Recycled Media Ingredients
Using agricultural byproducts as low-cost media ingredients
Kai Steinmetz
University of Auckland, New Zealand
The Riddet Institute, New Zealand
cell
media
Overview
Who: Kai Steinmetz, Ph.D. student in biological sciences
When: 2019 – Present
Institutes: University of Auckland, New Zealand; The Riddet Institute, New Zealand
Supervisors: Laura Domigan, senior lecturer of chemical and materials engineering at the University of Auckland; Juliet Gerrard, professor of biological sciences at the University of Auckland; Warren McNabb, professor of nutrition at Massey University
Summary
Kai is investigating the use of New Zealand’s agricultural byproducts to replace animal-derived ingredients in a serum-free medium. Kai is using a high-throughput screening method to identify possible ingredients to make this process as efficient as possible. Alongside this work, Kai is also developing a deer cell line for cultured venison, which he hopes to grow in this new medium.
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- The aftermath of Kai’s first attempt at separating platelet-rich plasma from red blood cells. Platelet lysates from human donors have been used as an FBS replacement, and Kai wants to use platelet lysates from adult bovine blood – a readily available and cheap byproduct of the existing meat industry – to replace FBS in cultured meat until plant-based media becomes commercially viable.
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- Kai in front of the Operetta high-content imaging system, which helps him analyze the effects of different conditions on cell proliferation and differentiation.
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- C2C12 (🐁) cells differentiated in DMEM containing 5% platelet lysate. Large myotubes are visible
Why This Matters
Using local agricultural byproducts integrates cultured meat production into a local circular economy. This helps eliminate waste and reduce the cost of cell culture media, which are key challenges confronting cultured meat research. Kai’s other work on deer cells is noteworthy because it will help add another animal species to the list of possible cultured meat products.
🌱 Special thanks to Tipping Point Private Foundation for their generous support of Kai’s research. We rely on philanthropic partners to help projects like this one get off the ground. To learn more about how you can support New Harvest’s research program, please email stephanie.b@new-harvest.org.
To find out more about this project, listen to our podcast where we talk to Kai about creating serum free growth and differentiation media, and establishing a deer primary muscle cell culture
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