce - Aleph Farms calls its product a "minute steak," because it takes just a couple of minutes to cook.</p><p>The need to produce more food while conserving natural resources is more pressing than ever. A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/food-system-role-in-climate-crisis-possible-solutions-2019-8">recent report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> found that our food industry - including the land and resources required to raise livestock - produces 37% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.</p><p>In a statement to Business Insider, Aleph Farms said its space experiment was a direct response to these challenges.</p><p>"It is time Americans and Russians, Arabs and Israelis rise above conflicts, team up, and unite behind <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> to address the climate crisis and food security needs," the company said. "We all share the same planet."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-antigravity-radiation-affect-human-body-2019-9">What happens to the human body in space</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/OPyozEQW-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Astronauts just printed meat in space for the first time - and it could change the way we grow food on Earth

<div id="ooyalaplayer" style="width: 800px; height: 450px;"></div><div style="display:none;" id="kalturavideoplaceholder">kalturavideoplaceholder</div><div><div><script src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script><div class="g-ytsubscribe" data-channelid="UCVLZmDKeT-mV4H3ToYXIFYg" data-layout="full" data-count="hidden"></div></div></div><p>Scientists at t<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">he Wake Forest Institute For Regenerative Medicine created a 3D bioprinter to make bone, cartilage, and muscle. They say that their development could one day lead to lab-grown replacement tissue and organs for humans.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><em>Produced by Zach Wasser</em>.<em> Video courtesy of Wake Forest University.</em><br /></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Follow <keyword id="72550" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="TI">TI</keyword>: </strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/techinsider/?fref=ts">On Facebook</a><br /></span></p><p class="embed-spacer"></p>

Scientists just printed usable human bones and muscle

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53f266926bb3f790681c5fb5-1200-858/9325662885_30a79540d5_o.jpg" border="0" alt="cows farm cattle"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/leszekleszczynski/9325662885/in/photolist-fd5sF8-Kh5df-fsh25x-aNz5F6-4Jy5oy-PrxmX-3fi2p-2umNvs-7fpNh6-gpQXfR-dqzKUz-7byeb-t2a7o-cZ2Vj7-bLmYfk-gSCC3z-fswn7S-8mxoGF-gU9Xap-gqiPg8-bWy1e3-d1Z1PU-gC22nN-6kMPZo-4ZG3Rk-nmnhWd-83FEuv-kCBhSn-dwojvp-bZcPvS-8akywg-bucAUa-appMYi-4RCdf-oe3kSN-oxi45K-7Z7uEt-bQYpsg-b4XFSV-gEyJt-akUVo4-cJYpef-8YsgDt">Leszek Leszczynski / Flickr</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>The cattle industry has a lot of critics, and not without reason: Cattle take up a lot of space, contribute to habitat destruction and deforestation, belch harmful methane into the atmosphere and consume massive amounts of food. But one Brooklyn-based start-up is aiming to address these issues with an innovative, if unexpected, solution: lab-grown meat.</p>
<p>Co-founded in 2011 by Andras Forgacz, Gabor Forgacz, Francoise Marga, and Karoly Jakab, <a href="http://modernmeadow.com/">Modern Meadow</a> is using a technology called tissue engineering to grow leather and meat from the confines of a laboratory - no animals harmed in the making. With the help of a process called "bioprinting," which allows scientists to 3-D print tissues that are cultured from animal cells in the lab, the entrepreneurs are able to produce a humane and eco-friendly animal product.</p>
<p>Andras Forgacz spoke about the research this week at the <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/emtech/14/speakers/">MIT Technology Review</a>, and Modern Meadow scientists presented a taste of their research earlier this year at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin with a plate of "steak chips" - potato chip-like discs of lab-grown meat, which Andras Forgacz says can be produced for less than $100 apiece.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Steak chips made of synthetic animal protein as shown by @ModernMeadows at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EmTechMIT?src=hash">#EmTechMIT</a>. <a href="http://t.co/ksBribZ2bZ">pic.twitter.com/ksBribZ2bZ</a>- MIT Tech Review (@techreview) <a href="https://twitter.com/techreview/status/514447273338863616">September 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>
