careers & recruitment
CAREER FEATURE
How researchers can join the race to develop
new ways of making meat
The sustainable protein sector, which promises to create a better food system for the planet, is part of a growing
industry with a lot to offer to young researchers.
E
arly and mid-career researchers
can have a difficult time. Although
academia is considered by many to
be an enviable career, offering intellectual
freedom, high levels of autonomy and
the opportunity to push forward the
frontiers of knowledge, the reality can be
very different. Increasing pressure from
teaching commitments, grant applications
and administrative activities mean many
researchers — especially those who do
not yet have tenure — feel that their work
is hypercompetitive1, psychologically
overwhelming2 and inordinately busy3.
However, a new and rapidly developing
industry is providing real opportunities
for young scientists who are keen to build
satisfying careers and have aspirations to
create their own companies, teach a new
generation the skills they will need for the
future, or communicate about how their
field can change the world. A global race is
on to develop new ways of producing meat,
and with it comes a world of possibilities for
early and mid-career researchers who want
their work to have impact.
Sustainable — or alternative — proteins,
which include meat made from plants and
cultivated from cells, represent a young
and fast-developing field with potential to
satisfy growing global demand for meat4
while reducing the impact of our food
system on climate change and public health.
Researchers with backgrounds in everything
from plant science to tissue engineering
are entering this space, generating
breakthroughs that will not only advance
this sector — with huge benefits for the
environment and public health — but wider
fields such as biotechnology and medicine.
In addition, with major funders such as
national governments and Horizon Europe
increasingly paying attention, the space
urgently needs talented researchers from a
wide range of disciplines to help improve
flavor and texture, and to bring prices down.
Studies consistently show that most
people’s food choices are based on taste,
price and convenience5. With research to
make plant-based meat, cultivated meat
and fermentation-made foods as delicious,
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Fig. 1 | Alternative protein production platforms. Plant-based meat (left) is, in essence, products that
are biomimicking meat using plants as the building blocks. Cultivated meat, as exemplified by cultivated
seafood (center), is identical to animal meat at the cellular level, providing the same sensory and
nutritional profile as conventional meat because it comprises the same cell types and three-dimensional
structure as meat from an animal. Fermentation refers to the use of microorganisms to produce protein
directly, as in fermentation-made meat (right), or to produce ingredients that enhance our ability to
innovate with plant-based or cultivated meat.
affordable and convenient as conventional in 2021 (ref. 6). However, no products
meat, the sustainable option can become the yet match conventional meat on taste and
default choice for consumers (Fig. 1). price, and so there is a critical need for
more research.
Sustainable proteins Another rapidly growing area is
Cultivating meat involves taking a sample biomass fermentation, with scientists and
of cells from an animal and growing them companies using microorganisms or fungal
in a culture medium so that they multiply mycelium to develop animal-free meat
and differentiate to become muscle and fat with high efficiency and a fraction of the
cells, in the same way they would inside an environmental impact. Quorn is the most
animal’s body. The final product is exactly well-known example, but new players
the same as the meat that people enjoy entering the space include Glasgow-based
eating today, down to the cellular level. Enough Foods, which aims to deliver
Currently, Singapore is the only country 50,000 tons per year, or one cow’s worth of
where cultivated meat is available, but more protein every two minutes, by 2027.
than 100 companies and dozens of research Precision fermentation, which uses
institutions around the world are now microorganisms such as yeast as miniature
racing to develop the technology needed — cell factories to deliver proteins or other
from bioreactors to the scaffolds on which ingredients that enhance plant-based or
cells grow — to scale up production cultivated meat, is also seeing success.
and bring down costs, ready for global One example is the production of proteins
commercialization. such as whey and casein to make real dairy
Plant-based meat aims to recreate the milk or cheese without farming animals.
flavor and texture of meat using innovative Fermentation is an efficient process,
ingredients from crops. This food is already enabling fast production of proteins —
being sold to increasingly environmentally sometimes doubling in quantity within
aware consumers, with soaring demand hours, compared to months or years
and global sales up by 17% to US$5.6 billion for animals.
Nature Biotechnology | VOL 40 | September 2022 | 1414–1418 | www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology

Fully plant based Hybrid products
Tofu Impossible Burger
Enzymes can Fermentation-
improve protein derived flavoring
functionalization ingredients
or coagulation
Fig. 2 | Animal product alternatives will occur along a spectrum. Ultimately, in the future, the three
alternative protein production platforms will not exist as distinct industry segments but rather as one
large industry producing animal product alternatives across a spectrum, using ingredients from one or
more technology.
