Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast

In this episode of The Future Food Show, Alex welcomes Doug Evans, author of The Sprout Book and founder of The Sprouting Company. Doug shares his journey from a gritty NYC upbringing to discovering health through raw veganism, which led him to launch pioneering ventures like Organic Avenue and Juicero, the much-talked-about cold-pressed juice machine. He discusses the incredible potential of sprouts as a sustainable, affordable, and nutrient-dense food source, and how The Sprouting Company is revolutionizing home sprouting. Doug also dives into branding insights, the role of AI in creative work, and his thoughts on the future of food—including cultured meat, plant-based innovation, and personal empowerment through food choices.

In this Future Food Show episode, host Alex Shirazi interviews Aniekan Esenam of Hamilton. Aniekan shares his background in mathematics, AI, and bioprocessing, highlighting Hamilton’s role in cultivated meat and precision fermentation. He explains how Hamilton’s sensors monitor pH, oxygen, CO2, and cell density in bioreactors, optimizing production. They discuss single-use vs. reusable systems, AI’s role in bioprocessing, and the future of novel foods. Aniekan envisions a future where 60% of meat comes from novel sources by 2040.

On this episode Alex Shirazi discusses the state of growth within the Cultivated Meat and Seafood industry, how to get to Factory #1, and the current state of the investment cycle in novel protein. Learn more about this episode at https://futurefoodshow.com

In this episode of the Cultured Meat and Future Food Show, host Alex Shirazi interviews Parendi Birdie, an entrepreneur and leader in the alternative protein industry. Parendi shares her extensive background, including how she transitioned from running her family's Montessori business to becoming a key figure in the cultivated meat space. She discusses her journey in building startups like Good Meat and Mission Barns, her role in advancing the field of cultivated meat, and the challenges and opportunities within the industry.

Sissel Beate Rønning is a senior scientist at the food research institute Nofima in Norway, where she tries to use modern technology in food production for a growing population. Her primary focus is: Can we culture meat, and can we use the rest of the materials from the food industry in the process? How can we produce healthy food ingredients? Sissel holds a master’s degree in gene technology from the University of Tromsø and has a PhD in GMOs from the National Veterinary Institute in Norway. Her postdoc focused on cancer research and human medicine in the Department of Pathology, Oslo University Hospital, Norway. Learn more about ISCCM10 at www.culturedmeatconference.com

On the Cultured Meat and Future Food Show, Alex welcomes Jeff "Trip" Tripician, CEO of Meatable, a cultured meat company based in the Netherlands. Trip shares insights into his 40-year career in agriculture, focusing on premium meat and sustainable practices. He highlights the shift towards consumer demand for environmentally and ethically responsible products. Tripp discusses Meatable’s approach to cultivated meat, which uses advanced science to produce meat without harming animals. He also touches on the challenges of global food security and the potential of cultivated meat to address these issues.

We are joined with Dr. Dwayne Holmes of New Harvest. Based in the Netherlands, Dr. Holmes overseas the New Harvest Netherlands entity which covers cellular agriculture in the European regions. Learn more about New Harvest at https://new-harvest.org/ The Cultured Meat Symposium is taking place on September 12-13, 2024 in Silicon Valley, California. Learn more about the event and register at https://cms2024.com

Alex Shirazi sits down with Deniz Kent, CEO of Prolific Machines, at their Emeryville, CA office. Learn more about Prolific Machines and learn about partnering with them at https://www.prolific-machines.com/ The Cultured Meat Symposium 2024 is taking place on September 12-13, 2024. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2024.com using code: FUTUREFOOD

Host Alex Shirazi chats with Ed Steele on his background in machine learning, how he started Hoxton Farms with childhood friend Max Jamilly, and the future of delicious, fatty, meat products. Learn more about Hoxton Farms at https://hoxtonfarms.com/ The Cultured Meat Symposium 2024 (CMS24) is taking place on September 12-13, 2024 in Silicon Valley, California. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2024.com. Dr. Vítor Espírito Santo of Hoxton Farms, a longtime cellular agriculture veteran and past CMS speaker, will be speaking at the event.

On this episode we are excited to welcome Dr Zack Abbott of ZBiotics. Alex Shirazi chats with Dr Abbott about his background, the founding story of ZBiotics, and how a few connections were made along the way. Learn more about ZBiotics at https://zbiotics.com The Cultured Meat Symposium is coming to Sunnyvale, California on September 12-13, 2024. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2024.com. Listen to the full episode for a special discount.