<p>It's not the first time such a venture has been attempted. Last year, professor Mark Poke of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, <a href="http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/Main/Research/ResearchUM/FirsteverPublicTastingOfLabgrownCulturedBeefBurger.htm">produced a lab-cultured hamburger</a> and presented it at a public tasting in London - an achievement that won him the World Technology Award for Environment. Unfortunately, his burger won't be available at your local fast food joint any time soon - it cost <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cultured-beef-taste-test-2013-8">more than $300,000</a> to make.</p>
<p>The research comes at a critical time for Planet Earth. The <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/beef">World Wildlife Fund estimates</a> that an area of rainforest the size of New York City is lost to cattle grazing land each year, and the Food and Agriculture Organization reports that the industry pours <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3437e/i3437e.pdf">2.9 gigatonnes of carbon emissions</a> into the atmosphere annually. Additionally, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2014/09/17/science.1257469">recent research</a> from the United Nations projects that the world's population could top 12 billion people by 2100. If production costs become cheaper, lab-grown meat could be one way to feed an ever-growing human population without continuing to destroy the environment.</p>
<p>But tissue engineering has plenty of other applications, as well - most notably as a way to grow tissues and organs for use in medical research and procedures. In fact, before founding Modern Meadow, Andras Forgacz co-founded <a href="http://www.organovo.com/">Organovo</a>, a company that bioprints human tissues.</p>
<p>For now, research continues in Modern Meadow's lab. They don't have any products commercially available yet, but as environmental advocates continue to put the heat on the livestock industry, a safe and eco-friendly alternative to farm-raised animal products may be just what the doctor ordered.</p>

This Brooklyn Startup Wowed The Science Community With Lab-Made 'Meat Chips'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57727508dd089588228b49a1-1422/160502_mdrnmdw-0024.jpg" alt="Modern Meadow" data-mce-source="Modern Meadow" data-mce-caption="Leather grown in Modern Meadow's lab." /><p class="source"><span>Modern Meadow</span></p><p class="caption">Leather grown in Modern Meadow's lab.</p></div><p></p></div></div>You don't want to think about how your favorite leather jacket, shoes or watch strap were made.</p><p>But the process - from the time it takes to farm an animal, ship it to a slaughter facility, prepare and then tan the hide - can take years.</p><p>In Brooklyn, a team of 35 people have found a way to create real leather in about two weeks. And their process doesn't harm any animals.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57727508dd089588228b49a2-590/screen-shot-2012-04-02-at-7.28.51-pm.jpg" alt="Mobile Slaughter Unit" data-mce-source="nmpan via YouTube" data-link="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lxe5-3cpEE&amp;feature=player_embedded#!" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lxe5-3cpEE&amp;feature=player_embedded#!">nmpan via YouTube</a></span></p><p class="caption">Modern Meadow says no animals are harmed to grow its leather. Instead it just uses some skin cells.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Modern Meadow is a startup that has over a dozen patents and grows leather in a lab from skin cells that produce collagen, a protein found in the connective tissues of animals. That collagen turns into leather that's free of blemishes, hair and fat.</p><p><span>For the past four years<strong>,</strong> Modern Meadow has been focused on research and development. Now, it's raised $40 million from Nest founder Tony Fadell, Li Ka-shing's Horizon Ventures, the "<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2014/12/01/the-spider-of-silicon-valley-inside-zuck-friends-secret-billionaire-fund/#292cf2ef16f1">Zuck and friends' billionaire fund</a>" Iconiq Capital, Breakout Capital, Artis Ventures, and Singapore's Temasek to bring its material to the masses.</span></p><p><span>"<span>We are making real, fully biological leather here," Modern Meadow co-founder and CEO Andras Forgacs told Tech Insider. That's unlike most synthetic leather which is made from plastic and chemicals.</span></span></p><p><span>"[Making leather] is this really long process with a lot of inefficiencies," Forgacs said. "You're working subtractively, removing the hair, flesh and the fat [from the hide] ... Instead we work additively. We just create collagen to make the material and that's it."