Although plant-based meat, cultivated
meat and fermentation have been defined
as distinct production platforms, the most
delicious and affordable final products
will likely blend different ingredients from
animal cells, plants, fungi and microbes
(Fig. 2). Companies such as the UK’s Hoxton
Farms are cultivating real animal fat cells to
utilize as an ingredient in plant-based meat,
helping these foods recreate the taste and
texture of animal meat.
Benefits of sustainable proteins
Sustainable protein research is not just about
enabling commercial success, but rather
building a more sustainable, secure and
just food system. Compared with farming
animals, these foods have the potential
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
deforestation, biodiversity loss, water use,
water pollution, antibiotic resistance and
foodborne illnesses. The fermentation
process can even help reduce food waste,
transforming agricultural surplus and
byproducts into nutritious and delicious
food. The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change7 recently highlighted these
foods as transformative solutions that
could play a critical role in halving global
emissions by 2030. The Sixth Assessment
Report of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change highlighted research
showing that even if fossil fuels were
eliminated overnight, emissions from
animal agriculture would still jeopardize the
Paris Agreement target of keeping global
temperature rises below 1.5 °C. It added
that emerging food technologies such as
plant-based and cultivated meat “promise
substantial reductions in direct greenhouse
gas emissions from food production”.
Nature Biotechnology | VOL 40 | September 2022 | 1414–1418 | www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology
Fully cultivated
Plant-based Cultivated Synthetic
burger with meat gelatin
cultivated fat
Growth factors 100%
from fermentation fermentation
derived
A study by CE Delft8 — the first ever
to be based on data from cultivated meat
companies — found that when produced
using renewable energy, cultivated meat
could reduce greenhouse gas emissions
from meat production by up to 92%, as well
as using 95% less land, reducing pressure
on wild habitats and natural carbon sinks.
Separate research has found that moving
towards plant-based meat would reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%
(ref. 9). Because making meat directly from
plants requires substantially less crops than
farming animals, it also uses up to 99% less
land and water — potentially freeing up
space to protect and restore nature.
These foods also have huge public health
advantages. Antimicrobial resistance caused
1.2 million deaths10 in 2019 — driven in
significant part by the overuse of antibiotics
in animal agriculture. Because plant-based
meat, cultivated meat and fermentation
do not require antibiotics, they can help
to protect these lifesaving drugs for
human medicine. Because they are made
without farming animals, these foods can
also prevent foodborne illnesses such as
salmonella, caused by fecal contamination,
as well as zoonotic diseases linked to animal
agriculture — a key driver of pandemics11.
In addition, as international conflicts
and the climate crisis threaten food security
around the world, sustainable proteins have
an important role to play in developing a
more resilient food future. According to a
report backed by the UK Government and
ClimateWorks Foundation, diversifying the
world’s protein supply could result in a 10%
reduction in global average crop prices by
2050, helping to make balanced diets more
affordable for people around the world12.
careers & recruitment
As for farm animals, plant-based meat,
cultivated meat and fermentation eliminate
the suffering associated with conventional
meat production.
Central role for researchers
A huge range of challenges must be
addressed to deliver on this potential — and
academics have a central role to play. There
is a solid foundation of research on which
scientists can build, and even opportunities
to reappropriate findings from other areas,
such as tissue engineering for cultivated
meat and synthetic biology for fermentation,
but sustainable proteins are fast growing
into a scientific discipline in their own
right. Thousands of papers have now been
published in areas related to this field,
providing useful science for those hoping to
develop sustainable proteins.
Support exists for those wanting to get
involved. The Good Food Institute (GFI)
accelerates progress in these fields to help
build a more sustainable food system. We
support an ever-growing global network
of researchers through our GFIdeas
community (https://gfi.org/community/),
help scientists connect via a collaborative
researcher directory (https://gfi.org/
resource/collaborative-researcher-directory/)
and research labs database (https://gfi.org/
resource/research-labs-database/), and
host regular online events (https://gfi.org/
events/) on the latest scientific advances.
We also publish reports and analyses for
those wanting to learn more, a research
funding database (https://gfi.org/resource/
research-funding-database/) that can be
filtered for regional grant opportunities,
and a research grants tracker (https://gfi.
org/resource/research-grants-tracker/)
showcasing previously funded projects,
helping researchers to identify other
organizations to approach for potential
collaborations.
