Table 5.

Critical technology elements of cultured meat

Critical technology elements	Design requirements for cultured meat	Relevant technologies and advances within the cell-based therapeutics industry
Cell line	Derived from agriculturally-relevant species Capable of differentiation into meat-relevant cell types (muscle, fat, fibroblast, etc.) Genetically stable and immortalized Optimized for large-scale growth (tolerate suspension, controlled differentiation, etc.)	Development of small molecule cocktails that can replace the need for genetic approaches to induce pluripotency and to facilitate maintenance of pluripotency Footprint-free methods of cell line engineering using RNA or protein delivery or excisable transposons Improved protocols for cell freezing to maintain viability and phenotypic fidelity
Culture media	Animal component-free, antibiotic-free, ideally chemically defined Optimized for meat-relevant cell lines and co-culture of multiple cell types Extremely low cost and high-volume production capacity Engineered or synthetic growth factors	Development of methods for streamlining iterative optimization of animal component-free media formulations Immobilizing growth factors on beads to prevent depletion in the media via perfusion
Scaffolding	Edible and/or biodegradable and food grade materials Support cell adherence Support vascularization and media perfusion Biomechanical properties suitable for tissue maturation Scalable production capacity	Biocompatible, non-animal-derived scaffolding materials pioneered in the regenerative medicine field Use of tunable scaffold parameters (stiffness, etc.) to spatially direct differentiation Degradable materials that enable cell migration and vascularization after patient implantation
Bioreactors	Support cell proliferation as well as tissue maturation/perfusion Large volume, low maintenance High-yield cell harvesting Real-time, in-line cell monitoring for quality control Integrated media filtration and recycling system Highly automated; closed system	Integrated, closed systems with increasing automation to reduce errors and contamination risk associated with human handling In-line monitoring of media components to adjust perfusion in real time Novel technologies to improve efficiency of cell separation and harvesting

Adapted from Specht et al [70].