Decoding cultured meat production: The transcriptomic landscape of bovine satellite cells in proliferation and differentiation

Cultured Meat is a novel food technology that promises to resolve environmental and ethical issues associated with meat production. Instead of growing an entire animal, the meat is produced by isolating muscle stem cells and multiplying them in bioreactors. In a final step, the stem cells are differentiated towards muscle tissue using a specific cell feed. However, current technologies are difficult to scale due to biological and economical limitations This thesis addresses two of the major technical issues: (1) the reliance of the stem cells on animal-derived components in the cell feed, and (2) the loss of stemness, which is a complex process that results in aged cells incapable of forming muscle. By using bioinformatic analysis, this work characterizes the gene expression of cells during all steps of cultured meat production, and uses this information to develop animal component-free and improved conditions for the cells.