Identifying the priorities
We have investigated the key bottlenecks
and white spaces in urgent need of research
as part of our Advancing Solutions for
Alternative Proteins13 project, and found
a vast range of problems waiting for
skilled researchers to solve. To name a
few, the plant-based field requires crop
scientists who can breed and develop
plants with higher protein yields and
improved functionality, while cultivated
meat needs engineers who can create more
efficient bioreactors, and fermentation
needs mycologists who can adapt novel
microbial strains capable of competing with
animal protein. All three areas will require
innovative food technologists who can
work with chefs to develop delicious new
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careers & recruitment
Plant based
$6,000
$5,000
Invested capital (US$ millions)
$4,000
$3,000
$2,000
$1,000
5 6
$0
2010
Fig. 3 | Annual invested capital and deal counts for the alternative protein sector. Consumer response
has been strong in spite of premium pricing, implying strong growth ahead as products improve and the
supply-chain scales.
products. From biochemists to electrical
engineers, and from agricultural engineers
to synthetic biologists, nutritionists and
economists, there are many disciplines
applicable to everyone who is able to
contribute. New areas where researchers can
apply their expertise are emerging all the
time, with the Cultivated Meat Modelling
Consortium14 demonstrating how computer
and data scientists can accelerate the
optimization of new processes and products.
Since 2019, GFI has provided over
US$12 million in funding to 70 open-
access research projects on the cutting
edge of sustainable protein science. This
has resulted in 33 scientific papers being
published, three grantees launching new
courses, and 12 researchers working for
sustainable protein companies.
Golden opportunity for those entering
space
Researchers moving into this area would
be taking up a golden opportunity to
enter an as-yet uncrowded space. Many
young researchers are attracted to areas
such as cardiovascular or infectious
and neurodegenerative diseases, where
significant research funding can be found.
While this work is essential, these areas are
highly competitive and with so much work
being done, the contributions of individual
researchers — particularly in the earlier
stages of their careers — may be incremental
or hard to quantify. In the wide-open world
of sustainable proteins, researchers are
entering a relatively new scientific space
with plenty of low-hanging fruit waiting to
1416
Fermentation Cultivated Deal count startups find it difficult to recruit people
300 with the necessary technical skills, and
there is an urgent need to expand the talent
258
pipeline by launching more university and
250
online courses17.
202
This is starting to change, and GFI is
200 supporting18 the development of active and
176 prospective courses around the world19,
from the University of California, Berkeley
Deal count
131
150 to the Federal University of Paraná in
Brazil, and from Wageningen University
100
and Research in the Netherlands to the
National University of Singapore. There is
60
even a growing movement of passionate and
48
50 enthusiastic students building their own
29
14
21 courses20 through GFI’s Alt Protein Project
7
or creating networking groups such as the
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Cambridge Alt Protein Society21.
Annual alternative protein invested capital and deal count But with few courses up and running so
far, and an increasing number of students
becoming interested in sustainable proteins22,
they are likely to be oversubscribed in the
future — so scientists who can teach in
these fields may find themselves in demand.
As this area attracts growing interest from
the media and the public, and with many
be picked. This area already abounds with misconceptions in need of addressing,
examples of early career researchers who are there is an increasingly important need for
making meaningful contributions. communicators capable of explaining the
Cai Linton and Reka Tron set up science clearly and accurately. Researchers
UK-based Multus Media as undergraduates with expertise in this area will be able to
at Imperial College London and have build names for themselves as experts on
already raised £1.6 million to find new ways the industry and as thought leaders who can
of creating low-cost cell culture media. shape the conversation and help convince
Diana Marques came up with the idea for skeptical audiences about the need for
her GFI-funded work to create a fish-free sustainable proteins.
sea bass fillet15 while completing her These fields also attract highly
biotechnology masters at Lisbon’s Instituto collaborative, mission-driven and
Superior Técnico. Now, along with associate interdisciplinary researchers, offering the
professor Frederico Ferriera, she has had her opportunity to work with some incredible
first paper published16. colleagues. As Marius Henkel, who is
developing a center for cellular agriculture at
Teachers and communicators Germany’s Technical University of Munich,
For those interested in teaching, says: “It’s a very emotional topic that captivates
sustainable proteins offer an exciting people in different ways — that’s what’s so
opportunity to provide the next generation beautiful about it. Everyone will find his or
with the skills that a future food system her own motivation for getting involved”.
will need. Because these fields are so new, Parag Acharya, who is setting up
a sustainable protein hub at the UK’s
University of Greenwich, is also adamant
that collaboration is key: “One thing that’s
very significant about this field is that it has
multi-disciplinary challenges — there isn’t
one single researcher or even research group
or research area that can solve this problem
on their own”23.
