Things have been very hush-hush over at Modern Meadow since it was disclosed in August that the company had received funding from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel’s foundation to 3-D bioprint meat and leather.

But in an exclusive interview with Txchnologist, company cofounder and CEO Andras Forgacs has broken the silence and revealed some details about Modern Meadow’s goals. Their first project? In vitro leather production.

“Our emphasis first is not on meat, it’s on leather,” Forgacs says. “The main reason is that, technically, skin is a simpler structure than meat, making it easier to produce.”

The company also needs to acclimate potential customers to the idea of tissue-engineering products. It turns out that, initially at least, many consumers might not want to eat a modern technological marvel. “Anecdotally, we’ve found that around 40 percent of people would be willing to try cultured meat,” he says. “There’s much less controversy around using leather that doesn’t involve killing animals.”

They will work on growing meat in the lab while perfecting their leather process, but Forgacs expects the regulatory approval process could keep Modern Meadow burgers off the dinner plate for another 10 years.  A full-scale leather production facility, on the other hand, could be up and running in five years.

In the meantime, the company’s team, which previously founded medical bioprinter manufacturer Organovo, will work for the next two years on perfecting their processes and materials, and creating a small volume of products.

“We’ve got a very good sense of how to proceed, but we’re still in the development stage,” he says.

Full-scale tissue production an engineering problem, not a scientific leap of faith
As it stands now, there are five steps Modern Meadow will use to culture tissues for leather and food.

Step 1-Source cells by taking punch biopsies of donor animals, which could be livestock that would otherwise by used for food and leather or exotic animals typically killed for their skin. Isolate the extracted cells and possibly make beneficial genetic modifications for leather. Forgacs says cells destined to be used as meat would not be modified.

Step 2- Proliferate the millions of extracted cells into billions and billions in a bioreactor or other growth apparatus. Centrifuge the products to eliminate the growth medium from the cells and then lump cells together to create aggregated spheres of cells.

Step 3- Put the cell aggregates together in layers and allow them to fuse together in a process called bioassembly. Modern Meadow is considering a number of techniques for this, including 3-D bioprinting.

Step 4- Put the newly fused cells in a bioreactor and give them time to mature. “We create the embryonic precursor and in the bioreactor apply physical cues to let nature take over,” Forgacs says. “This stimulates collagen production in the case of the cells that will become leather and muscle growth in what will become meat.”

Step 5- After several weeks, no more food is provided to the cells. Skin tissue turns to hide. Muscle and fat tissue is harvested for food. Because the hides do not have hair or tough outer skin on them, they go through an abbreviated tanning process that decreases the amount of toxic chemicals needed.

 “Nothing we’re doing requires a scientific leap of faith,” Forgacs says. “There’s no science we’re using that we’re not confident with. This isn’t about scientific risks, it’s about engineering challenges.”

13 Comments

1. 1. maravill 09:49 PM 9/18/12

   If this saves animal lives and their lot in the world, I am all for this.

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2. 2. donschandel 11:26 PM 9/18/12

   this reminds me of the movie Soylent Green! (1973)

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3. 3. paradan 12:44 AM 9/19/12

   If this technology is so far advanced,why is it not being applied to regenerating human tissue for burn victims?

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4. 4. dernickvw 09:18 AM 9/19/12

   "Soylent Green is people!" lol

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5. 5. Johnay in reply to paradan 10:31 AM 9/19/12

   I think it is, actually.

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6. 6. cookchh in reply to maravill 12:23 PM 9/19/12

   So if engineered meat was to become mass produced at a cost lower than standard meat (in a century or so), what happens to all the cows and pigs? I would figure any left overs would be slaughtered and the herd not replenished. If there is no money in livestock, there will be no livestock.

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7. 7. Unksoldr 01:39 PM 9/19/12

   Guess they'll just start throwing away all that cowhide that now ends up as leather? Can't really see any reason to do this, if it lead to fewer animals being killed it would be nice. However, cowhide is a byproduct of our lust for red meat and as long as we kill to eat there will always be a ready supply of hides.

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8. 8. alan6302 03:12 PM 9/19/12

   I read a prediction in a Nostradamus book about artificial meat. It will become reasonable priced. This will happen after the destruction of ruminants and people. Artificial meat has already been invented. The engineers used sewage as an ingredient.

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9. 9. ssm1959 04:06 PM 9/19/12

   don't hold your breath waiting for it. Even if they get the issues worked out to permit industrial manufacture, the political and social resistance will be substantial. Rural states will lobby to block it and the GMO freaks will have a coronary.

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10. 10. Bozobub in reply to paradan 05:07 PM 9/19/12

    It is. Do some research before commenting. There are quite a few studies of "artificial skin", from types grown like those procedures shown here, to fully-artificial versions.

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11. 11. Fanandala 03:10 PM 9/21/12

    @unksolder, you are absolutely right. It will not make business sense, the animals get slaughtered anyway, and anything for a hide will be better than nothing. Quite a couple of years ago a friend of mine got a breakdown from the abattoir where he sent a herd of goats to slaughter. They paid for a skin 8 cents. Hardly anything but still more than nothing.

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12. 12. SeitoAkai 07:58 PM 9/29/12

    Just that much closer to replicated meat. I think it will just be a matter of time before we regard the idea of killing animals for their meat as an abhorrent practice of the past, even while enjoying a nice fabricated steak from the ol' Nutri-Mat 3000. As for the livestock animals, yes, they'll largely go extinct. No way that a lot of those animals can survive on their own.

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13. 13. david14433 05:02 AM 11/22/12

    This is great news. So it not only makes us humain meat eaters, but it stops the suffering of these animals that are treated poorly. It's only a matter of time before they perfect this technique of making leather and meat to be exactly like the real thing.

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