Breakout Labs backs 3D meat printing research
The company was one of three to be awarded a grant by the Thiel Foundation’s Breakout Labs fund, a US-based company that aims to promote innovation in science and technology. According to the foundation, the latest grants have focused on the “intersection of biology and advanced technologies”.
According to Breakout Labs, Modern Meadow is developing a new approach to meat and leather production, in the form of 3D bio-printing. The approach is based on the latest advances in tissue engineering, which the organisation said causes no harm to animals. Co-founders of Modern Meadow Gabor Forgacs and Andras Forgacs invented and helped commercialise the technology of bio-printing, which builds tissues and organ structures based on computer-controlled delivery cells in three dimensions.
With funding from Breakout Labs, the pair plans to “apply the latest advances in tissue engineering beyond medicine to produce novel consumer biomaterials”, including an edible cultured meat prototype that can provide a humane and sustainable source of animal protein to consumers around the world.
Andras Forgacs explained that the funding was “much-needed” and has supplied support for them. He added: “Investors across the board have become more risk-averse and yet early funding is critical to enable truly innovative ideas. We are proud to be a part of the Breakout Labs programme.”
Through combining regenerative medicine with 3D printing, executive director of Breakout Labs Lindy Fishburne said she hoped Modern Meadows would develop an economic and compassionate solution to a global problem. Fishburne added: “We hope our support will help propel them through the early stage of their development, so they can turn their inspired vision into reality.”
Breakout Labs was launched in the US in November last year and provides teams of researchers in early-stage companies with the means to pursue goals in science and technology. Since the launch in 2011 Breakout Labs has awarded nine grants of up to $350,000 each.
