News, updates, and the occasional hot take

Join us in welcoming André Valkenburg of Stellenbosch University in South Africa and Omowunmi Odeyomi of North Carolina A&T State University in the USA to the New Harvest research community.

We turned 20 years old this year! We look at two decades of impact, and give an overview of twelve high impact projects and initiatives from 2024.

We are currently seeking a co-director in the EU. This means managing and executing on tasks for our current projects, seeking out new projects/grants, and working within the European ecosystem (and with the rest of the international New Harvest team) to advance cellular agriculture for the public good.

Did you know many ingredients in your favorite alternative protein products were grown on the Canadian prairies? That’s right, the yellow peas in your plant-based burgers and oats in your oat milk were most likely grown and harvested sustainably here in Canada’s breadbasket. Cell ag will be no different. That is why we are thrilled […]

Do you want to help New Harvest build the Canadian cellular agriculture ecosystem? After 20 years of building the field of cellular agriculture around the world, New Harvest has been focusing on Canada as a place to build out the agricultural foundations of both cellular agriculture and biomanufacturing.  The Canadian Prairies are celebrated for their […]

“Artificial intelligence and machine learning applications for cultured meat” has just been published fully open access in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence!

New Harvest and Vireo Advisors are launching a cultured meat safety working session series for 2024-2025 to formally kick off Phase 3 of the Cultured Meat Safety Initiative (CMSI)!  Funded by the US National Science Foundation (Grant No. 2417703) and the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (AFRI project 2024-07959), the […]

A new report sheds light on what farmers care about, worry about, and see as an opportunity to improve their business when it comes to cultured meat production.

In December 2022, we announced our partnership with the University of Alberta to establish an Institute of Cellular Agriculture. It will be the first institute in Canada, and one of the first few in the world dedicated to growing food from cells. This is a big deal!! In November 2023, the U of A began interviewing […]

It’s the second instalment of our new podcast series “New Harvest @ 20”! Hosted by Alex Shirazi of the Cultured Meat & Future Food Podcast, we reflect on cellular agriculture’s past and look toward future directions with leaders from the New Harvest community. This episode features Dr. Dwayne Holmes, Director, Responsible Research & Innovation – EU at New Harvest […]

When we think about hotspots in cellular agriculture we normally think about the Boston or Bay Areas. Or Singapore, the Netherlands, and Israel. But in my latest podcast appearance I want to convince you that the future of food lives on the Canadian prairies. Unless you’re secretly Canadian too, you may not know that I […]

Recently I had the pleasure of being featured on the TED Radio Hour, where we delved into the current arc of cellular agriculture, gave a reality-check, and reflected on how things have changed since my 2021 TED talk. During our conversation, I discussed how my journey began back in college with a simple yet transformative idea: […]

Twenty years ago, at exactly 4:57pm ET to the date, New Harvest was born. Jason Matheny and Vladimir Mironov were the founding directors of the first organization of its kind: a nonprofit focused on “advancing technologies for the production of in vitro cultured meat (meat that is produced in a cell culture, rather than an animal) so as to provide […]

  It’s a big week for us. A week of reflection and celebration as New Harvest turns 20 years old tomorrow Tuesday, July 23rd! As part of our milestone celebration, we’re launching a new podcast series, “New Harvest @ 20”, where we highlight the past decades of progress and directions for the future with multiple leaders from the New […]

For the past few years, we have been working closely with the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Research teams to understand and raise awareness about the cellular agriculture landscape in Canada. Today, I’m thrilled to share a significant milestone – the opening of a PhD position for the first project focused on cell ag led by governmental […]

Earlier this year we launched FEASTS (Fostering European cellular-Agriculture for Sustainable Transition Solution), a groundbreaking, collaborative research programme funded by the EU. The goal is to deliver a comprehensive, unbiased knowledge base about cultured meat and seafood and their place in the food system. The work will be conducted over the next 3 years by a consortium of 35 […]

In case you missed it (or need a reminder!), New Harvest has TWO open funding opportunities due this summer.    1. Machine Learning in Cellular Agriculture Residency New Harvest and Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) are now looking for an innovative scientist to tackle a promising research question in this space during a residency position for one year.  This full-time […]

War and the future of food just can’t go hand in hand.

Like many others in cellular agriculture, I was trained in an adjacent field – in my case, tissue engineering for medical applications. As I neared the end of my PhD, I became increasingly concerned about how the food we eat impacts the climate, our health, and animal welfare. When I completed my degree, I was […]

New Harvest is going to be turning 20 years old this year (!!!!!!!!!!) and we’re preparing a new strategic plan so gathering insights and field intelligence is critical right now.

In 2020, New Harvest and Vireo Advisors launched the world’s first initiative dedicated to the safety of cultured meat and seafood: the Cultured Meat Safety Initiative (CMSI). First, we rallied together 87 individuals from 50 leading cultured meat and seafood companies to share previously unpublished information about their manufacturing process, allowing us to identify potential […]

Our collaborative project, funded by Schmidt Futures

Our collaborative project, funded by Schmidt Futures

We had four Canadian academic leaders sharing their thoughts on where the cell ag industry stands today. If you missed out, we’ve got you covered! Here are the key takeaways from the discussion.

We had four Canadian industry leaders sharing their thoughts on where the cell ag industry stands today. If you missed out, we’ve got you covered! Here are the key takeaways from the discussion.

Five takeaways for your consideration.

Are you or someone you know proficient in Dutch, based in the US or Canada, and seeking a part-time position at a fantastic organization? If the answer is yes, take a look at this opportunity! The Administrative Assistant and Bookkeeper provides office support, clerical, and daily bookkeeping tasks to ensure New Harvest adheres to best […]

In December 2022 we announced our partnership with the University of Alberta to establish an Institute of Cellular Agriculture. It is one of the first institutes in the world dedicated to growing food from cells. In December 2023 we began interviewing candidates to be the first Assistant or Associate Professor of Cellular Agriculture at the Institute. Thanks for […]

  Our very own Drs. Yadira Tejeda-Saldana and Bre Duffy joined Farm 2 Fork hosts Andy Cumpton and Joe Okeefe to discuss cellular agriculture and how it is changing the landscape of the food industry. The podcast is run by Carlisle Technology, a family owned business that started over 30 years ago focused on helping food manufacturers streamline their plant […]

New Harvest, District 3 Innovation Centre, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) are co-hosting a series of Chatham House virtual events designed to spark connections and innovation within the cellular agriculture community in Canada.

Thirty-six groups from seventeen countries are collaborating to advance cultured meat as part of a groundbreaking, collaborative research programme funded by the European Union’s research and innovation Horizon programme.

Winter is here.

Tomorrow, if everything goes as planned, I’ll officially earn my PhD in bioengineering. It all began when in 2017 when I was deciding on a research topic to pursue for graduate school. I wanted to channel my childhood passions and interests into a meaningful research career. Having been an active member of animal rights organizations […]

Guess what? The Consecon Foundation will be matching all donations to New Harvest up to $125,000 this giving season! ***Double your donation, give today!*** In our Year in Review call yesterday, we asked Geoff why he supports New Harvest:   “I work for a charitable foundation that funds climate and environment work and we’re always trying to figure […]

From November 30 to December 12, four candidates will be doing teaching and research seminars open to the general public as part of their interview process.

We’d love for you to join in.

Five key takeaways from New Harvest’s work in 2023: outliving hype cycles, building infrastructure, and more…

Need cellular agriculture images for your presentations and reports? We’ve got you covered with our open access image library.

“Cellular Agriculture: Technology, Society, Sustainability and Science” is available Nov 23. Tell your local library or pre-order it today!

“Cultivated Meat to Secure Our Future: Hope for Animals, Food Security, and the Environment”, edited by Michel Vandenbosch and Philip Lymbery has just come out from Lantern Books. This book informs, inspires, and opens debates about cultivated meat through a collection of essays by several major figures in the cellular agriculture world. Contributors include Ira […]

We’re excited to share the designs for an open source bioreactor – a project six years in the making with many evolutions. Back in 2017, New Harvest Research Fellow Jess Krieger pioneered a new project to build a cultured meat bioreactor with an ambitious team of mechanical and materials engineering students at the University of British […]

The New Harvest Fellowship program has been critical to building the field of cellular agriculture. We’re open sourcing how it is run so you can craft your own.

