2026/04/12 by James Dolgin, Avani Vaid, Dylan Hendrixson +5 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Energy · #Algal biology and biofuel production #Cancer Research and Treatments #Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects
paper · doi:10.64898/2026.04.09.717582
openalex publication_date 2026/04/12 · openalex created_date 2026/04/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
Abstract Reducing the cost and environmental impact of cell culture media is an important goal for cultivated meat, the process of generating meat in vitro using proliferating animal cells. While prior approaches have demonstrated the use of microbial lysates to replace expensive animal-based fetal bovine serum (FBS) in media, these formulations still rely on large quantities of growth factors such as fibroblast-like growth factor 2 (FGF2). Here, we demonstrate the use of FGF2-expressing Vibrio natriegens to create whole-cell lysates that replace both FBS and FGF2 in cell culture media for cultivated meat applications. This medium, named “VN40 FGF” , supports rapid proliferation of immortalized bovine muscle satellite cells (iBSCs) in the absence of supplemented FGF2. Cells grown in VN40 FGF maintain phenotype and differentiation capacity. We also demonstrate that engineered V. natriegens can grow in spent cell culture media, further improving sustainability and economics, and reducing potential eutrophication concerns associated with waste disposal. Our approach combines multiple strategies for reducing the total number of media inputs, demonstrating opportunities for more economical and sustainable cell culture, especially for cultivated meats.