Hebrew University develops low-cost cellulose scaffold that cuts cultivated meat growth factor use by 90%

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a cellulose-based scaffold that reduced growth factor requirements for cultivated meat production by up to 90% while supporting the development of steak-like tissue structures.

• Researchers developed a plant-derived cellulose scaffold that reduced growth factor usage by up to tenfold compared with conventional cultivation methods.
• Bovine stem cells grown on the scaffold adhered, aligned, survived long-term, and differentiated into muscle-like tissue structures.
• Cooked cultivated meat constructs demonstrated browning, texture, and mechanical properties partially similar to conventional beef sirloin.

The peer-reviewed study, conducted by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, addressed one of the most significant economic barriers facing the cultivated meat sector: the cost of growth factors.

Growth factors are proteins that stimulate animal cell growth and differentiation during cultivation and can account for more than 95% of media costs in cultivated meat production. Reducing their use has become a major focus for companies and researchers seeking to make cultivated meat commercially viable.

The research team, led by co-authors Alon Gershkoviz, Joseph Kippen, and Yael Gilad, and co-mentored by Professor Oded Shoseyov and Dr Sharon Schlesinger, developed a method that attached growth factors directly to a food-safe cellulose scaffold rather than continuously adding them to cell culture media.

According to the researchers, this approach enabled bovine stem cells to receive the biological signals needed for growth and differentiation while dramatically reducing the total quantity of growth factors required.

The scaffold itself was produced using directional freezing techniques applied to combinations of nano- and microcrystalline cellulose derivatives. This process created aligned, tunnel-like structures designed to mimic the extracellular matrix found in animal muscle tissue.

When bovine mesenchymal stem cells were seeded onto the scaffold, the researchers reported strong cell attachment, long-term viability, and alignment along the cellulose fibers.

Beyond serving as a physical support structure, the scaffold appeared to actively influence cell development. Over several weeks of cultivation, the cells differentiated toward muscle tissue and accumulated muscle-associated proteins, including titin, as well as cytoplasmic lipids.

The researchers reported that this biological development altered the physical characteristics of the constructs, increasing their stiffness and compressive strength to levels approaching those of conventional raw sirloin.

The work highlights growing interest across the cultivated meat industry in scaffold technologies that can support the production of structured products such as steaks, rather than relying solely on unstructured biomass suitable for ground meat applications.

Producing whole-cut cultivated meat products has remained one of the industry's most technically challenging goals because cells must be organized into three-dimensional structures that replicate the texture and architecture of conventional meat.

According to the study, the anisotropic, or directionally aligned, structure of the cellulose scaffold played a key role in encouraging cells to organize in a manner similar to natural muscle tissue.

The team also evaluated how the cultivated tissue responded to cooking.

During pan-frying tests, the cell-laden constructs maintained their structural integrity and underwent browning reactions associated with the Maillard effect, a key contributor to the flavor and appearance of cooked meat.

Mechanical testing conducted after cooking indicated that the fried cultivated meat constructs exhibited fibrous textures and compression resistance that were partially similar to conventional fried beef.

Dr Schlesinger said the findings demonstrated a potential route to improving the economics of cultivated meat production.

"Our findings demonstrate that we can radically change the economics of cellular agriculture without sacrificing tissue quality," she said.

"By pinning the growth factors directly to the scaffold, the cells get immediate access to the signals they need to thrive. This allows us to cut resource waste by an order of magnitude and brings us a substantial step closer to a scalable, commercially viable alternative to industrial meat production."

Professor Shoseyov said the use of cellulose offered both structural and sustainability advantages. "Utilizing plant-derived materials like cellulose allows us to build a highly structured, sustainable framework that naturally guides stem cells into replicating real meat architectures," he said. "Seeing the final product respond to frying with the same browning and structural density as a traditional steak confirms that this bio-engineering approach can deliver the authentic sensory experience consumers expect."

Cellulose has attracted growing interest as a scaffold material for cultivated meat because it is abundant, inexpensive, food-safe, and can be sourced from agricultural feedstocks. Unlike some alternative scaffold materials, cellulose-based structures can potentially be produced at scale using established manufacturing techniques.

The researchers noted that combining low-cost plant-derived materials with targeted delivery of growth factors could help address two major challenges simultaneously: reducing production costs and enabling the development of structured meat products.

While the study represented a proof of concept rather than a commercial-scale demonstration, the researchers suggested the findings could provide a foundation for future scale-up efforts.

Future work will focus on adapting the process to fully serum-free cultivation systems and evaluating production at larger scales more relevant to commercial manufacturing.

The study also demonstrated how scaffold engineering can contribute to cultivated meat development beyond simply providing physical support for cells. By acting as a delivery platform for biological signals, scaffolds may offer additional opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce media costs.

As cultivated meat companies continue to search for ways to lower production expenses and achieve economic competitiveness, approaches that reduce reliance on costly growth factors remain a key area of research.

The Hebrew University team said its findings showed that carefully engineered cellulose scaffolds could help bridge the gap between laboratory-scale demonstrations and more commercially viable cultivated meat production systems.