Within a Laboratory in Zurich at the Institute of Human Movement Sciences of ETH, researchers are cultivating beef, not in farms, but in Petri dishes.
It is not the first time that researchers grow meat in the laboratory. But so far, muscle fibers, which gives meat its structure and bite, were a stubborn problem. When they were grown in laboratories, they were thin and flaccid, not like real flesh.
But that is about to change. A team led by the expert in regenerative biology Ori Bar-Nur has found a way to convince bovine cells to form thick and functional muscle fibers that not only look and behave more as real flesh, but one day they also know so.
A molecular recipe for better meat
The advance depends on a carefully elaborate cocktail: three small molecules, added to a nutrient rich medium where bovine muscle precursor cells called myoblasts are grown. These molecules act as signs, guiding the cells through the complex steps of muscle formation.
The approach is not new in principle. Bar-Nur developed it years ago while studying degenerative muscle diseases in mice in Harvard. But applying it to cow cells is a jump to the unexplored territory.
The team began by extracting standard meat cuts (Fillet, Sirloin, Cheek and Flank) instead of living animals. With the mixture of three molecules, the myoblasts formed thick and contracted muscle fibers. Under the microscope, the fibers cultivated in laboratory pressed gently, as well as the natural muscle.
From Petri Plato to your dish
The findings, published this week in Advanced scienceThey are a great step forward in cultivated meat technology. Using the sequencing of bulk RNA and a single cell, proteomic and even RNA speed analysis (which tracks how cells pass from one state to another), they map how cells change from raw material to muscle tissue.
With this improved technique, researchers created 3D skeletal muscle structures: flesh -cultivated meat fillets. Unlike the previous efforts that produced flat or fibrous muscle, these constructions showed organized tissue patterns that could contract on their own. “We observed an outstanding contractility only in cattle produced with IFRC IFRC conditions,” the authors wrote.
In addition, these laboratory fabrics include not only slow contraction fibers (resistance) but also of rapid contraction (powerful, glycolytic), of the type that is typically found in real fillets. Some of these types of muscle fiber had never occurred before in vitro.
“Meat without murder”
The broader promise of cultivated meat is to sweep: reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut the use of land and water, and leave billions of killing animals. According to Bar-Nur, it is also about providing safer and more customizable meat. “These new innovative food products will have to undergo a prolonged and complex authorization procedure before reaching store shelves and, ultimately, our plates,” said Adhideb Ghosh, author of the study co-leader.
Until now, the ETH team has only grown a few grams of muscle, very much from the many necessary ounces for a hamburger, much less a grill menu. The extension remains a great challenge. The cost of growth media, regulatory obstacles and public acceptance are brought along the way.
But the impulse is being built. Laboratory grown chicken is already approved for sale in Singapore. In the United States, the chicken grown in USDA green in 2023. Res, which is more complex due to its thicker muscle fibers and its fat content, is the next border.
Zurich’s team is now exploring commercial possibilities. Bar-Nur is considering launching a start-up to convert its findings into a product.
The investigation is partly financed by the Good Food Institutea defense group focused on meat -based meat and cells, and by Swiss public funds through Innuesuisse.
Will you know how real?
Bar-nur has not tried the flesh himself, the Swiss regulations still do not allow it, but some of his colleagues have done it, through tastings sanctioned in other places. Your verdict? Similar to real meat.
What makes sense, because technically is flesh. The only difference is that cow is not needed to die to do it.
Even so, obstacles remain. Muscle fibers need fat for flavor. The cost of the medium must fall. And most importantly, consumers will have to decide if this future of food is one that they want in their dishes.
But for scientists in Zurich, one thing is clear: what once seemed that science fiction is coming towards scientific facts. And tomorrow’s meat could come from a bioreactor, not a barn.
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