New Harvest is a nonprofit research institute that supports open, public cultured meat research. Founded in 2004, we are the world’s longest-running organization dedicated to advancing the field of cellular agriculture. This year New Harvest turns 20! As part of the NH@20 podcast series, we interview Executive Isha Datar and discuss milestone achievements over the past two decades, and get a glimpse of what might be coming next. The Cultured Meat Symposium is taking place on September 12-13, 2024. Learn more about the event at register at https://cms2024.com

Purchase the updated edition of Clean Meat on Amazon or anywhere books are sold. Learn more about Paul Shapiro and Clean Meat at www.cleanmeat.com

Doug is the co-founder and CEO of Atlantic Fish Co. Their Raleigh, North Carolina-based team is using cellular agriculture to address the problem of carbon-intensive, overfished species. Prior to AFC, he co-founded two other startups and covered the alternative protein industry for three years as the host of the "Brave New Meat" podcast, interviewing entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders in the space. He has an MBA from Georgetown University focused on entrepreneurship. Prior to the private sector, he served for 10 years as a helicopter pilot in the Navy.

Ali Khademhosseini is one of the foremost tissue engineers in the world. Khademhosseini is the founding director at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, out of which Omeat was born. After learning about the environmental impacts of the conventional meat industry, Ali realized that his extensive background in tissue engineering could be applied to develop a process for more sustainably produced cultivated meat. Khademhosseini pivoted his focus to enter the field, developing Omeat’s unique cultivation process poised to redefine the industry. The company has developed a highly differentiated, IP-backed approach that enables the cultivation of any kind of meat in a way that is orders-of-magnitude more sustainable and humane than the conventional approach.

Mark is the scientist behind the world’s first cultured burger. As a medical doctor by training and having worked on tissue engineering for vascular grafts, he became massively inspired by the possibilities of cultured meat, and co-founded Mosa Meat. On this episode we chat about the International Scientific Conference on Cultured Meat (ISCCM). Learn more about the upcoming ISCCM event at www.culturedmeatconference.com

Jim Mellon is an author, entrepreneur and an investor with interests in a number of sectors. He has substantial real estate holdings in Germany and the Isle of Man, as well as holdings in private and public companies through his private investment company Burnbrae Group. After leaving Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics, he worked in Asia and the United States in two fund management companies. Mr. Mellon is the co-author of five books, all written with a view to identifying emerging thematic trends leading to investment opportunities.  We had a great chat with Jim and learned about his in-depth and hands on experience within the field of cellular agriculture.

Thanks for joining us on the Future Food Show. This episode is part of the Transforming the Future of Proteins series, where we explore the work of XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, a global incentivized competition that challenges innovators to reinvent alternative proteins.  On this episode, we are excited to host MJ Kinney and Cameron Semper. MJ Kinney is a food scientist and the Founder of FareScience, a consulting company that specializes in next generation food product development. Her specialization in alternative proteins has spanned b2b, b2c, and non-profit sectors, throughout which she has built collective experience in R&D, technical sales, and project management. Cameron is a research scientist who specializes in molecular biology and recombinant protein technology. As a New Harvest Research Fellow (2019-2021) he used protein biochemistry to study potential cost reductions for growth media used in fish cell culture. He is passionate about the potential of cellular agriculture to facilitate the transition to a more sustainable and decentralized food system. Cameron holds a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Calgary and is currently a postdoctoral fellow.

This episode is part of the Transforming the Future of Proteins series, where we explore the work of XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, a global incentivized competition that challenges innovators to reinvent alternative proteins.  On this episode, we are excited to host Dr. Denneal Jamison-McClung Denneal directs the UC Davis Biotechnology Program and is co- founder of the UC Davis Cultivated Meat Consortium. She has over twenty years of experience as a science educator, teaching a variety of courses in biology, plant physiology, genetics, molecular biology, genomics and bioinformatics at the undergraduate and graduate levels. External Links: CMC website with course/summit info:Education & Outreach | Cultivated Meat Consortium (ucdavis.edu) CMC Twitter:UC Davis Cultivated Meat Consortium (@UCDavis_CMC) / X (twitter.com) UC Davis Biotechnology Program website:UC Davis Biotechnology Program UC Davis Biotech Program Twitter:UC Davis Biotechnology Program (@UCDavisBiotech) / X (twitter.com)

Thanks for joining us on the Future Food Show. This episode is part of the Transforming the Future of Proteins series, where we explore the work of XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, a global incentivized competition that challenges innovators to reinvent alternative proteins.  Ziliang is the Founder and CEO at CellX, a leading cultivated meat startup in China. Over the past 3 years, he has built a team of 40 and raised ~$20 million to bring cultivated meat products to consumers in China and around the world. He was recognized as Forbes Asia and Forbes China 30 under 30 in 2022, and top 50 entrepreneurs by innovation China. He has been a flexitarian for six years and cares deeply about the negative impact of factory farming on the environment, humans, and animals. As an impact entrepreneur, he is working to create large-scale social impact through a sustainable business model.

