Bioelectric Cell Control
Manipulating bioelectricity to grow muscle cells
Sophie Letcher
Tufts University, United States
cell
media
Overview
Who: Sophie Letcher, Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering
When: 2020 – Present
Institutes: Tufts University, NIH P41 Tissue Engineering Resource Center, United States
Supervisors: David Kaplan, professor and chair of biomedical engineering at Tufts University
Summary
A major challenge in producing large, structured tissues like steak is controlling the growth and differentiation of cells into a complex 3D structure. Bioelectricity is one way this naturally occurs in tissues. All biological cells have electrical properties (“bioelectricity”) that are responsible for maintaining their health and development. Sophie is manipulating bioelectricity in the lab setting to control the proliferation and differentiation of mammalian and insect muscle cells.
Why This Matters
Sophie’s work will help to understand how we can use bioelectricity as a tool to advance cultured meat production.
More from Sophie Letcher
Featured
December 2020
Announcing New Harvest’s 2020 Grantees, AnnouncementPublications
In Vitro Insect Fat Cultivation for Cellular Agriculture Applications
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2022