In April we shared 45 papers published by New Harvest’s donor-funded researchers. (Here’s part 1 of 7 on the blog.) There have since been 15 new peer-reviewed papers published! It is exciting to see the results of these projects, often many years in the making, come out into the world. The open sharing of research methods […]

Last week I had the chance to speak at the 9th International Scientific Conference on Cultured Meat in Maastricht, the Netherlands. For academic and staff scientists in cell ag, this is the go-to event for sharing the latest data and research in the field. I had the privilege and responsibility of giving the last keynote of the […]

New Harvest was part of two interdisciplinary teams to secure funding for both scientific and social dimensions of cellular agriculture.

Distributed leadership is the future of cellular agriculture.

Our new book chapter identifies gaps in the existing innovation infrastructure and possible paths forward to realizing cultured meat and its mission.

A new report shares considerations and recommendations for how the Canadian cellular agriculture industry can support a just transition.

We’re launching a coalition of diverse key players across Canada – from biomanufacturing to agriculture, R&D to commercialization, training to infrastructure – building the future of cellular agriculture.

Our mandate? To convene and steer Canada’s cellular agriculture ecosystem towards growth, sustainability and global leadership.

Calling all aspiring cellular agriculture professors! We’re seeking employee no. 1 for the Institute of Cellular Agriculture at the University of Alberta.

This is a milestone in cell ag’s regulatory history, but we have a long way to go to achieve cultured meat’s mission.

We fiercely protect our independence.

Brittany Chambers is New Harvest’s new Director of Development.  She brings a deep knowledge of philanthropy to the team and has spent the past 11 years building development teams, fostering genuine connections with philanthropists of all backgrounds, devising fundraising strategies for small and large organizations, and coaching fundraisers and executives.

Last week, we had the pleasure of bringing together 34 individuals from 30 different organizations across the cellular agriculture ecosystem in Canada. Co-hosted by New Harvest and Transition Accelerator on La Cité College’s campus in Ottawa, we held a first-of-its-kind workshop focused on addressing Canada’s unique value proposition in this emerging space. We believe this meeting was the […]

We brought together 48 governmental scientists and regulators from 15 countries to reflect on the safety of cultured meat.

This paper is the first of many we hope to support that makes the scale-up conversation accessible to a wider audience.

Safety is non-negotiable when it comes to cell-based foods. That is why I am so pleased to share the progress of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on this topic. Today, a milestone publication was made public which shares up-to-date technical knowledge on the food safety aspects of cell-based food production. This milestone […]

Part VI is about scaffolds, the materials that cells (especially muscle cells) like to attach on to grow.

Part V is about media: the liquid that cells grow and divide within, and its many components.

Part IV is about the cells of cellular agriculture. These are the building blocks of the field!

New Harvest’s research community has a wealth of expert knowledge and New Harvest Fellows are often regarded as some of the leading experts in the field. We’ve been asked to get into the consulting business for years.

Today, we’re making our expert research community available to you.

Part III is short and sweet: our single, highly influential paper on the safety of cultured meat.

An all-star lineup kicks off the inaugural Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day at Tufts University with an overview of where we are as a field, industry, and discipline.

Here’s part two of our seven part series sharing all 45** of the peer-reviewed publications supported by New Harvest. This second compilation of papers is all about assessing, measuring, and maximizing the potential impact of cellular agriculture on the world. We look at environmental and socio-political angles of the technology. These types of papers are […]

New frontiers in biotechnology and fermentation are being deployed to reduce the environmental impact of our animal-based food system. But do developments in cellular agriculture, fermentation, and biotech foods – for the creation of meat and dairy analogues – take ethics into account?

Did you know that New Harvest has supported 45 peer-reviewed scientific publications in cellular agriculture? As you know, building the scientific foundations of the field is a key part of our role as cellular agriculture ecosystem builders. That means funding fundamental, open research: the work that drives innovation, sparks follow-on government funding and investment, informs policymakers, […]

A letter from our Executive Director reflecting on the past decade of New Harvest’s work and forecasting the next.

We’re expanding the cellular agriculture ecosystem, this time starting up a new institute at the University of Alberta

Launching the first collaboration of New Harvest Netherlands on the safety of animal-free media for cultured meat.

How does a charity bootstrap? We co-founded some of cell ag’s first companies and now we are re-investing in the future of food. It’s a “go big or go home” moment.

Our collaborative project, funded by Schmidt Futures

Alongside an illustrious editorial team, we’re co-creating the go-to reference for the field.

Our annual year-in-review community call looked back on our past 10 years of progress and what the field needs moving forward.

A cell ag pioneer is matching all donations up to $150,000 this giving season. There’s no time like the present to make a gift!

We will be elevating and carrying on Cellular Agriculture Canada’s legacy through our work in Canada and beyond.

History, partnerships, and momentum: why the Netherlands is important for the cellular agriculture ecosystem everywhere.

It’s International Open Access Week, so we’re raising $22,000 to ensure all of our publications are fully open.

It’s International Open Access Week! No better way to celebrate than to share a repository of open assets.

Nature Food has published a special issue on cellular agriculture, including a call to action for the cultured meat field co-authored by New Harvest.

This award-winning funding program seeks novel ways to fund science and technology for the public good. Here’s what we supported in cellular agriculture.

Cellular agriculture is a nascent field; there is a vast void of leadership stories yet to be told.

Non-profit impact is hard to measure, especially for orgs like ours. We need your help.

Resources, talent, and infrastructure: Why expanding into Canada is important for the cellular agriculture ecosystem everywhere

But what is it, and what is New Harvest doing about it?

Before there was a cellular agriculture institute, textbook, or PhD program, there were more than 100 cellular agriculture companies around the world. If cellular agriculture is a city, it is one without public infrastructure. There are privately owned “houses” popping up everywhere, but the roads, bridges, sewers, and public squares – all of which are […]

Over a month ago, our Executive Director called an Emergency Town Hall to discuss the future of New Harvest given a dwindling runway. The following newsletter update was sent out to share the enormous fundraise that arose from that call for help and the steps the organization pursued to ensure its impact going forward. Dear […]

Remember #NewHarvest2022? Feels like just yesterday we were all together, taking the world’s largest group photo at Newlab in Brooklyn! Thanks to all of you who showed up—in body, mind, or spirit—to stand in solidarity with our mission this year. We put out a call to our community and you rallied together in a monumental […]

Proof of what a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can accomplish together

In light of changes to our financial outlook, executive director Isha Datar will be hosting an emergency town hall June 10th at 3:30pm EST at our conference. Those unable to attend the conference can participate virtually.

Phase two of New Harvest’s safety initiative will fill in key research gaps, pending donor support.

Company Description New Harvest is a nonprofit organization that accelerates responsible research and innovation (RRI) and collaboration among stakeholders in the field of cellular agriculture. We have entities in the US and Canada, and are in the process of establishing a foundation in the Netherlands. As the nonprofit hub connecting cell-based food startups to academic […]

In addition to giving cell-based food production its own section, the FAO heavily features New Harvest’s safety paper.

Cultured meat and cellular agriculture made appearances in the latest IPCC report as ways to limit pressures on finite natural resources.

Originally published on Irfan’s blog

New Harvest is seeking a creative and collaborative Graphic Design Intern to elevate our visual brand and communicate our unique voice.

After a two-year hiatus, we are bringing back New Harvest’s annual conference. The event will be live and in-person.

New Harvest is seeking a talented Accounting and Tax Compliance Manager! They will be responsible for overseeing the organization’s day to day financial operations as well as ensuring that we are compliant with government regulations and tax laws in the countries and regions in which we operate.

Have you heard of the Gartner hype cycle? It’s a conceptual graph used to understand the five phases of an emerging technology’s life cycle. There are a lot of criticisms of this concept, all very justified…but I do like revisiting this graph when I think about cell ag because I’m fascinated by how we can use patterns […]

We’re teaming up with Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition and the Experiment Foundation to get “unfundable” projects off the ground.

I have a confession. Even after a year with New Harvest, I still struggle to wrap my head around what all of our 27 research grantees are up to. So many amazing projects, so little time to keep track of them all. I figure if I’m struggling, you might be too! So I created a […]

Dwayne Holmes is our new Director of Responsible Research and Innovation, a role created to help us advance our updated mission to “maximize the positive impact of cellular agriculture.” He joins us from Mosa Meat, where he led quality assurance and regulatory work. Based out of the Netherlands, Dwayne will be expanding New Harvest’s work in Europe and Asia.