This episode is part of the Transforming the Future of Proteins series, where we explore the work of XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, a global incentivized competition that challenges innovators to reinvent alternative proteins.  Prince Khaled is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of KBW Ventures, and works across several tiers and levels of the business.Highly active in the green technology ecosystem, he often participates in events pertaining to sustainability, climate change, food security, and how food technology and breakthrough research and development promise to alleviate these pressing world issues.

This episode is part of the Transforming the Future of Proteins series, where we explore the work of XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, a global incentivized competition that challenges innovators to reinvent alternative proteins.  Bernhard is the Head of the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator, which he created in 2015. The Accelerator sources, nurtures and scales start-ups and nonprofits working to achieve Zero Hunger, as well as running accelerator programs for external partners such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Humanitarian Grand Challenge, and other UN Agencies.

Jordan is the founder of Cultured Supply, a B2B purchasing platform for the bioeconomy. Starting with food and beverage ingredients and products, Cultured Supply is focused on helping companies building more regenerative and localized supply chains direct from the source. Learn more at https://culturedsupply.com/

Thanks for joining us on the Future Food Show. This episode is part of the Transforming the Future of Proteins series, where we explore the work of XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, a global incentivized competition that challenges innovators to reinvent alternative proteins.  On this episode, we are excited to host Dr. Sirli Rosenvald, head of alternative protein research at TFTAK. Sirli is a highly experienced food scientist with over 10 years of experience in food research. She has vast experience in managing different teams and projects with a specific emphasis on alternative proteins and sensory and consumer research. She is a recognized expert in the alternative protein space, having published numerous scientific articles and presented at industry and scientific conferences.

Thanks for joining us on the Future Food Show. This episode is a part of the Transforming the Future of Proteins series, where we explore the work of XPRIZE Feed The Next Billion, a global incentivized competition that challenges innovators to reinvent alternative proteins. On this episode, We’re excited to host Doug McNish, Greg Potter, and Laura S. Hackl, three of the members of Team ProFillet, to the show. ProFillet is a collection of some of the world's best minds who have come together to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time: How do we Feed the Next Billion? The founders at ProFillet come from a variety of industries and have a range of talents: from professional kitchens, science and technology, to marketing, finance and operations. This diversity of perspectives and experiences allows the team to approach challenges from a variety of angles, leading to innovative solutions and better outcomes.

Robert Yaman is the Founder of Innovate Animal Ag, a new non-profit organization dedicated to introducing and promoting new technologies to the animal agriculture industry.

This episode is part of the Transforming The Future of Proteins series. XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion is a multi-year, $15M competition that incentivizes teams to produce chicken breast or fish filet alternatives that replicate or outperform these conventional proteins in the following ways: access, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, nutrition, as well as taste and texture. Miguel is an entrepreneur specialized in Innovation. Over his career, he acted in a variety of C-Level roles. His experience spans over 20+ years leading projects and teams internationally. Miguel founded and funded companies in the fields of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology. Many of these projects raised 8-figure rounds through venture capital fundraising, M&A, and ICOs. Miguel is currently the interim CEO of Eternal. Learn more about the XPRIZE Feed The Next Billion Challenge at ⁠www.xprize.org/feed⁠

This episode is part of the Transforming The Future of Proteins series. XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion is a multi-year, $15M competition that incentivizes teams to produce chicken breast or fish filet alternatives that replicate or outperform these conventional proteins in the following ways: access, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, nutrition, as well as taste and texture. Robin is the Founder and CEO of Revo Foods. Robin has a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the University of Gothenburg and Tufts University and is recognized as one of FORBES "30 under 30" for the DACH region. With a background in biotechnology and a passion for ocean sustainability, Robin has extensive experience in the field of 3D food printing, which he used when building his first start up. Revo Foods has revolutionized the production of plant-based fish alternatives and is currently the largest supplier of salmon alternatives in Europe. We have a great conversation with Robin as we discuss 3d Bioprinting technologies for food, what is like creating a startup, and the opportunities competitions can bring to the table. Learn more about the XPRIZE Feed The Next Billion Challenge at ⁠www.xprize.org/feed⁠ Learn more about Revo Foods at www.revo-foods.com

