Cellular Agriculture at Tufts Led by the biomedical engineering lab of David Kaplan (BME), Stern Family Professor in Engineering and Distinguished Professor, Tufts is blooming into a global leader in the multidisciplinary field of cellular agriculture — a new sector of bioengineering focused on creating protein-enriched foods derived not from animals, but from animal cells grown in bioreactors. This year, the cellular agriculture group accepted groundbreaking grants, received a deeply generous gift from a Tufts alum, inked a deal with a food tech startup to help create fish from cells, developed a new certificate program, and launched the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA). Learn more about TUCCA and Tufts’ industry-leading efforts at cellularagriculture.tufts.edu
Tufts receives USDA grant to develop cultivated meat The team led by Kaplan received a five-year, $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture this year to develop an alternative food source: meat produced not from farm animals, but from cells grown in bioreactors. The group combines the efforts of engineers, biologists, nutrition researchers, and social scientists at Tufts and other universities, all in an effort to enhance food sustainability, nutrition, and security.
Stern Family Professor of Engineering David Kaplan (left) and team members like BS/MS student Erin Soule-Albridge are leading the global conversation on cellular agriculture
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2022 Annual Report | School of Engineering
This new industry could provide nutritious and safe foods while reducing environmental impact and resource usage—with a target of significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water use as compared to traditional meat production. To achieve these goals, the interdisciplinary teams will also work together to evaluate consumer acceptance of cultivated meat, measure the environmental impact of the manufacturing