From New Harvest intern to research fellow, Natalie makes history as one of a handful of people with graduate degrees in growing meat from cells instead of animals.

By building a community of cell ag researchers across the world, we’ve built a movement that has momentum of its own.

We ask that the USDA follows a descriptive, rather than prescriptive, approach to naming.

This month, a generous donor is matching all gifts up to $100,000. Double your impact and match your gift today!

New report from Ontario Genomics highlights the potential of cellular agriculture in Canada – $12.5B and 142,000 jobs – and proposes three actions for moving forward

Yesterday, New Harvest held our second annual year-in-review call, a tradition started last year to catch up with donors and community members and field questions over Zoom. Thank you to all 80+ community members who zoomed in from around the world, from New Zealand to Budapest!

We’re so excited to announce that we’re one of a handful of charities recommended by the Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) this year!  ACE is an independent research organization that assesses the effectiveness and impact of nonprofits working to improve the lives of animals. Since 2014, ACE has reviewed more than 500 charities to determine their […]

At New Harvest, we take seriously our responsibility to reflect on the history and legacy of colonialism, to situate ourselves within it, and to chart a way forward to dismantle ongoing settler-colonial practices.  As a starting place for this work, we’re in the process of developing a land acknowledgment. Rather than a token, inert gesture, […]

New Harvest Executive Director Isha Datar explains how cultured meat can disrupt animal agriculture AND create a more just, democratic food system.

We are thrilled to share that Tufts University has won a $10 million grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to establish a National Institute for Cellular Agriculture. Tuft’s National Institute for Cellular Agriculture will be a research center of excellence focused on developing a cell-grown meat platform and training the […]

An unprecedented example of collective action, 50 leading companies shared previously unpublished details about their manufacturing process with New Harvest to inform safety recommendations for cell-cultured meat and seafood.

Impeding the flow of information misaligns with New Harvest’s role as a public charity.

With our new mission, New Harvest is taking our programming back to the lab.

Why we’re making our compensation philosophy public.

In 2021, New Harvest welcomed 10 new grantees to our research community, bringing our total number of active researchers to 30. Here’s a sneak peak of what they’re working on.

A highlight reel of our 2020 Annual Report. More than anything, this is a tribute to our community—a testament to what we can achieve when we work together to ensure cellular agriculture delivers on its promises sooner rather than later.

Last month, Forbes contributor Errol Schweizer published a list of questions about cell-based meat, requesting more information from cell ag stakeholders about issues like growth media, antibiotics, and food safety. Andrew Stout, a PhD candidate in bioengineering at Tufts University, took a stab at answering Schweizer’s questions from his perspective as a cultured meat researcher.

Santiago Campuzano developed the mobile app SCellyCus to automate the process of counting cells—a fundamental and tedious step of most cultured meat experiments. He is looking for beta testers to help him improve the app.

John Pattison and Ian Johnson co-founded Cultured Decadence, a cellular agriculture seafood company developing cell-cultured lobster, in 2020. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Cultured Decadence is one of the only cellular agriculture companies in the Midwest, and the only company in the United States targeting shellfish. At the beginning of April, Cultured Decadence raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed round and received the first state funding for a cellular agriculture company ⁽¹⁾.

I spoke to John—a former New Harvest intern and the current treasurer on our board of directors—to hear about his experience starting a company. Ian also joined the call to share his technical perspective.

We are excited to announce a collaboration with Dr. Lenore Newman and Dr. Robert Newell at the University of Fraser Valley Food and Agriculture Institute (FAI) to investigate the viability of localized cellular agriculture industry in Canada.

Discussions about nomenclature typically revolve around what to call lab-grown meat. Cultured meat? Clean meat? Or my personal favorite, immaculate meat? But other terms had to be created for this work to progress, one of which was subject to surprisingly little debate.

In late 2020, New Harvest decided to update our mission statement. Our new mission is about ensuring cellular agriculture delivers on its promise to make the world a better place.

Stephanie Bailey is New Harvest’s new Development Manager. A University of Alberta alum like Isha, Stephanie brings a vision to grow and strengthen New Harvest’s generosity network.

Yadira Tejeda-Saldana is New Harvest’s new Research Collaborations Director. Her food science and policy background comes to the team at the perfect time as New Harvest starts to look at maximizing the positive impact of cellular agriculture.

Vanessa Haley-Benjamin is a New Harvest Research Fellow whose work began on August 1, 2020. A Bahamian native, her research centers around the development of cultured mollusks.

Dr. Paige Wilcoxson joined the New Harvest team in June 2020 as the COO. With her background in psychology and social justice, she’s brought a unique perspective to help progress New Harvest’s work and mission.

Morgan Ziegelski is a Science Communications Intern at New Harvest. A second year chemical engineering major at Georgia Tech passionate about cell ag, she’s the new voice of the New Harvest Instagram and TikTok.

Gaby Floratos is one of the New Harvest Science Communications Interns. The new voice of the New Harvest Twitter and Linkedin, Gaby is bringing her technological background and passion for cell ag to the team.

Breanna (Bre) Duffy is New Harvest’s new Research Operations and Outreach Director. Her years of tissue engineering experience bring technical skills and a drive for change to the team.

In 2020, New Harvest welcomed 13 new grantees to our research community, bringing our total number of current researchers to 26. We were able to DOUBLE our research program—in a pandemic no less—thanks to the generous support of New Harvest donors.

Without further ado…meet New Harvest’s 2020 cohort of cell ag pioneers!

New Harvest decided to kick off our end-of-year fundraising live and on Zoom. Without the conference this past summer, we wanted a way to show our community all that we’ve accomplished. In the spirit of the conference, we asked our audience some questions on Slido along the way. We also, of course, used the platform […]

New Harvest is hiring for three new roles: Development Manager, Research Operations Manager, and Research Collaborations Director. Read more about the positions below!

New Harvest fellows Andrew, Natalie, and John hope their course materials can be a resource for students and educators at other institutions. 

By 2050, we’re expected to have to feed 10 billion people. The problem is, that’s much easier said than done. The current way we approach agriculture and food production in the western world is super inefficient and not sustainable for the long term. If we attempt to feed that many people with our current methods, it […]

In October 2018, the CEO of alternative protein company JUST, Josh Tetrick, wrote a message to American Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. But, it didn’t talk about the overwhelming amount of rules and regulations that was preventing his cellular agriculture company from bringing products to market. Rather, it talked about the underwhelming amount of rules and […]

You may have heard of cellular agriculture — the science of growing animal products without the animal. In recent years, it has emerged as an interesting idea for alternative protein generation. The main argument for this technology is that it has the potential to decrease the negative effects food production has on the environment (intensive resource use, […]

This article was originally written by New Harvest Dissertation Awardee Mike McLellan for the American Association for the Advancement of Science “Science and Human Rights” 2020 student essay competition. It is republished here in full. 

by Mike McLellan 

At the start of the pandemic, New Harvest granted Mike McLellan our very first dissertation award to support a novel workaround for animal serum in the production of cultured meat. 

Unlike other serum-free media projects, Mike isn’t trying to develop a replacement “substance” to Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). Instead, Mike is developing a muscle culture “trophic support cell” (TSC) that will provide the same growth factors typically provided by animal serum. This TSC could be co-cultured with muscle cells to precipitate their differentiation into muscle tissue. Theoretically, this will function as a proof of concept for serum-free tissue culture. 

I called Mike to learn about his research, but the conversation snowballed into an interrogation of Winston Churchill’s fame within cellular agriculture and discussion about how COVID-19 radicalized Mike’s vision for cultured meat’s role in food security.

Cellular agriculture has to do with creating animal products without the animal. When it comes to creating meat products, this requires us to be able to turn individual cells into fully formed muscle tissue without using the biological capabilities of an animal. We more or less have to start with what an animal starts with and end […]

A culture medium is a substance containing all the essential nutrients like carbohydrates, fats, proteins, salts, and vitamins which a cell needs to grow. As the culture medium diffuses into the cell, the cell will grow, divide and the cell line will “proliferate”. Culture medium is an instrumental part of cellular agriculture and generating cultured tissue because it’s effectively […]

When I was in the first grade, I had a friend, who we’ll call Timmy. Timmy was an interesting character, and he had this need to really try and stand out. However, he did so not by playing sports, or by doing well in school, but by eating random materials he found around our school. Everyone knew […]

Every Tuesday and Thursday for the month of June, New Harvest will be live-tweeting cultured meat webinars hosted by the Cellular Agriculture Online Symposium. 