Chris will be speaking at the upcoming Future Food Tech Alternative Protein Event in New York City this June. You can register for the event at https://futurefoodtechprotein.com. Get a 10% discount on tickets using the coupon code CM10.  Chris Landowski is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Onego Bio, a company producing animal-free egg white proteins with precision fermentation. Chris is a cellular agriculture trailblazer and the scientific mastermind behind the technology.  The chosen method for producing egg white protein is based on harnessing the microflora Trichoderma reesei for protein production and Chris believes this technology is superior because of its efficiency and productivity. Prior to co-founding Onego Bio, Chris spent 15 years developing breakthrough precision fermentation platforms at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. He has extensive experience in recombinant protein production and translating this knowledge to enable commercial scale production of animal-free proteins. One thing I greatly appreciate about this episode with Chris is that he breaks down fairly technical concepts into very digestible bites.

Jeremy Agresti has spent his career developing tools to drastically change the pace of biology with massive-throughput measurements using microfluidics. His seminal contributions as pioneer of miniaturizing biology with microfluidics have resulted in a large number of publications and patents, which have been cited more than 9,000 times, and form the foundation of several companies in the space. His work has allowed Amyris to bring their biofuels and chemicals to market faster, and for companies like Bio-Rad, Illumina and 10x Genomics to bring new single-cell genomics tools and clinical diagnostic tests to market. Jeremy is a co-founder and advisor to Slingshot Biosciences and founder and CTO Triplebar, where he leads a team of scientists and engineers to leverage the power of evolution to bring new biology-produced products to the world and build a sustainable future for the planet.

This episode is part of the Transforming The Future of Proteins series. XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion is a multi-year, $15M competition that incentivizes teams to produce chicken breast or fish filet alternatives that replicate or outperform these conventional proteins in the following ways: access, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, nutrition, as well as taste and texture. Caroline Kolta is the Program Director on XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, where she oversees the technical and day to day operations of the competition including project management, knowledge management, stakeholder management, and risk management. Prior to this, she worked on an array of projects including supporting XPRIZE Foundation’s research on circular and resilient food systems, in addition to designing competitions for alternative protein, circular water economy, sustainable food packaging, and Alzheimer's Disease. Caroline comes to XPRIZE with 7 years of experience in the international development, governance, and election monitoring sectors in the Middle East and North Africa region as a project manager, researcher, and policy advisor. Her professional career is geared towards advancing human rights and freedoms, civic engagement, and empowering marginalized populations. She holds an MA in Sustainable International Development, with a focus on Conflict Resolution and Coexistence from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and a Bachelor of Political Science from Cairo University.  Learn more about the XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion Challenge at www.xprize.org/feed

This episode is sponsored by the Black & Veatch NextGen Ag Team. Learn more about Black and Veatch at https://www.bv.com Edward Shenderovich is co-founder and CEO of Synonym Biotechnologies. Before Synonym, Edward was the Executive Chairman and co-founder of Knotel, a leading flexible office company (acquired by Newmark), founding and managing partner of Kite Ventures, a global venture investment company, and a founding executive of SUP Media, where he oversaw the company’s strategic development, including the rollout of LiveJournal globally. Previously, he was a co-founder and CEO of Quantum Art, a content management software provider, and a co-founder of Merchantry, a New York-based provider of online marketplace infrastructure (acquired by Tradeshift). Edward has served on the boards of directors of a number of successful companies, including Tradeshift, Delivery Hero, Plated, Domo, and others. He started his career as an Industry Analyst at Silicon Valley Bank. Edward is a graduate of UC Berkeley and a Fellow at Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Check out Capacitor, The free worldwide database of biomanufacturing capacity at https://capacitor.bio/

On this episode, we’re excited to have Joshua March. Joshua is Co-founder and CEO of SCiFi Foods, a startup creating transformational products by combining cultivated meat with plant-based ingredients to make burgers shockingly close to the taste of conventional beef. A serial entrepreneur with two exits to his name, Joshua was previously the Co-founder of Conversocial, a digital care platform for messaging that integrates with many of the world's leading brands. Joshua has a passion for all things food science, environmental sustainability, and believes in the potential of synthetic biology to create superior products for a rapidly growing world. Originally from England and now based in San Francisco.

