Sea Secrets 2023: Meat and Fish Foods of the Future via Cellular Agriculture with David Kaplan, Ph.D.
Tuesday, February 21, 2023 6:30pm
About this Event
This lecture will have a complimentary reception at SALT Waterfront Restaurant on the Rosenstiel Campus, beginning at 6:30 PM. The lecture will begin promptly at 7:00 PM in the Rosenstiel auditorium. This lecture is also being offered virtually via Zoom.
Stern Family Endowed Professor of Engineering at Tufts University, A Distinguished University Professor, Professor in the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Meat and Fish Foods of the Future via Cellular Agriculture
The need for future foods for the ever-growing population requires consideration of alternative approaches to enhance food sustainability, nutrition and security. To address this need, Dr. Kaplan has been pursuing a cell-based, tissue engineering approach. His lab’s central hypothesis is that a sustainable, cost-effective, and scalable cultivated-meat and fish, and alternative protein platform will increase food availability options while decreasing environmental impact. Dr. Kaplan will review the considerable progress towards this goal. Further, there remain many challenges and opportunities, from cell types and cell engineering, to media formulations, scale up requirements and nutritional issues, which will also be discussed.
Dr. Kaplan’s research focus is on biopolymer engineering, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and cellular agriculture. He has published over 1,000 peer reviewed papers, is editor-in-chief of ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering and he serves on many editorial boards and programs for journals and universities. He directed the NIH P41 Tissue Engineering Resource Center (TERC) that involves Tufts University and Columbia University for 15 years. His lab has been responsible for over 150 patents issued or allowed, and numerous start-up companies. He has also received a number of awards for his research and teaching and was elected Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and to the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Kaplan recently received funding from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to establish the first national center in the U.S. dedicated to research in cellular agriculture.