</span></p><h2><strong>How to grow leather in a lab</strong></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57727508dd089588228b49a3-1319/main image option1_160523_modernmeadow-0713.jpg" alt="Modern Meadow lab" data-mce-source="Modern Meadow" data-mce-caption="Modern Meadow's lab." /><p class="source"><span>Modern Meadow</span></p><p class="caption">Modern Meadow's lab.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Modern Meadow uses a process called "biofabrication" to grow pieces that look and feel just like animal leather. Forgacs describes biofabrication as biotechnology meeting material science and design. His team </span><span>works off of skin cells that have been programmed to produce collagen identical to that of a cow or another desired animal. </span></p><p><span>"We start with what leather is in its end state," he explained. "We can produce cow collagen, alligator collagen - any kind of collagen using the tool kit of biotechnology. We've developed a way to organize this collagen to get it to recapitulate into the full biological structure of that collagen in hide that we then treat to become leather."</span></p><p><span>After the collagen is grown into leather, it's sent off to a tannery where it's treated and turned into products you're used to wearing, from purses to watch straps to shoes, belts and more. The company can control all sorts of things, from the thickness of the leather it grows to the elasticity and aesthetic.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57727508dd089588228b49a4-1901/screen shot 2016-06-28 at 8.35.21 am.png" alt="modern meadow cow leather cells" data-mce-source="TED" data-mce-caption="Modern Meadow uses skin cells to make collagen which grows into leather rather than slaughtering an animal" /><p class="source"><span>TED</span></p><p class="caption">Modern Meadow uses skin cells to make collagen which grows into leather rather than slaughtering an animal</p></div><p></p></div></div>The first time Modern Meadow grew leather successfully in a lab was four years ago, in late 2012. Then, it took about 2 months to create the material. </span></p><p><span>Modern Meadow's leather isn't ready for consumers to try yet. But the startup is partnered with some fashion companies and tanneries, and hopes the fresh $40 million will enable it to scale its process and make its leather goods available for purchase within a few years.</span></p><h2><strong>Growing meat without animals</strong></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57727508dd089588228b49a5-1200/160523_modernmeadow-1416.jpg" alt="Modern Meadow CEO founder Andras Forgacs" data-mce-source="Modern Meadow" data-mce-caption="Modern Meadow CEO and cofounder Andras Forgacs" /><p class="source"><span>Modern Meadow</span></p><p class="caption">Modern Meadow CEO and cofounder Andras Forgacs</p></div><p></p></div></div>Leather is a $100 billion industry, according to Forgacs. So his team is focused on tackling that for now. But they've tried growing other animal products in the lab, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/06/18/modern-meadow-raises-10m-to-grow-leather-in-labs-not-from-livestock/">including meat, fish and poultry</a>. </span></p><p><span>Prior to starting Modern Meadow, Forgacs cofounded a publicly-traded 3D bioprinting company called <span>Organovo. At Organovo, his team was able to make skin models of things like fully-functioning livers and kidneys. Other companies approached him then about creating related materials, such as leather or meat.</span></span></p><p><span><span>"We were initially dismissive of those inquiries," Forgacs recalled. But while he was living in China, Forgacs gave more thought to the consumer possibilities and reconsidered. </span></span></p><p><span><span>"I started thinking these ideas were not so crazy, if you can think of different ways of producing these animal products," he said.</span></span></p><p><span><span>So, when will you be eating a Modern Meadow burger?</span></span></p><p><span><span>Not for a while, Forgacs says - although maybe someday.</span></span></p><p><span><span>"Leather being a $100 billion global market is large enough to keep us busy for quite a while," he told Tech Insider. "I wouldn't say [meat] is on the back burner, but it's a longer-term opportunity."</span></span></p><p>Here's a Ted Talk Forgacs gave in 2013 about how his biotechnology works. The process to make a strip of leather then took a few months. Now it takes Forgac's team a few weeks. </p><p><iframe width="854" height="480" frameborder="0" src="https://embed-ssl.ted.com/talks/andras_forgacs_leather_and_meat_without_killing_animals.html"></iframe></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-ads-follow-you-internet-privacy-disable-2016-6">This new Facebook feature stalks you all over the internet - here's how to turn it off</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Qwa20wNDE6fLf9uEtszPhZ1dI3v9p-lu" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'Qwa20wNDE6fLf9uEtszPhZ1dI3v9p-lu',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