Sophie Letcher is a PhD student and New Harvest Research Fellow in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Tufts University. She is a part of David Kaplan’s (growing!) cellular agriculture research group, and so far, her research as focused on two main topics. The first is using bioelectricity (endogenous electrical currents) to control muscle cell proliferation and differentiation, and the second is furthering the field of entomoculture (insect cell culture for food). Prior to starting at Tufts, she received her B.A. at Kenyon College in Neuroscience, then worked as a research technician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. This episode was originally recorded in December 2021.

David Kay, Director of Communications at UPSIDE Foods discusses the FDA "No Questions" Letter regarding cultivated chicken as safe to eat. This is a huge milestone within the cell-cultured meat industry and one step closer to seeing cultivated meat products on dinner tables. Alex Shirazi of the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast discusses the meaning behind the announcement and the impact on the food industry. Learn more about UPSIDE Foods at https://upsidefoods.com/. Read the letter at https://upsidechickenletter.com/. Listen to the previous episode with David Kay at https://cmsymp.medium.com/david-kay-of-upside-foods-on-the-cultured-meat-and-future-food-show-podcast-5c0d2cefc4f2

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com On this episode I chat with Lejjy Gafour of CULT Food Science. We chat about Lejjy's background, his start within the cellular agriculture industry, touch on Future Fields, and learn about CULT Food Science. Additional show notes will be posted soon. Are you a regular listener? Be sure to Subscribe or Follow on your favorite podcast platform.

Alex Shirazi sits down with Deniz Kent, Co-founder and CEO of Prolific Machines. Prolific Machines is a Stealth startup based in San Francisco. They are working on technologies that seriously reduces the cost of cultured meat production. On this episode we chat about Deniz' background and how the company came to be. Learn more about Prolific Machines at https://www.prolificmachines.com/

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place on October 28-29, 2022 in Downtown San Francisco. Learn more and register at https://cms2022.com This episode of the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast features Patricia Bubner of Orbillion. Alex and Patricia chat about Orbillion, different cuts of cultivated meat products, and the importance of messaging within the industry. Learn more about Orbillion Bio at https://www.orbillion.com/

On this episode I speak with Yonatan Golan of Brevel. I was introduced to Brevel in one of my favorite ways possible, at a networking event! The event was hosted by Black & Veatch at the Future Food Tech event in New York City. There I met someone from the Brevel team who eventually connected me to Yonatan. I am so glad I was able to speak with Yonatan about the fascinating topic of micro-algea and how it could very well be one of the biggest protein solutions.  Learn more about Brevel at https://brevel.co.il/ The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place in San Francisco on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://www.cms2022.com

This episode features Dr. Peter Nesaei and Dr. Reza Ovissi of OceanTastes, Inc. OceanTastes, Inc. is a cultivated seafood startup based in California. We discuss how the Peter and Reza met, their inspiration for creating OceanTastes, Inc. and the exciting journey ahead. Learn more about OceanTastes, Inc. at https://www.oceantastes.com The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com

The Cultured Meat Symposium 2022 is taking place in San Francisco on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com. On this episode, Alex chats with Brett Thompson of Mzansi Meat Co., one of the first cultivated meat companies in South Africa and even on the continent of Africa. Learn about how Brett's background in plant-based foods and animal advocacy lead to the first investor check and what's next for Mzansi. References in this episode: South African Consumer Adoption of Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat: A Segmentation Study: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.744199/full Plant-based and Cultivated Meat Adoption in Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria: https://www.credenceinstitute.org/_files/ugd/e40e4e_ec6909e70bc242e894d42d5eb34f85fb.pdf

The Cultured Meat Symposium is taking place on October 28-29, 2022. Learn more and register for the event at https://cms2022.com On this episode, Alex Shirazi sits down with Caroline Wilschut of Meatable to chat about who we need to educate about cultivated meat products and the understanding of the technology over the last few years. Learn more about Meatable at https://meatable.com

Elysabeth Alfano is the CEO of VegTech™ Invest, the advisor to the VegTech™ Plant-based Innovation & Climate ETF. The VegTech™ ETF has created a completely new impact asset class: plant-based innovation and alternative in the capital markets. The company has also launched the industry benchmark index, VegTech™ Plant-based Innovation & Alternative Proteins Index. Elysabeth is a plant-based industry expert and speaks globally on the intersection of sustainability and our global food supply system, including recently at the U.N. Global Leaders Compact Summit. She is the CEO of Plant Powered Consulting, and advised multinationals and C-Suite Executives on the industry landscape, direction and whitespaces. Finally, Elysabeth hosts the Plantbased Business Hour, which features the CEOs and thought leaders in the industry. The Plantbased Business Hour is considered, “The Gold Standard” for those who want to understand, participate in, and capitalize on this secular trend. Learn more about Future Food Tech Alternative Proteins at www.futurefoodtechprotein.com