After almost three years on the New Harvest team, Kate is moving on from her role as Research Director to start Helikon Consulting. Kate will be filling a gap in the for-profit side of cellular agriculture, doing technical consulting and talent scouting in alternative proteins and cell-based meat.

Alexis Garrett is a New Harvest Research Fellow developing scaffolds for cultured meat at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. With unique insight into the manufacturing challenges of cell culture, Alexis is using her engineering background to solve problems related to speed and texture in cultured meat production.

Pet food might be the underdog of lab-grown meat, but Bond Pet Foods and Because Animals say the chances of scientific success and consumer acceptance increase when the stakes are lowered.

IntegriCulture’s presentation for the now canceled New Harvest 2020 conference. 

Shojinmeat Project’s presentation for the now canceled New Harvest 2020 conference.

This summer, researchers at the University of Maribor in Slovenia will study how cells grow and survive in the prototype.

New Harvest Fellow Dr. Ricardo Gouveia is guest editing a special issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences devoted entirely to cellular agriculture. This issue, entitled “Current Advances in Cellular Agriculture,” welcomes articles with a strong focus on cell and stem cell biology, microbiology, molecular and synthetic biology, and biochemical/metabolic engineering, as well as other intersecting topics related to promoting the advancement of cellular agriculture. The deadline for manuscript submissions is November 30, 2020.

New Harvest is seeking a talented Chief Operating Officer to develop the organizational capacity to unlock the next phase of growth and development to scale New Harvest’s signature programs and impact.

Stephanie Kawecki is a New Harvest Research Fellow pioneering a method for growing muscle and fat cells together at UCLA. Having previously interned at Beyond Meat, where she compared compounds in the company’s signature plant-based meat products to compounds in actual meat, Stephanie has experience in both the plant-based and cell-based meat industries.

In the face of such uncertainty, we cannot continue planning for an event which might jeopardize the health and safety of our community. 

Nominate a speaker or panel topic! Applications close Friday, March 13. 

Leila Strickland and Michelle Egger are on a mission to make something as digestible as human milk, but as practical as infant formula.

Inside New Harvest Fellow Cameron Semper’s project to culture fish cells without fetal bovine serum.

Exactly ten years later, the story of the paper that started it all.

Conference volunteer Kevin Melman reflects on his very first New Harvest cellular agriculture conference.

Highlights from the archive of audience-submitted questions

On July 20 and 21st, we held the 3rd New Harvest cellular agriculture conference at the MIT Media Lab. 

For the past five years, we have been advancing innovative food biotechnology at New Harvest. It’s been quite a journey, growing a new organization, a new community, and being at the forefront of a new field and industry. We’re incredibly proud of the work that we’ve done. Central to this work is our community. We’ve been […]

For the past five years, we have been advancing innovative food biotechnology at New Harvest. It’s been quite a journey, growing a new organization, a new community, and being at the forefront of a new field and industry. We’re incredibly proud of the work that we’ve done. Bringing the organization from zero to steady state growth […]

The New Harvest team travelled to D.C. last week, to participate in the FDA’s much-anticipated public meeting on Foods Produced Using Animal Cell Culture Technology, held on July 12th. Our Executive Director Isha Datar was invited to speak on a panel, and Research Director Kate Krueger delivered a public comment.

Good news: our research program is scalable!

Vince Sewalt, Global Lead, Product Stewardship & Regulatory at DuPont Industrial Biosciences shares his insights from the enzyme industry

Since 2015, New Harvest has grown its team of Research Fellows from one pioneering scientist in cellular agriculture to an international, multi-disciplinary, collaborative team of six! Supporting and sharing the work of these trailblazing scientists is core to New Harvest’s mission — and it has only been made possible thanks to the ongoing support of individual donors, just like you.

Today, the New Harvest Research Fellows are paving the way for future generations of scientists in cellular agriculture to take the field to new and greater depths. Our hope is to be able to fund and democratize even more of this kind of research, so that a future industry can be established on a robust academic foundation that is as accessible and transparent as possible. Read on to find out what being a New Harvest Research Fellow or a principal investigator has meant for our team, in their own words.

There’s nothing better than looking back at all that we’ve accomplished in the year.

To our donors: thank you for making this work possible. We’re continuing to change the way animal products are made thanks to your much needed help.

Thinking of making a contribution to New Harvest’s cellular agriculture research this year?

This look into how we make our funding decisions may help you make a more informed decision to give.

How much does it cost to put on a cellular agriculture conference anyway?

To encourage an active and engaged dialogue, we used Sli.do to mediate audience participation at the New Harvest 2017 conference.

New Harvest volunteer Jason Weiss recounts two days of talks, exhibits, and networking at #NewHarvest2017.

Meet the three scientists — from the US, UK, and Canada — who will be advancing breakthroughs in cellular agriculture starting this fall!

New Harvest has come a long way since starting out twelve years ago as the organization which brought cultured meat from a seemingly far off sci fi concept to real, news making science that regular people can get excited about. It’s no easy feat to set out to achieve a goal as far-reaching as ours, but the progress that we are making is significant – and it gets more exciting as the momentum continues to build. 

In addition to being one of New Harvest’s first interns, Natalie Rubio is a New Harvest Research Fellow working on a PhD in Cellular Agriculture under Dr. David Kaplan at Tufts University. Before relocating to Boston for her PhD studies, Natalie got a taste of the San Francisco tech scene working at Quartzy, and she also helped out in the early days of Perfect Day Foods (then Muufri) while completing her B.S. in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Read on to get to know Natalie!

On May 1, 2017, Abi Glencross discontinued her research at King’s College London focused on 3D vascularized tissue for the production of cultured meat. It was the first New Harvest-funded Fellowship Project, and it began in November 2015.

Vince Sewalt, Senior Director of Product Stewardship & Regulatory at DuPont guest blogs with his thoughts on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s report on Future Products of Biotechnology, and its shortcomings with respect to cellular agriculture.

Illtud Dunsford comes from a centuries long line of farmers in Wales, and is an award-winning producer of artisanal meats as founder of Charcutier Ltd. He is also a Nuffield scholar. 

The Nuffield Farming Scholarship program was established by William Morris, the grandson of a farmer. After working as a bicycle repairman in Oxford, England, Morris began making newer bicycle models, and eventually started a motor car business. 

Realizing in the then-early stages of the car industry that he should seek best practices, Morris travelled to Detroit to learn how reliable, lower cost cars were being produced in America. His model, the Morris Cowley, was able to compete with Henry Ford thanks to mass production principles learned in the United States. Morris became a leading industrialist and philanthropist, and was honored with the title Lord Nuffield.

The Nuffield Foundation was established in 1943, and by 1947 its scope of objectives had widened to include agricultural advancement. The purpose of the Nuffield Farm Scholarship program is for scholars to “search out and bring back to farmers in the UK details of good and innovative agricultural husbandry, from different parts of the globe.”

Illtud’s studies led him to the discovery of cellular agriculture, at the 1st International Symposium on Cultured Meat at Maastricht University in 2015. Illtud’s final report documenting his world travels with the Nuffield program includes a chapter on cultured meat, and New Harvest community member David Leibowitz has provided a synopsis of this chapter below.

Curious how New Harvest earns and spends its money?

We’re happy to present our 2016 financials — not yet audited, keep in mind — to give you a better idea.

The Shojinmeat Project is an inter-disciplinary collaborative project aimed at the development of cultured meat in Japan. The project consists of a number of volunteers working in a variety of “clusters” in both scientific and non-scientific subject areas, giving rise to the startup Integriculture Inc.

Erin had the opportunity to chat with Yuki Hanyu, founder of the Shojinmeat Project, about the history and vision behind the initiative. Yuki works full-time at the Shojinmeat Project and Integriculture Inc., and lives just south of Tokyo, Japan.

Are you a scientist who absolutely loves New Harvest’s work but is looking for a change from the lab environment? We have just the opportunity for you! We’re looking for a community-oriented scientist to direct New Harvest’s research efforts.

We couldn’t be happier to share that thanks to you, we not only met but beat our fundraising goal of $750,000 for 2016! Together, we raised nearly $900,000 for open cellular agriculture research last year. Read on for the breakdown of our year end fundraise and what this means for our year ahead!

