Enzymit, an Israel-based bioproduction platform company developing enzymatic manufacturing technology, announced the successful development of insulin substituents, in partnership with Israel-based food technology company Aleph Farms, that can reduce the cost and development time for producing cultivated meat at scale.
One of the most significant expenses, which often prohibits upscaling in the cultivated meat production sector, is the development of non-animal-derived serum protein mimetics to promote and support cell growth.
These proteins are not widely available in the current market at the quantity, quality, and cost efficiency necessary for large-scale production.
Aleph Farms has turned to Enzymit to co-develop novel insulin substituents in microorganisms that function as the proteins found naturally in animals with greater desired activity per molecule.
"Developing more suitable processing aids for the production of cultivated meat is imperative for driving economies of scale and taking cultivated meat mainstream," said Neta Lavon, PhD, CTO of Aleph Farms.
"This innovation, combining Enzymit's outstanding protein design and experimental capabilities with our team's expertise in cellular agriculture, is helping to build the foundations for our sector to achieve cost-efficiency and long-term impact."
The success of this collaboration could open the door to additional benefits far beyond the cultivation of cow cells. As insulin is a highly conserved protein across mammals and other species, it has the potential to similarly influence the production of other cultivated meat types, such as porcine, ovine, and poultry.
"Aleph Farms has been an invaluable partner for this initiative, which can pave the way for more cost-efficient production of cultivated meat," said Gideon Lapidoth, PhD, CEO of Enzymit.
Lapidoth continued, stating that with recombinant proteins currently accounting for most cell culture costs, creating highly stable and more active insulin substituents could significantly reduce the cost of growth media and increase efficiency in producing cultivated meat at scale.
Utilising its proprietary computational design algorithms and high-throughput testing capabilities, Enzymit was able to quickly develop a variety of insulin substituents and experimentally assess their functionality.
All those selected were soluble proteins expressed in E. coli and purified without requiring refolding, complex purification steps, or other treatments. Further screening resulted in several leading candidates exhibiting superior results in activity for cell culturing and requiring minimal concentration for activation. These new proteins, which demand notably fewer downstream purification and maturation processes, dramatically reduce production time and costs.
