The Future of Food: Cellular Agriculture (David Kaplan, Tufts)

Abstract:

The future of food refers to innovative and sustainable food products and ingredients developed through biotechnology, in combination with advanced processing technologies. These foods are designed to address the most pressing challenges faced by the food industry and the planet today, including growing global environmental sustainability challenges, an increase in demand for protein-rich foods such as meats, growing public health concerns, animal welfare issues, food inequities, and questions about food security.  Cellular agriculture or cultivated meat, is a tissue-engineering approach to protein-rich foods that has the potential to address the challenges above, with novel strategies to generate foods with positive outcomes towards the environment, human health and animal welfare.  However, there are many challenges to achieve impact with this emerging technology that requires scientific and technological innovation, topics that will be addressed within the context of the progress in the field.  This interdisciplinary challenge has the potential to alter society from our most basic need – food – in ways that are now within our grasp, and that are critical in the transition towards more sustainable, efficient, and ethical food systems.

Biography:

David Kaplan is the Stern Family Endowed Professor of Engineering at Tufts University, a Distinguished University Professor, a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the Director of the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA). His research focus is on biopolymer engineering, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and cellular agriculture. He has published over 1,000 peer reviewed papers, he is editor-in-chief of ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering and he serves on many editorial boards and programs for journals and universities. He has received awards for his research and teaching and is an elected Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, and the National Academy of Engineering.