Making cellular agriculture a reality is no small feat! It is a team effort, carried out by New Harvest’s network of scientific pioneers from various backgrounds working together on the challenges of culturing meat piece by piece. For many of the scientists in our community, dedicating their careers to the advancement of cellular agriculture was a dream that could only have been made possible via a grant from New Harvest. Since New Harvest is funded completely by donors, we are essentially crowdfunding a new field of science on a global scale.

Our small but growing team of Research Fellows are on the front lines of this work, paving the way for even more future cellular agriculturists to produce meat, milk, eggs, leather, and other animal products without animals. Read on to find out in their own words what being a part of the New Harvest community has meant to them.

In the fall of 2016, New Harvest was able to provide a grant to Research Fellow Jess Krieger at Kent State University. Jess is completing her PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology, and is using her expertise in tissue engineering to solve some of the technical challenges of growing cultured meat.

While there is still much hard science to be done to bring cultured meat to grocery stores, it is important to note that the potential benefits of cellular agriculture will only be realized if consumers accept the technology and its products. 

It’s been a wild ride – check out New Harvest’s 2016 highlights!

And don’t forget, all donations made this December will be DOUBLED by the Jeremy Coller Foundation!

A Post-Animal Bioeconomy: Environmental Law Institute and New Harvest to Explore Public Reactions  to Cellular Agriculture Washington D.C., New York, NY (November 2, 2016) — The Environmental Law institute (ELI) and New Harvest announced today the launch of a new project to explore public perceptions and attitudes towards the production and consumption of synthetically engineered […]

We’re #blessed to have Michael Selden join New Harvest as our intern this fall! Mike holds a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Umass Amherst and has taught Chemistry to high schoolers as well as having worked in labs dealing with invasive fungi that threaten our food supply and the biomechanics of mantis shrimp and cancer biology.  

As a lover of science and an environmentalist, Michael believes in using all of the technology that we have to help grow our food supply while shrinking our environmental impact. 

New Harvest community member Tobi Ogunnaike attended day 1 of the AC21 in D.C. earlier this month. The purpose of the AC21 was to provide information and advice to the Secretary of Agriculture on the broad array of issues related to the expanding dimensions and importance of agricultural biotechnology, including the long-term impacts of biotechnology on […]

For our first donor profile in our Getting to Know series, we sat down with Joshua March, CEO and Founder of Conversocial, a provider of software which enables companies to deliver customer service in real time through social media. Josh is a longtime cultured meat enthusiast who became a donor and dedicated member of the New Harvest community after finding out about us in 2015.

The US Department of Agriculture is holding a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture (AC21) from September 8 – 9 in Washington, D.C.

New Harvest has submitted a public comment on cellular agriculture to this meeting, which can be read in full below:

New Harvest’s first grant recipient Abi Glencross (PhD candidate in cellular agriculture at King’s College London) is receiving The King’s College Global Research Award! This is an opportunity for researchers to undertake research or work in order to develop international university partnerships. 

The awardees research aligns with one or more of the following global themes:

Defence and Security
Global Health
Sustainable Cities
Culture & Identity

To undertake this research, Abi will be crossing the pond to study under Dr. Andrew Pelling at the Pelling Lab in Ottawa, Canada in 2017! 

Abi describes what this work will entail in her entry for the New Harvest blog.

New Harvest Communications Director Erin explains some of the processes that fall under cellular agriculture in plain English. A version of this article was originally published in AgFunder in July 2016.

On July 14, 2016, New Harvest hosted the first invitation-only workshop for industry, academic and government stakeholders in cellular agriculture.

It’s been a couple of weeks since New Harvest 2016 – this is Erin’s “NH True Hollywood story” of how it all went down.

We often joked in the office that there was something very wedding-like about it, with all the prep, nerves, and the actual day being a dreamy blur. So this is my attempt to describe what the world’s first cellular agriculture conference was like, from my perspective.

We sent out a survey to everyone who attended our conference! Here are the results.

New Harvest is funding the first graduate student fellowship program for cellular agriculture research at Tufts University, and Natalie Rubio is the first grantee. Natalie Rubio will begin working in Professor David Kaplan’s biomaterials-focused lab on August 1, 2016, funded by New Harvest through the New Harvest Cultured Tissue Fellowship.

At our conference last week, we used Sli.do instead of a more traditional Q&A session after each panel. Our hope was to encourage a more active and engaging dialogue between the audience and panelists. 

It was a huge success.

The audience submitted questions via Sli.do on their phones/laptops, and the stream of questions was projected onto a screen for the speakers to see in real-time. The audience could upvote their favorite questions, which would then make their way to the top of the stream as they garnered more likes.

Isha’s reflections on being invited to present to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the regulation of future products of biotechnology.

Rebecca Ruth Seidel is the dairy manager and cheesemaker of Wholesome Dairy Farms, a grazing operation in rural Pennsylvania. As a 4th generation dairy farmer, decade-long vegetarian, and former Penn State American Studies graduate student, she’s interested in the intersection of animal ethics, scientific progress, and the American diet. Rebecca shares her perspective on cellular agriculture as a current dairy farmer in her first guest post for the New Harvest blog.

New Harvest has been invited to participate in an incredible opportunity to shape U.S. regulatory policy for biotechnology products.

Marianne Ellis is a Biochemical Engineer at the University of Bath with expertise in integrated bioprocess design for large-scale cell culture. Her work involves the design and fabrication of the bioreactors in which cultured meat cells grow!

Leading Avian Tissue Researcher Begins Research On The Production of Chicken Meat without Chickens

The Story The most expensive coffee in the world is called Kopi Luwak. It costs upwards of $80 per cup, due to both its exceptional taste and unusual origin. That’s because it’s made from coffee beans that have been partially digested, and then excreted, by the Asian palm civet – a relative of the mongoose […]

New Harvest is supporting a foundational cultured avian tissue research project for the purpose of creating chicken and turkey meat without animals at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University. The project is led by Dr. Paul Mozdziak, an expert in animal cell culture techniques, transgenic animal production, and muscle biology. He is assisted by graduate student Marie Gibbons. New Harvest’s financial support to the team at NCSU will total $118,800, provided over 2 years.

Daan Luining is one of only a handful of cultured meat researchers in the world. He spent the first year of his Masters program working in Dr. Mark Post’s lab (Maastricht University, The Netherlands). Now, Daan is completing the MBA portion of his degree in New York; using his expertise to implement scientific strategy for New Harvest.

This publication by Mark Post was summarized by Tom Ben-Arye, with edits by Jason Weiss. The original paper can be accessed here.

This publication by Vebeke, et. al was summarized by Jason Ketola, with edits by Danielle Torrise. The original paper can be accessed here.

Building food with biology opens new possibilities. Gelzen is making custom materials, like designer gelatin. Here is a peek at a gummy candy the Gelzen team made with mastodon gelatin.

Insights From a Community Discussion on FDA Approval of Genetically Engineered AquaAdvantage Salmon

AquaAdvantage is a salmon, developed by AquaBounty Inc., that has been genetically enhanced to grow more quickly in order to reach market size quicker than conventional salmon.  On November 19, 2015, AquaBounty announced that it had received approval from the U.S. FDA for production, sale, and human consumption.

This publication by Van der Weele, C., et. al was summarized by Tyler Knox, with edits by Danielle Torrise. The original paper can be accessed here.

In 2015, Abi Glencross put together a PhD proposal with Dr. Mark Post (of the world’s first cultured hamburger) for a project focused on creating cultured meat. Specifically, to work on 3D vascularized muscle tissue. She applied for grants but couldn’t get any funding. We believed this was the kind of early-stage groundwork that is key to building the field of cellular agriculture, so we worked with Abi to get her project funding by New Harvest donors at MaxMind.

This publication by Pandurangan, et. al was summarized by Tom Ben-Arye, with edits by Jason Weiss. The original paper can be accessed here.

Abi Glencross is a New Harvest Research Fellow and PhD student in London working to create “steak without cows.” Abi talks to us about the difficulties in growing muscle tissues larger than .5mm, designing bioreactors, and blurring the line between art and science.

2015 was a big deal for New Harvest because it was the first time we had to deliver on a restricted donation.

The Story Sothic Bioscience is reimagining the unsustainable product that lies at the heart of our entire pharmaceutical industry. While most people haven’t heard of LAL (Limulus Amebocyte Lysate), it is essential to preserving human health. LAL is a reagent (a substance that causes a chemical reaction) that reacts with harmful toxins and bacteria. This […]

This publication by Zhi-chang, S., et al. was summarized by Jason Weiss, with edits by Utony Nguyen. The original paper can be accessed here.