A Brooklyn startup that's armed with $40 million is growing real meat and leather in a lab without hurting a single animal

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5267fa52ecad04945bd73523-1200-800/180366323.jpg" border="0" alt="Josh Tetrick and Michael Arrington (L &amp; R) attend Day 3 of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013 at San Francisco Design Center on September 11, 2013 in San Francisco, California." style="color: #000000; font-size: 15px;" /><p class="source">Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch</p><p class="caption">Hampton Creek Foods Founder Josh Tetrick (left) showing off their line of products at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.</p></div><p></p></div></div>It looks like <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword> venture capitalists have found the next industry they would like to disrupt: <keyword id="6181" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Food">Food</keyword>. </p>
<p>A batch of food startups have sprung up over the last few years, backed by big money, with the goal of revolutionizing the way that we eat. </p>
<p>In 2012, investors<a href="http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/venture-capital/food-technology"> put nearly $350 million dollars into the burgeoning food technology industry,</a> which includes web and mobile food applications and actual food products coming to market. That's a 37% increase over 2011. In 2008, the number was just $50 million. </p>
<p>So why, the food industry? Josh Tetrick, the founder and chief executive of Hampton Creek Foods, the makers of a plant-based egg product, had an answer. </p>
<p><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/disruptions-silicon-valleys-next-stop-the-kitchen/">"The food system is bizarre and ineffectual and completely lacking in innovation,"</a> Tetrick told The New York Times. </p>
<p>Here are the start-ups that are making Silicon Valley VCs investment-crazy:</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://hamptoncreekfoods.com/">Hampton Creek Foods</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>What Are The Products: </strong>Beyond Eggs is a plant-based egg substitute made out of peas, sorghum, and nine other plants. While it may sound gross, Hampton Creek claims its product is healthier, has a longer shelf-life, and costs 19 percent less than real eggs. As of right now, Beyond Eggs is intended only for baking uses, though the company just released Just Mayo, a plant-based mayo substitute, and it has announced  plans to release a scrambled egg product next March. Here is a preview: </p>
<p><iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zTXYCJ1MMDA"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Who Is Investing:</strong> <a href="http://www.khoslaventures.com/">Khosla Ventures (Vinod Khosla &amp; Bill Gates)</a></p>
<p><strong>How Does It Taste: </strong> In blind taste tests, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/09/11/chicken-or-egg-question-cracked-scientists-create-plant-based-egg/">Bill Gates, Tony Blair</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681889/inside-the-company-thats-producing-the-most-realistic-fake-eggs-youll-ever-taste#6">Fast CoExist's Ariel Schwartz</a>, and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/23/beyond-eggs_n_3963845.html">Huffington Post's Nile Cappello</a> couldn't tell the difference between products baked with Beyond Eggs and those that weren't. </p>
<p><strong>Why You Should Pay Attention: </strong>The egg industry is a $6 billion dollar industry and Hampton Creek claims that its product is "better than eggs." While it may take a while to win over everyday consumers, the company has already arranging deals with major food manufacturing companies to replace eggs in many processed foods you already eat.   </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5267f1eaeab8eac83bd73524-620-363/beyondmeat_package_nutritionals_web_lightly.jpg" border="0" alt="BeyondMeat_Package_Nutritionals_web_lightly" /><p class="source">Beyond <keyword id="52511" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Meat">Meat</keyword></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://beyondmeat.com/">Beyond Meat</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>What Are The Products: </strong>Chicken-Free Strips are Beyond Meat's solution to the potentially unsustainable poultry industry (<a href="http://www.tested.com/inventern/458382-beyond-meats-not-chicken-strips-may-revolutionize-meat-substitutes/">humans eat 183 billion pounds of chicken every year</a>). The chicken-free strips are made of a variety of plants including soy, peas, flours, and fiber and come in three varieties: lightly seasoned, grilled, and southwest.</p>