Laura is the Founder and CEO of Helaina. Founded in 2019, Helaina is the first company to produce human milk proteins that are identical to those in breast milk, creating a new category of infant formula. Disrupting the infant formula category which has been stagnant for decades, Helaina has raised more than $25 million. Laura became NYU’s youngest ever adjunct professor in Food Science & Technology in 2017 and was featured in Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in 2022. Learn more about Helaina at www.myhelaina.com Learn more about Future Food Tech Alternative Proteins at www.futurefoodtechprotein.com

Alex sits down with Will Patrick of Culture Biosciences, the company leading the way for bioreactors in the cloud.  Design, monitor, and analyze high-throughput bioreactor experiments in Culture's Cloud Lab from your laptop.  Culture essentially acts as a Bioreactor in the cloud allowing companies to radically accelerate their research. We learn about the basics of the platform and the ideal applications. Learn more about Culture Biosciences at https://www.culturebiosciences.com/

Trevor Williams is a former high school agriscience teacher turned podcaster that started the FarmTraveler podcast in 2019.  Farm Traveler has one goal, that being to connect consumers with farmers, ranchers, and entrepreneurs in the agriculture industry.  Trevor has published over 150 podcast episodes, educational videos, and Farm Tours on the Farm Traveler Youtube channel, and produces two other agriculture-focused podcasts. Subscribe to the Farm Traveler Podcast at https://thefarmtraveler.com/ Listen to Alex's episode on the Farm Traveler Podcast at https://thefarmtraveler.com/2022/04/13/ep-145-what-is-cultured-meat/

As a public health attorney, food policy expert, author, and thought leader, Michele uses her passionate and fearless voice to advocate for a better food system through her writing, media appearances, and consulting. Michele’s extensive writings on the politics of food and alcohol led to the publication of her first book in 2006, Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back. NYU Professor Marion Nestle described it as “brilliant.” Michele founded the Plant Based Foods Association in 2016. As Executive Director of the nation’s only membership association to promote the interests of plant-based food companies, she grew the organization to over 300 members and led a team of policy and retail experts. Her leadership and strategic efforts enabled PBFA to fight the powerful meat and dairy lobbies, while forging new marketplace opportunities for the industry. Michele currently runs her own strategy consulting business, where she offers advice on policy, media relations, investing, and coaching for women. Michele Simon is admitted to practice law in California, has a master’s degree in public health from Yale University and received her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. We cover a lot of diverse topics and I will be first to admit that it was very interesting to understand certain viewpoints as it comes to reducing animals in the food system, restaurants offering vegan options (and whether that’s a good thing), and taking a closer look at reporting that’s out there in the industry now.

Thanks for tuning in to the Cultured Meat and Future Food Podcast. On this episode we are exciting to have Tim Olsen of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Tim joined Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in 2020 as Head of Commercial for the Cultured Meat program. His goal is to commercialize technologies that enable large scale cost effective and sustainable production of cultured meat and seafood products. Previously, Tim directed laboratory operations and led the development of bioinks at Allevi, a 3D bioprinting company. Tim then held the Senior Scientist position on the Process and Product Development team at RoosterBio, a regenerative medicine company focused on fueling the rapid commercialization of scalable human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) and exosome manufacturing technologies. His skillsets include stem cell culture optimization, media development, and scaling manufacturing in bioreactor systems. Tim then transitioned into commercial operations at RoosterBio as the Northeast USA and Europe Account Manager to leverage his technical skillset to focus on bringing solutions to the customers who were working on bringing regenerative medicine products to the clinic and the market. Tim received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Clemson University (2015) and sits on the External Advisory Board for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The College of New Jersey, his undergraduate alma mater.

Dr. Aletta Schnitzler is the Chief Scientific Officer at Turtle Tree. Previously, Aletta held various roles at Merck KGaA across Cell Therapy Bioprocessing and Cultured Meat R&D and Strategy. Aletta received her Ph.D. in 2007 from Boston University School of Medicine in the fields of immunology and neuroscience, focusing on trophic factors that influence immune cell activation, as well as neural differentiation and maintenance of phenotype. Learn more about TurtleTree: https://turtletree.com/