This publication by Dennis, R., et. al. was summarized by Utony Nguyen, with edits by John Nahay. The original paper can be accessed here.

This month, the Jeremy Coller Foundation is matching all gifts up to a total of $100,000. Double your impact and match your gift today!

What does the Paris Agreement on climate change mean for the future of the livestock supply chain? Does it bind parties to adopt sustainable, safe, and affordable animal protein supply chains like cellular agriculture? Spoiler alert: no, it does not. However, it does call on parties to protect forests. That’s a first step in a long journey we only have a short time to take.

This publication by Hong, S., et. al. was summarized by John Nahay, with edits by Danielle Torrise. The original paper can be accessed here.

As the world community is negotiating a climate deal this week, it sees clean energy as the central solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but turns a blind eye on clean animal products even though livestock production accounts for up to near 20% of global emissions. Just like renewable energy and clean tech are part of the solution, cellular agriculture technologies are needed to extend our lease of life on earth.

Solutions to our broken livestock supply chain must be brought at the heart of the negotiations for a climate deal to be impactful.

New Harvest’s 2015 year at a glance!

New Harvest launched a new website and visual presence today. Symon, Bohdan, and Tucker of ALSO Collective helped us put it together, with the help of Nick’s amazing illustrations.

In 2008, New Harvest funded an environmental impact assessment of cultured meat compared to conventionally produced livestock at Oxford University by Hanna Tuomisto. It was published in Environmental Science & Technology in 2011 and can be accessed here. It was the first time there were numbers associated with the environmental benefit of cultured meat and has […]

Perfect Day Foods is a San Francisco-based cellular agriculture company making milk from cell culture. Isha (our Executive Director) founded Muufri (as it was then known, until they rebranded as Perfect Day in August 2016) with Ryan and Perumal in April 2014. As of 2016, they’ve raised over $2 million, made their first prototype, and have directed considerable interest and funding to the field of cellular agriculture through their huge press exposure.

Clara Foods is a San Francisco-based cellular agriculture company making egg whites from cell culture. New Harvest launched Clara Foods in November 2014 by connecting David Anchel and Arturo Elizondo, who at the time were just two members of the New Harvest Community. What started as the New Harvest Egg Project has now raised over $1.75 million!

*Note: In October, 2021 Clara Foods rebranded to The EVERY Company

In August 2013, the first cell-cultured hamburger was cooked and tasted live on air in London, England. Professor Mark Post created the burger at the University of Maastricht. However, the majority of the muscle strands were grown in media with fetal bovine serum. In early 2015, New Harvest provided Mark’s lab with $50,000 to conduct additional research towards a completely animal-free system for growing cultured meat.

The event was a way for people who are involved and interested in cultured animal products to have the chance to taste and hear firsthand about what has been developed thus far, while engaging in discussions about how to tackle practical challenges like what language can be used to describe these kinds of products, how […]

New Harvest partnering with Pembient and the University of Washington on open source project

Is cultured meat one of the “four futures?” In a new article the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) has developed a look at what various groups consider the “meat problem”, and from there developed four extreme scenarios about the future of meat. The issues they identified were a higher demand for food, the environmental cost […]

May 29th, New Harvest and Indie.Bio will be hosting a salon-style event to explore the new food bioeconomy. Come to San Francisco, chat about Muufri, Clara Foods, and Pembient, and sample nibbles from Tomato Sushi and Alchemy breweries! Check out details & register for the event here.

Edible Bioeconomy Salon Discussion May 29 San Francisco / Overview of New Harvest in DC

The First International Cultured Meat Symposium: Speakers, Program, and Plans!

On February 24, 2015 the cultured meat movement lost one of its pioneers, Willem Frederik van Eelen.

We just hired Gilonne d’Origny to be our new Development Director!

Gilonne D’Origny Hired As Developmental Director / Clara Foods Prepares To Reveal Egg White Prototype / Loss of “Godfather of Cultured Meat” / New York Event

New Harvest Sends $50K to Mark Post’s Lab to Improve Cultured-Meat Burger / Upcoming Events / Job postings

Chicken-Free Eggs In The Works / Meet the Community / Upcoming Events

“Ultimately, I think people want to do the right thing. When sustainable, ethical products that are just better for people are affordable, you don’t have to use complicated arguments. The “invisible hand” will take care of that.” Arturo grew up a meat-eater in Texas – an unapologetically carnivorous state. A series of critical engagements with food […]

“Cultured meat is the reason why I got into biology” David is a PhD cell biologist from Toronto who first started thinking about animal-free meat in 2000, when discussing “meat trees” with his father on a camping trip. An animal lover, he knew that animal farming could never have ideal welfare standards, and that producing meat […]

Muufri is seeking to hire an intern who will work closely with the R&D team to help run bioreactors, maintain laboratory stocks, troubleshoot and assist other team members. An excellent opportunity to acquire skills in metabolic engineering and strain development. Candidates for this position will should have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in bioengineering/chemical engineering/biotechnology […]

Israeli Cultured Chicken Study / Cultured vs. Meat in Derek Lau’s New Animation / Upcoming Events / Job Openings

New Harvest has been given a generous donation to hire a development director! The Development Director will focus on fundraising efforts while Isha Datar, our Executive Director, will focus on using these funds as effectively as possible to advance technologies to sustainably & affordably feed a growing global population. View the detailed job description here. To […]

New Harvest Board Member Dr. Uma Valeti, MD, FACC is creating a center for cultured meat research at the University of Minnesota Faculty of Medicine. We are seeking a research associate who will be responsible for coordinating the scientific endeavors of the laboratory – overseeing and providing technical guidance for all investigations in the laboratory […]

Fundraising Success / Plans for 2015 / Hiring

Andy Vrbicek suggests that the role of animal agriculture in climate change is vastly underestimated because of calculation parameters in this thought-provoking essay.

“There seems to be a deep seated fear of cultured meat that I wanted to address in my video. It is not really a intuitive thing to tell people about, meat has always come from animals.” Derek Lau is a motion graphics designer from Australia, who recently graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with a bachelor’s […]

As a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, all donations to New Harvest are fully tax deductible. Donate before Dec 31 to have your donation in before the end of the tax year, and to double your deed! Give today.

Hi Friends of New Harvest! It’s no question that New Harvest is advancing world changing technology. There is still time to help New Harvest achieve its mission to advance alternatives to conventionally produced meat. Any American donations received by Dec 31 are tax-deductible, as New Harvest is a registered 501(c)3 charitable organization. Remember, giving what you can means being […]

Besides giving online, New Harvest is accepting stocks! You will receive a charitable deduction for the full market value with no capital gains tax.  If you donate before December 31, your donations will be matched, moving even more towards projects for cultured meat and milk. The process is simple: for electronic delivery through Depository Trust Company, […]

Join our forward-thinking community in advancing technologies to sustainably and affordably feed a growing global population.

New Harvest spent less than $61K this year, and moved another $2.1 million towards cultured meat and milk.  Every dollar donated was multiplied 34 times to help create a better future. Please consider giving to New Harvest this holiday season.  Do it before December 31st and your dollar will be matched!

New Harvest’s 2014 year at a glance!

For the first time ever, New Harvest is doing a gift matching program. Donate today – there’s no time like the present to make a gift!

Event attendees Benjamin Wurgaft and Kevin Schneider share their thoughts on the MOFAD roundtable event: The Future of Meat.

Marko Vide is a web designer, developer, advisor and project manager from Slovenia, who has been involved with the web industry since 1996 and started his freelance career in 2003.

Since that time he has worked for a great many of companies and organizations, many of which were human and animal rights oriented or promoted vegetarian diets or alternative meat development (Compassion Over Killing, Get Vegucated, Kind Green Planet, VeggieHappy, etc.). He started working for New Harvest in the very beginning, back in 2004.

Alongside his job in the web industry, he is drawn to environmental and social activism and transpersonal psychology and is still trying to figure out how to blend them all together. As a hobby, he is completing a Bachelor’s degree in Psychotherapy Science at Sigmund Freud University in Vienna.