<p>What makes Chicken-Free Strips different from fake meat already on the market (such as Tofurkey or Boca Burgers) is that they are the first of their kind to mimic <span>not only</span> the taste of chicken but also the texture. The plant protein mixture is kneaded into a specific arrangement that looks like chicken and feels like it when you bite into it. </p>
<p><strong>Who Is Investing:</strong> <a href="https://medium.com/obvious">Obvious Corp (the company behind Twitter)</a>, <a href="http://www.kpcb.com/">Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers</a></p>
<p><strong>How Does It Taste: </strong>Chef and Food Network host Alton Brown tasted the not-chicken and declared, <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/09/fakemeat/">"It's more like meat than anything I've ever seen that wasn't meat."</a> However, he wasn't all glowing. While he found the texture to be on point, he said the product tastes "distinctly vegetal."</p>
<p>After the taste test, Brown went to work with a team of chefs to try the product out in different recipes. While he had trouble recommending the product for anything that puts the not-chicken front and center, he said that it works well for tacos, stir-fries, soups, and even chicken nuggets ("most impressive"). </p>
<p><strong>Why You Should Pay Attention: </strong>We're not buying Twitter's Biz Stone's declaration that, <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680007/biz-stone-explains-why-twitters-co-founders-are-betting-big-on-a-vegan-meat-startup">"If someone were to serve this to me in a restaurant I would have said 'I think this is a mistake,'"</a> (he is a vegan after all). However, it's clear he believes in the company, which might be reason for us to as well.</p>
<p>What turned the heads of the guys at Obvious Corporation wasn't necessarily the product itself, but founder Ethan Brown's vision. Brown told Stone and company that he didn't want the product to be a niche product for vegans, he wanted it to be something everyday consumers would replace their chicken with. </p>
<p>It is already available at Whole Foods, packaged and in many of their prepared products.  </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5267f6186bb3f76e5445272a-1200-800/rtx12b0e.jpg" border="0" alt="The first lab-grown hamburger" height="800" /><p class="source">REUTERS/David Parry</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://modernmeadow.com/">Modern Meadow </a></strong></p>
<p><strong>What Are The Products: </strong>Modern Meadow co-founder Andras Forgacs has a revolutionary, if somewhat unsettling idea: use lab cultures and 3-D printing to grow meat in a lab. Forgacs is trying disrupt the meat industry, which he calls <a href="http://phys.org/news/2012-08-paypal-founder-bankrolls-d-meat.html">"an environmental train wreck,"</a> by combining regenerative medicine (cell cultures from cow stem cells) with 3-D printing to create hamburger meat without the environmental impact or the inhumane animal treatment.  The product is still in the testing phase and is probably several years away from scaling to a level where you might find it in a grocery store. </p>
<p><strong>Who Is Investing:</strong> Paypal co-founder <a href="http://www.breakoutlabs.org/home.html">Peter Thiel's Breakout Labs</a>, a <a href="http://www.sbir.gov/">grant from the S</a><a href="http://www.sbir.gov/">mall Business Innovation Research</a>, and $1.4 million in investments from angel and seed funds.</p>
<p><strong>How Does It Taste: </strong>In a recent Reddit AMA, Forgacs <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/199f0n/im_andras_forgacs_ceo_of_modern_meadow_a_company/">gave an extremely candid response on the details of the lab meat.</a> Here's what he had to say: </p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I've tasted it as have my colleagues. We've only been able to have small bites since we're still working on getting the process right.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I cooked some pieces in olive oil and ate some with and without salt and pepper. Not bad. The taste is good but not yet fully like meat. We have yet to get the fat content right and other elements that influence taste. This process will be iterative and involve us working closely with our consulting chefs.</p>
<p><strong>Why You Should Pay Attention: </strong>In the same AMA, Forgacs stressed that the "bio-printing" process used to create lab beef could be used for just about any type of meat, including fish. The trick is getting the cost down, which Forgacs has said is a main priority. He estimates that by the time the meat comes to market, it will cost $30/lb to start. Not cheap, but not terrible either.</p>
<p>The company has big money behind it and a great idea that is sounding less like science fiction everyday.</p>

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