3.1 Defining scope and challenges
On day one of the meeting, the group started with a dialogue on the cultivated meat industry and its potential impact on the world, both positive and negative. This was followed by a small group activity where participants envisioned the ideal impact of the cultivated meat modeling consortium (CMMC) on the cultivated meat field by 2022. Participants identified various goals of the consortium, such as the development of open source tools for a highly collaborative cultivated meat modeling effort, financial support from public sector institutions such as the USDA and NSF, endorsement from respected public figures such as political leaders, and the early debut of cultivated meat products on the market.
In order to achieve these goals, the CMMC would have to address current technical (“science” and “process”), product quality (“product”) and commercial challenges in the cultivated meat industry. The group brainstormed the broad challenge types and identified those that could be most easily addressed by computer modeling. The “science” challenges identified as “low hanging fruit” for the consortium included data collection, understanding relevant metabolic pathways, and medium composition/optimization. “Process” challenges, or challenges in developing a manufacturing process for cultivated meat that were identified as relevant to the consortium include optimal cell density, the use of plant-based media for sustainable cell culture, and efficient channeling of cell differentiation. “Product” challenges most relevant to the consumer included nutritional value of the product and its sensory qualities such as texture, taste and flavor. The group also identified the issue of getting funded to develop a modeling framework for 2-3 years before a fully mature product is available to users.