New Harvest’s New Developmental Director / BevLab Workshop in Toronto / First Two Journal Club Papers

It’s become apparent that media articles about cultured meat are outpacing peer-reviewed, academic articles. To cope with this, and to give New Harvest’s community a better idea of where we are in the science, we’re starting a journal club! Administrated by volunteer Rebekah Feng, the journal club will review and edit a paper together every three […]

New York City Discussion / Muufri receives two million / Ingenious Workshop / Contribute Essays and Ideas

As reviewed by Linnea Laestadius and Alexandra Sexton

April 15, 2014: I emailed two New Harvest volunteers that had never met each other before with an idea. Did they want to start a company to produce milk in cell culture? My friend Pantea from Synbiota had told me that a new biotechnology accelerator was seeking applicants for summer 2014 and winners would have access to laboratory space, mentorship […]

Call for UK Engineers / Biotechnology Debate in London / In Vitro Meat Cookbook of Ideas / New York Museum of Food and Drink Debate / Journal Club Round II / October Conference San Francisco / Beyond Meat in Chains

Tasting Modern Meadows’ Cultured Meat / “Real Vegan Cheese” Campaign Success / Museum of Food and Drink / Seminar on Plant Based Food with Pat Brown / “Alternative Proteins, Alternative Futures” Review

Sherrie Tullsen-Chin is a long-term New Harvest volunteer; involved with the fundraising team and Google AdWords campaign. Sherrie lives in San Jose, California and attended the recent cultured meat panel in San Francisco, on August 26th, 2014. Dr. Mark Post and Ben Wurgaft were panelists, alongside members of the insect protein industry. Sherrie kindly wrote […]

Dr. Mark Post to Speak in Silicon Valley / Successful Teespring Campaign / Free Harvard Webinar on Livestock / Meat Conference Rothbury, England

In celebration of New Harvest’s 10 year anniversary on 23 July 2014, we are looking back at some of the milestones on our timeline of events, which covers the many achievements and breakthroughs in New Harvest’s work and the research into alternative meat production over the last 10 years.

New Harvest Anniversary / Muufri Hiring / Isha Datar “Investing in Ag” / Animal Rights Reflections / Alexandra Sexton at International Food Design / Mark Post on Twitter

In celebration of New Harvest’s 10 year anniversary on 23 July 2014, we are looking back at some of the milestones on our timeline of events, which covers the many achievements and breakthroughs in New Harvest’s work and the research into alternative meat production over the last 10 years.

In celebration of New Harvest’s 10 year anniversary on 23 July 2014, we are looking back at some of the milestones on our timeline of events, which covers the many achievements and breakthroughs in New Harvest’s work and the research into alternative meat production over the last 10 years.

In celebration of New Harvest’s 10 year anniversary on 23 July 2014, we are looking back at some of the milestones on our timeline of events, which covers the many achievements and breakthroughs in New Harvest’s work and the research into alternative meat production over the last 10 years.

One prominent activist called cultured meat “the best chance we have at saving animals over the next few years.” From Isha: Just got back from LA, at my first Animal Rights National Conference. Months back, Sherrie, a long time dedicated New Harvest volunteer recommended that I sign up to speak at this year’s conference. Upon […]

View Isha’s Animal Rights Conference presentation here (pdf). The Animal Rights Conference (ARC) is the largest annual gathering of animal rights activists from around the nation and world.  This year, the ARC is being held in Los Angeles, California from July 10th-13th. New Harvest volunteers Sherrie Tullsen-Chin, Erin Kim, and summer fellow Natalie Rubio have accompanied Isha Datar to this important conference to represent […]

Biocurious’ Vegan Cheese / New Possibilities for Bioreactors / “Accidental” Culture / Muufri in Dublin / 10 years!

Erin Kim is the voice of New Harvest on Twitter and Facebook.

In celebration of New Harvest’s 10 year anniversary on 23 July 2014, we are looking back at some of the milestones on our timeline of events, which covers the many achievements and breakthroughs in New Harvest’s work and the research into alternative meat production over the last 10 years.

I forget when I first heard about Soylent, but I sent Rob Rhinehart my first piece of fan mail in the beginning of March. The first thing I wanted to commend him on was – good name. Pre-empting the negativity. As a person who talks about cultured meat on a daily basis it gets tiring […]

In celebration of New Harvest’s 10 year anniversary on 23 July 2014, we are looking back at some of the milestones on our timeline of events, which covers the many achievements and breakthroughs in New Harvest’s work and the research into alternative meat production over the last 10 years. 

In celebration of New Harvest’s 10 year anniversary on 23 July 2014, we are looking back at some of the milestones on our timeline of events, which covers the many achievements and breakthroughs in New Harvest’s work and the research into alternative meat production over the last 10 years.

New Harvest; New Look / Journal Club / Interview Series / Animal Rights L.A. 

The draft summary of the latest reviewed paper: Emerging Profiles for Cultured Meat: Ethics through and as Design, written by Daisy Joo, is now available in the forum; so leave your comments & suggestions!!! THANK YOU to everyone who has been a part of this first round of our journal club.  You all have helped make the […]

In mid-April, New Harvest was approached by a Stanford philanthropic team disbursing a one time $10,000 grant before the end of the school year. The team, working with the Stanford Center for Philanthropy, was assigned to find the best nonprofits in the environmental category, and identified New Harvest as one which fit the criteria of […]

Did you know a $4 Big Mac actually costs almost three times that? Many environmental, nutritional and ethical issues have long been associated with Factory farming; however, many taxpayers are unaware of the tremendous price they pay in real dollars. The modest estimate, according to Dave Simon, is that over $414 billion tax dollars are spent in […]

“The effort to create cultured meat will force us to ask tough questions about life, the natures of human and non-human animals, and our relationship with the environment around us.” Although he is a European history graduate from Berkeley University, his current time is spent investigating and reporting on technologies and innovative ideas in the […]

I had a blast in Ireland this past week visiting New Harvest community members Ryan Pandya (centre) and Perumal Gandhi (right) at the Synthetic Biology Accelerator in Cork. They’ve created Muufri, an organization developing milk in cell culture rather than in animals, in an attempt to end intensive industrial dairy farming. Ryan and Perumal met through […]

New Harvest awarded $9,000 from Stanford University / Meet Muufri / Animal Rights National Conference

Perumal Gandhi co-founded Muufri, a company freshly launched out of New Harvest.

  From May 14-17, Monterey Bay Aquarium held their annual Sustainable Foods Conference – an invite-only, two day event for media and players in the food sustainability world. I (Isha) took the stage on Thursday morning on the following panel: Reinventing Food: Can Technology Solve Our Environmental Problems? Does technology interfere with nature’s systems, or […]

“New Harvest Dairy Project” Awarded $30,000 / Four Months of Laboratory Access / Mentorship

Journal Club Round 2 / Video Campaign / LinkedIn Group / FAO

$50,000 Ingenious Grant / Video Campaign / Mark Post Keynote in Thailand / Community Lecture in Tel Aviv

We want the world to understand why cultured meat is the way to make factory farming obsolete. We received such a great response when our first video came out. It explained the environmental impact of meat today and how cultured meat solved so many of these problems at once. It was shared widely on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit […]

New Harvest has been awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious grant, worth £29,735 ($50,000)! Sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering, the grant supports communication between engineers, designers, and the public as new ideas come into society.  New Harvest will be holding workshops and exhibitions on the future of cultured meat, giving engineers a […]

The endeavors of New Harvest have been praised in the most recent 2013-2014 State of the Future Report, released March 20, 2014 in Washington, DC. Topics presented included the increasing problem of climate change and water consumption, in which the efforts and importance of New Harvest and the cultured meat industry was noted. Jerome Glenn, CEO […]

Bitcoin / Researcher Ben Wurgaft Speaks in Boston Area / State of the Future 2013/14 / Mark Post’s Burger Project Hiring Soon / PETA Prize Ends / Who is BiteLabs? / SXSW

Thanks to the efforts of New Harvest volunteer Anne Wissemann in Germany, New Harvest is now open to donations through Bitcoin through BitPay, in addition to PayPal and Credit/Debit through Network for Good. You can donate the digital currency on our homepage, here. Currently, Bitcoin donations are anonymous, but we will soon be allowing non-anonymous donations […]

Cultured meat engineering research in the UK / Mark Post, building a better burger (and bigger team) / Horizon 2020 funding / TERMIS 2014 Update / NH in Japan / Modern Meadow moves / Li-Ka Shing supports HCF… and more!

