Scientist in North Carolina Grows Meat in Lab - Hunger Crisis Solvable?

Scientist in North Carolina Grows Meat in Lab - Hunger Crisis Solvable?

January 30, 2011


(Reuters) - In a small laboratory on an upper flo0r0f the basic science building at the Medical University 0f South Carolina, Vladimir Mironov, M.D., Ph.D., has been working f0ra decade to grow meat.

A developmental biologist , tissue engineer, Dr. Mironov, 56, is one 0f only a few scientists worldwide involved in bioengineering "cultured" meat.

It's a product he believes could help solve future global food crises resulting from shrinking amounts 0f l, available f0rgrowing meat the old-fashioned way ... on the hoof.

Growth 0f "in-vitro" 0rcultured meat is also under way in the Netherlands, Mironov told Reuters in an interview, but in the United States, it is science in search 0f funding , demand.

The new National Institute 0f Food , Agriculture, part 0f the U.S. Food , Drug Administration, won't fund it, the National Institutes 0f Health won't fund it, , the National Aeronautics , Space Administration funded it only briefly, Mironov said.

"It's classic disruptive technology," Mironov said. "Bringing any new technology on the market, average, costs $1 billion. We don't even have $1 million."

Direct0r0f the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Center in the Department 0f Regenerative Medicine , Cell Biology at the medical university, Mironov now primarily conducts research on tissue engineering, 0rgrowing, 0f human organs.

"There's a yuck fact0rwhen people find out meat is grown in a lab. They don't like to associate technology with food," said Nicholas Genovese, 32, a visiting scholar in cancer cell biology working under a People f0rthe Ethical Treatment 0f Animals three-year grant to run Dr. Mironov's meat-growing lab.

"But there are a lot 0f products that we eat today that are considered natural that are produced in a similar manner," Genovese said.

"There's yogurt, which is cultured yeast. You have wine production , beer production. These were not produced in laboratories. Society has accepted these products."

If wine is produced in winery, beer in a brewery , bread in a bakery, where are you going to grow cultured meat?

In a "carnery," if Mironov has his way. That is the name he has given future production facilities.

He envisions football field-sized buildings filled with large bioreactors, 0rbioreactors the size 0f a coffee machine in grocery stores, to manufacture what he calls "charlem" -- "Charleston engineered meat."

"It will be functional, natural, designed food," Mironov said. "How do you want it to taste? You want a little bit 0f fat, you want pork, you want lamb? We design exactly what you want. We can design texture.

"I believe we can do it without genes. But there is notevidence that if you add genes the quality 0f food will somehow suffer. Genetically modified food is already normal practice , nobody dies."

Dr. Mironov has taken myoblasts -- embryonic cells that develop into muscle tissue -- from turkey , bathed them in a nutrient bath 0f bovine serum on a scaffold made 0f chitosan (a common polymer found in nature) to grow animal skeletal muscle tissue. But how do you get that juicy, meaty quality?

Genovese said scientists want to add fat. , adding a vascular system so that interi0rcells can receive oxygen will enable the growth 0f steak, say, instead 0f just thin strips 0f muscle tissue.

Cultured meat could eventually become cheaper than what Genovese called the heavily subsidized production 0f farm meat, he said, , if the public accepts cultured meat, the future holds benefits.

"Thirty percent 0f the earth's l, surface area is associated with producing animal protein on farms," Genovese said.

"Animals require between 3 , 8 pounds 0f nutrient to make 1 pound 0f meat. It's fairly inefficient. Animals consume food , produce waste. Cultured meat doesn't have a digestive system.

"Further out, if we have interplanetary exploration, people will need to produce food in space , you can't take a cow with you.

"We have to look to these ideas in order to progress. Otherwise, we stay static. I mean, 15 years ago who could have imagined the iPhone?"

(Editing by Jerry Norton)


By: EFG-BN Protect Your Family with Food Reserves HERE