See your work become commercialized
Sustainable proteins offer unique
opportunities not only to innovate, but to
see your work commercialized quickly. By
definition, this field is application oriented.
Diana Marques, an early career researcher Even researchers working to address
working on cultivated fish. Credit: Seren Kell. fundamental research questions are likely
Nature Biotechnology | VOL 40 | September 2022 | 1414–1418 | www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology

to see their findings seized on by a rapidly
developing industry.
Work by a group of stem cell
researchers from Cambridge University
was commercialized by Dutch startup
Meatable in 2018, and Roger Pedersen,
the academic leading the project, became
the company’s chief scientific advisor.
There are also examples of researchers
choosing to commercialize their own work,
including UK-cultivated meat startup Ivy
Farm Technologies, which uses technology
developed at Oxford University. Three new
startups have been spun out by GFI grantees,
including California’s Umaro Foods, which
has launched its seaweed-based bacon in
restaurants after securing investments
from sources including the US TV show
Shark Tank.
The impact of research can also be felt
far beyond the sustainable protein space.
These fields often borrow science from other
industries, but innovations made in this
space have the potential to help those sectors
in return, especially through bringing down
costs for food, rather than pharmaceutical,
applications.
Innovations around cell culture media
could help drive down the cost of developing
medicines such as cell therapies, while the
development of complex tissue structures
with living cells for cultivated meat could
provide a huge boost to regenerative
medicine. Advancements in these fields can
also help medical and academic researchers
carry out more in vitro work, enabling them
to address important questions without
the use of animals, and helping the wider
scientific community to reach their 3R
objectives (replacement, reduction and
refinement) for humane research24.
In addition, leveraging greater flexibility
in feedstocks for microbial fermentation
would be incredibly helpful across the
biotech or food industry more generally, as
well as helping to promote efforts toward a
truly circular bioeconomy.
Funding is coming
Private investment has driven much of the
progress in these fields so far, but GFI’s
research program has also enabled grantees
to demonstrate the value of their work and
receive additional government funding.
Last year, Tufts University received a
five-year US$10 million grant from the US
Nature Biotechnology | VOL 40 | September 2022 | 1414–1418 | www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology
Department of Agriculture to establish the
National Institute for Cellular Agriculture
following work initially supported by a
GFI grant. Overall, grantees have received
nearly US$17 million worth of government
funding — more than nine times the total
value of their original GFI grants. Figure 3
shows annual invested capital and deal
counts for the alternative protein sector
from 2010–2021.
More funding is on its way. GFI has been
calling for more government investment in
open-access research25 to enable innovative
ideas to benefit the entire sector. We have
also launched an Innovation Challenge26
with EIT Food, offering up to four teams
€100,000 each for projects that can drive
down the cost of cell culture media —
demonstrating how this kind of partnership
can drive more funding into this space.
Governments are now slowly waking
up to the potential of sustainable proteins
to help them meet their climate goals. The
Dutch government recently announced a
record US$63 million package for cultivated
meat and precision fermentation27 — the
world’s largest ever investment in the
cellular agriculture field — while Denmark
announced more than 1.25 billion kroner
(US$180 million) to advance plant-based
foods28. The EU REACT project awarded
€2 million to cultivated meat company
Mosa Meat and animal feed firm Nutreco
for research to reduce the cost of cell culture
media29. Israel — which has a strong track
record of supporting cultivated meat —
recently granted nearly US$18 million over
three years to a consortium of 14 companies
and 10 academic labs30.
Sustainable proteins will play a
significant role in developing a food
system fit for the future. How quickly we
transition to these foods will depend on
many things, but attracting talented and
passionate researchers to this space will
be critical. Getting in on the ground floor
with an exciting field of research, where
you will be able to work with world-leading
colleagues, commercialize your findings,
and help tackle the climate crisis and protect
public health — why would you not want to
get involved? ❐ 30. Ben-David, R. Israeli cultivated meat consortium kicks off with
Seren L. Kell ✉
GFI Europe, London, UK.
✉e-mail: serenk@gfi.org
careers & recruitment
Published online: 9 September 2022
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01454-4
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Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
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