The Good Food Institute (GFI) has acquired “a small portion” of cell lines and growth media developed by cultivated-meat company SciFi Foods, which ceased operations last year.
As part of the deal, GFI – a non-profit advocating for alternative proteins – has partnered with Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA).
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They plan to make the resources, including specific bovine cell lines and serum-free growth media, publicly available for academic and industry research.
The financial terms of the transactions have not been disclosed.
The cultivated-protein industry remains at a nascent stage, with a handful of companies having received clearance to sell products commercially. Even then, product launches have occurred on a limited basis.
The cost of production, particularly of growth media, is seen as a challenge for product developers.
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By GlobalDataAccording to the GFI, the acquisition is expected to “save the field millions of dollars and years of cell line development time, accelerating R&D and removing major barriers to entry for start-ups”.
The deal will be the first time suspension-adapted bovine cell lines will be available for cultivated meat researchers around the world, the institute added.
The cell lines will first be made available to academic researchers, with plans to extend access to commercial entities at a later stage.
SciFi Foods ended operations in June last year. GFI then placed a bid for the cell lines and growth media, which was accepted last August.
Dr. Amanda Hildebrand, GFI’s vice president of science and technology, said: “By making these cell lines and media broadly accessible to the cultivated meat ecosystem, researchers and companies have a new starting line – one that’s now closer to the finish line of bringing new products to market.
“This type of open-access jump-start invites more people to the field, gives everyone a better starting position, and ultimately can produce more winners – companies that get more products to consumer plates, and consumers who have more choices for foods they love.”
Joshua March, co-founder and CEO of SciFi Foods, added: “Although we are at the end of the line at SCiFi Foods, we hope this is just the beginning of the cultivated meat industry.
“As a result of what both GFI and Tufts have done here, academic researchers and future startups will be able to save huge amounts of time and money and will be able to focus on what really matters most: making products people love.”
It comes alongside a number of other announcements in the lab grown meat sector, as Gourmey recently acquired cultivated-meat peer VitalMeat to form a new business in France called Parima.
