Meat without animals?

Following his on-air demonstration that a beef burger made from cultured cells is not only edible, but also tasty, Mark Post outlined his timeline for an affordable, completely animal-free system for growing meat in the lab.

Mark Post, Maastricht University

A professor of physiology, Mark used his expertise in tissue engineering – specifically, creating blood vessels for bypass grafts – to pioneer a technique for producing meat from cultured muscle cells. Since then, the price per burger has dropped from €250,000 to €10, suggesting that in vitro meat could soon provide a more ethical and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional meat production from animals. His startup spinoff from Maastrict University, Mosa Meat, is working to bring the first lab-grown beef burger to the European market within the next few years.