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Help Us Select a Professor for the New Institute of Cellular Agriculture – Two Candidates Remain

Published February 23, 2024 | Updated September 19, 2024 | Isha Datar,

Agri-Food Discovery Place is a University-owned pilot plant facility. It is a world-class innovative research, training, and technology transfer facility and provides education to highly qualified individuals. Image from UofA

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 those of you who tuned in and provided your feedback!

Now we’re on to part two of the interview process, and we need your help.

Listen to the two remaining candidates present their vision for the proposed Institute of Cellular Agriculture:

Candidate 1: Cameron Semper, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Infectious Disease, University of Calgary

  • Tuesday, March 5, 2-3pm MST
  • Join Zoom Meeting Here 
  • Meeting ID: 980 8374 8907 Passcode: 076458
  • In person attendance: Room 318J, Agriculture Forestry Building, University of Alberta Campus
**Add Cameron Semper’s Vision Seminar to your Google Calendar**

Candidate 2: Dr. Ning Xiang, Cofounder and Advisor, CellX Co., Ltd.

  • Tuesday, March 12, 1-2pm MST
  • Join Zoom Meeting Here 
  • Meeting ID: 981 9776 4140 Passcode: 738941
  • In person attendance: Room 318J, Agriculture Forestry Building, University of Alberta Campus
**Add Ning Xiang’s Vision Seminar to your Google Calendar**

A bit more background:

The U of A Institute of Cellular Agriculture is an innovative strategic partnership between the university and New Harvest intended to provide infrastructure, support, and funding opportunities for innovators and researchers creating the future of food through cellular agriculture. The institute will be located at Agri-Food Discovery Place, one of the few facilities in the world that is equipped for cell culture, large scale fermentation, animal science, crop science, and food science all under one roof.

After seeing their announcement “go viral” with students, U of A decided to bring on a tenure-track professor to get the institute off the ground.

I am one of several selection committee members tasked with selecting the best candidate for this institute. However, I am the only individual representing the cellular agriculture field; the majority of members are faculty and departmental leaders from other fields.

These upcoming seminars will have candidates sharing what they believe should be operational priorities, direction, and project portfolio of the proposed Institute of Cellular Agriculture.

I’d love for you, as a member of the cellular agriculture community, to tune into these seminars and let us know your thoughts!

I thoroughly appreciate your interest and support on this. This is a major milestone in the field and a decision we want to get right.

For your reference, here’s our announcement of the institute on our blog, here’s the University of Alberta’s press release, and here’s the U of A’s job posting from June 2023.

Please don’t hesitate to share your feedback with me over email at isha@new-harvest.org

See you Zoom!
About the Authors
Isha Datar