Fundraising and donation information for 2013 / Plans concerning Japan visit / New Harvest Pages “Ideas”/ New Harvest Wiki / Patent / Reaching Online Supporters

On August, 2013, New Harvest Board Member Mark Post presented the first hamburger gleaned from cultured meat and intrigued the public with the possibility of industrializing cultured meat. On November 15th, 2013, he was awarded in the Environment (Individual) category at the World Technology Network Summit & Awards Gala for this accomplishment. Mark Post first became […]

Mark Post and Andras Forgacs are speaking alongside 150 of the world’s leading innovators in Agriculture at the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture. Among them will be Bill Gates, founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Dr. Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium. This year, the GFIA will be held in Abu Dhabi […]

Hi Friends of New Harvest! There is still time (last day!) to help New Harvest achieve its mission to advance alternatives to conventionally produced meat.Be among donors who see meat alternatives as the solution to suffering, environmental, and public health issues. Any American donations received by Dec 31 are tax-deductible, as New Harvest is a registered 501(c)3 charitable organization. Remember, […]

If we were starting from scratch, we wouldn’t make meat the way we do now. How are you taking part in re-thinking meat? There is still time to help New Harvest bring together inspiring tissue engineers and food scientists at premiere conferences next year to figure out how to accelerate cultured meat development and make meat […]

New Harvest’s 2013 year at a glance!

The NH Journal Club Begins / Cultured Meat at the National Academy of Science / NH at SXSW Eco, Product Innovation Congress, and the Epistemic Network Project / NH upcoming projects

New Harvest Network member Nick Walker of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa studies muscle cell differentiation as influenced by various extracellular matrix (ECM) components. In other words, how what muscle cells grow on can help them turn into mature muscle fibres. He will be attending the Indian Ocean Rim Muscle Colloquium Dec 12-13, 2013 in Singapore to present his […]

Nick Genovese, who is currently doing PETA-funded research on cultured meat at the University of Missouri, just gave a presentation in Irvine, CA on October 30th. The presentation “Evolution Toward a ‘Cultured Meat’: The Domestication of Cell Culture” was part of the National Academy of Sciences’ Distinctive Voices programming. We will happily be sharing the videotaped talk when it […]

New Harvest’s Director Isha Datar recently attended the EPINET workshop on the issue of public funding and social shaping of cultured meat in Utrecht, the Netherlands, October 26-28th. EPINET is an EU funded project under the seventh framework program, coordinated by the Centre for the studies of the sciences and humanities, University of Bergen, Norway. Isha was […]

Today New Harvest’s Isha Datar met with Koert Van Mensvoort of Next Nature at the beautiful Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Koert’s team is running the crowdfunding campaign to create the first cultured meat cookbook (years in advance of its existence, of course!). If you’re interested in being part of this exciting and futuristic project, please check out the […]

New Harvest’s Isha Datar was requested to take Mark Post’s place at the Product Innovation Congress in Chicago, IL, USA, October 9th and 10th. Taking place at the beautiful Indian Lakes resort, Isha spoke about cultured animal products with her talk “The Future is Cultured: The Next Generation of Animal Products.” The organizers create product lifecycle software, and […]

New Harvest’s Isha Datar participated in a panel discussion at SXSW Eco in Austin, TX, USA, October 6-8th, organized by IEEE. IEEE (Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers) is the world’s largest professional organization for the advancement of technology. Their magazine, IEEE Spectrum, recently wrote a great piece  – maybe the best so far this […]

NH at SXSW Eco / Modern Meadow at TEDGlobal / Kickstart a Cultured Meat Cookbook  / Cultured Meat at the Global Food Security Conference / NH at the Epistemic Network Project / NH at the Product Innovation Congress / Join the NH Journal Club

New Harvest is a 9 year old organization but still a baby – this was New Harvest’s first year with a full time Director. If you’d like to see how we’ve been doing so far this year, please email info@new-harvest.org to request a copy of the third quarter update!

New Harvest Network member Hanna Tuomisto, who published the highly-cited Environmental Impacts of Cultured Meat research in 2011, just gave an oral presentation at the First International Global Food Security Conference on the “Global potential of cultured meat to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use.” The conference took place in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands and included 600 […]

NH teamed up with Marianne Ellis, New Harvest board member and chemical engineer specializing in bioreactors for tissue engineering at the University of Bath; and David Benque, a speculative designer with the Design Interactions Program at the Royal College of Art in London and applied for a public engagement grant in the UK. The grant is run by […]

When the microwave was introduced in the 1960s, it came with a cookbook showing home cooks how to prepare food with this newfangled appliance. The Meat the Future Cookbook has just kicked off its crowdfunding campaign to release a cookbook for the future. The book will explore what cultured meat may look like.Next Nature, the group behind […]

What NH did in San Francisco / Digest the latest meat-alt science with NH’s Journal Club / Cover cultured meat ethics with Aeon Magazine and scientific challenges with the CBC.

New Harvest Board Member Andras Forgacs delivers a brilliant talk, arguing that biofabricating meat and leather is a civilized way to move past killing animals for hamburgers and handbags. Andras told us that in June (when the talk was recorded before a live audience at TEDGlobal) that he received a (rare) standing ovation. TED organizer Chris […]

New Harvest’s Isha Datar spent the end of August in the Bay Area. Invited by the Lifestock team at Singularity University, who have entrepreneurial goals in the cultured meat world, Isha went to advise the team, meet with local volunteers, and connect with others in the alternatives world, such as Andras Forgacs of Modern Meadow […]

Very excited to be doing a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) today, about cultured meat and the tasting that just took place in London. Many, many thanks to Kenny Torrella of HSUS for helping me with the logistics – I have never used Reddit before! Go ahead… ask me anything! http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1k7e2j/im_isha_datar_director_of_new_harvest_the/

New Harvest volunteers Rebekah Feng and Hannah Yaginuma-Nute have put together this beautiful interactive timeline of events in cultured meat’s history. It goes way back – to 1912 – and comes up to the tasting in London that just took place. This timeline is a work in progress – if you have anything you add or items […]

News from London : the tasting, follow-up meetings / What’s next for August / The new and improving History of Cultured Meat Timeline and more…

What a trip! What an experience! What a milestone! On August 5th was the cultured beef burger tasting, where Mark Post from Maastricht University announced that his cultured hamburger project was funded by Google’s Sergey Brin. The audience at the event was primarily journalists – invited from around the world – and a few researchers from the […]

Hey everyone!! The tasting was just excellent – more reflections on that soon. Of the many pieces in the media on cultured meat, perhaps you would be interested in the op-ed on CNN that I was invited to write! Check out the article here.

Watch LIVE at NOON LONDON TIME – the first cultured hamburger ever tasted – and the reveal of the anonymous backer who has helped make this happen. http://culturedbeef.net New Harvest’s Isha Datar will be there in the audience!

We’re all eagerly anticipating the big day where the first cultured hamburger will be tasted by a handful of journalists, and the anonymous philanthropist who has been backing this milestone project will be revealed. When: Monday, August 5th, 2013             1200 Media registration begins             1230 Media access […]

Watch the #futureburger tasting LIVE at http://culturedbeef.net

New Harvest’s learnings from IFT 2013. The market wants protein, vegetable-based flavourings for meat, acknowledgement of the unsustainability of meat and more…

I had the opportunity to visit (for the first time!) the Institute for Food Technologists’ Annual Expo in Chicago, IL, USA. It was extremely eye opening from my point of view as the director of NH, but also as a consumer. I would encourage anyone interested in the food industry to attend this yearly event. […]

Cultured hamburger tasting date and location / International Global Food Security Conference in China / IFT Expo 2013 and Expo 2015 plans / Volunteering for NH

The first cultured meat and leather / Talk by New Harvest fellow Wojtek Chanski on cultured meat…and more!

New Harvest and Wayne Pacelle of HSUS / Peter Singer / DIYBio / Scientific article summarized by dedicated volunteer Jeff Peng / Modern Meadow at TEDGlobal / Review of cultured meat from Oxbridge Biotech

New Harvest and Wayne Pacelle of HSUS / Peter Singer / DIYBio / Scientific article summarized by dedicated volunteer Jeff Peng / Modern Meadow at TEDGlobal / Review of cultured meat from Oxbridge Biotech

Message from new director / Online NH community / San Francisco / How to help

New NH director Isha Datar / Future plans

Scientific American / Wired / Guardian / New York Times / Kojo Nnamdi Show / Student video