The Fascinating World of Lab-Grown Oysters, Collagen and Gelatin - Pearlita Foods CEO Nikita and Jellatech CEO Stephanie Michelsen

This episode features exciting developments in the world of cultured pork loin. Nieves Martínez Marshall, Ph.D., co-founded Novel Farms in 2020 along with Michelle Lu. As the company's CEO, Nieves leads the early-stage food tech company dedicated to producing whole cuts of gourmet cell-based meat products using scalable and tunable scaffolds. They are the world's first company to recreate pork loin in the lab, and their flagship product is Iberian pork created by using a 'novel' (pun intended) tastebud-led process. Iberian, or 'Iberico,' pork is often described as the "Wagyu" of pork and comes from an extraordinary Black Iberian pig species native to Spain and Portugal. The resulting meat is oleic acid-rich and exceptionally marbled.

Episode highlights include: 

• The company came out of stealth mode in late 2022 to announce that it had developed the world's first cultivated marbled pork loin
• Why the company aims to bring culinary delicacies into the future of food by crafting cultivated meats that will be hard to resist, such as Iberian pork, which is one of the most sought-after and exquisite meats in the world
• How the company has cracked the code to achieve similar marbling and texture as a cut of animal meat with its pork loin

Also discussed in this episode - FDA's approval of Upside Foods' proposal to make human food from cultured animal cells: https://www.fda.gov/food/cfsan-constituent-updates/fda-completes-first-pre-market-consultation-human-food-made-using-animal-cell-culture-technology 

Novel Farms' website: https://novelfarms.co/ 

We're back after a summer break with our first ever "Sibling Special!" This episode features interviews with two incredible changemaker CEOs… who happen to be sisters: Nikita Michelson of Pearlita Foods, the world’s first cell-cultured mollusk company, and her sister Stephanie Michelson, a Forbes 30 under 30 winner, who heads up Jellatech, the world's first cell-based collagen and gelatin ingredient company.

Episode highlights include: 

• The wide range of foods and products that contain animal-derived collagen and gelatin and why major companies are interested in alternatives. 
• Why cell-cultured, or lab-grown collagen and gelatin is a cleaner, more ethical, sustainable and safer alternative to the current animal-based versions. 
• The story behind the world's first cultivated oyster: how it's made, how it'll be sold and when we might be able to taste it. 
• The benefits of cultivated oysters vs. wild or farmed, in terms of health and the environment. Plus, some surprising and interesting facts about oysters you probably didn’t know! 

Pearlita's website: https://www.pearlitafoods.com/ 

Jellatech's website: https://www.jellatech.com/ 

Article mentioned by Nikita on the impacts of oyster farming: https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/ecological-consequences-of-oysters-culture-2332-2608-1000198.php?aid=83576 

This episode features impact investor and entrepreneur Claire Smith. Claire is a well-known figure in the conscious capitalism space, who created the humane investment platform Beyond Investing. In 2019, Claire and her team launched what the media has dubbed the world’s first vegan-themed ETF (VEGN). An ETF is an investment product that consists of a bundle of securities that you can buy or sell on a stock exchange just like stocks and Claire's screens out all animal exploitation and fossil fuel from a US market benchmark. It's currently listed as a tracker fund on the NYSE. Claire is also Chief Investment Officer at Beyond Impact, which undertakes VC investment in vegan, plant-based, and cruelty-free businesses. 

Episode highlights include: 

• What is an ETF? How does it work? Can "regular people" invest in one? 
• How Claire and her team came up with the idea to start the world's first vegan ETF. The unique data-driven process by which they evaluate companies in the ETF to ensure they are ethical, sustainable, and cruelty-free. 
• How exactly to get started if you want to put money into an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) or vegan-themed fund such as Claire's. 
• Why Claire invests in diverse founding teams through her venture capital firm and how she identifies successful startups.

Beyond Investing's website: https://beyondinvesting.com/

For our final episode of the year, we're sharing a roundup of top 10 animal-free food news from 2021! Sharanya and Ulara dive into some of the biggest breakthroughs and exciting updates from the cutting-edge food technology companies they’ve featured on the podcast so far.  Note: May drool while listening. Don't say we didn't warn you! 

Some episode highlights include: 

• Super protein made from fungi harvested from Yellowstone National Park now available!
• Lab-grown mouse meat cat treats are (finally) ready for sale!
• 3-D meat is getting rave reviews from top global chefs, to be served in high-end restaurants soon.
• ...and so much more, including major updates on cultured seafood, plant-based chicken and fish, bee-free honey...

Can tiny, lab-made replicas of the human brain FINALLY lead us to cure devastating illnesses such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and brain cancer? NETRI is a fast-rising French biotech startup that believes they absolutely can... while also eliminating costly, often inaccurate animal experiments along the way. Founded in 2018, NETRI has already grown to 30 staff globally, boasting a handful of organ-on-a-chip technology patents, including their flagship technology: brain-on-a-chip. Excitingly, NETRI works hand in hand with major clients and partners across the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and medical industries to advance these giant industries towards a better future of health for us all. So we are thrilled to share this episode featuring Thibault Honeggar, CEO and Co-Founder of NETRI, to give us the scoop on their trailblazing work. In this fascinating and engaging interview, you'll learn all you need to know about brain-on-a-chip: the tiny technology that will have a huge impact on the future of brain health.

NETRI website: https://netri.fr/about/ 

German biotechnology pioneer TissUse is making mini human bodies in the lab. Sounds creepy? It's not. Here's why: TissUse has developed a unique, patent-protected "human-on-a-chip" platform. Since 2012, this revolutionary technology has been replacing animal testing for pharmaceutical drug development, cosmetics, consumer products, chemicals, and food safety. TissUse's "human-on-a-chip" consists of miniaturized tissues and organs that can be connected together to mimic the whole human body. Unlike other single "organ-on-a-chip" platforms, TissUse's multi-organ chips help provide a more accurate picture of a human body's reaction to foods, medicines, chemicals, and even diseases. In this episode, TissUse's CEO Dr. Reyk Horland takes us on a journey from the inception of the idea of the technology to a look into a future without animal testing.

TissUse website: https://www.tissuse.com/en/

TARA Biosystems has raised $21.3 million to date and is the world’s only company that generates human cardiac tissue—outside of the human body. Instead of testing on animals, researchers will be able to test drugs right on actual human tissue and the industry will be able to save time, money and unnecessary animal suffering throughout the drug development process.

In this episode, we feature an eye-opening interview with TARA Biosystems’ CEO Misti Ushio, to learn more about how their breakthrough technology came to be, how it works, the enormous potential it holds, as well as some of the challenges that still need to be overcome for it and other similar technologies to be used widely in the “real world.” In the episode intro, Sharanya and Ulara share some key stats and figures from the animal testing alternatives landscape, and discuss some of the surprisingly major players already involved in the emerging space, including government leaders and regulatory agencies. 

TARA Biosystems’ website: https://tarabiosystems.com/ 

The article we refer to in the episode is “The next phase of drug creation: Why animal models are on the brink of extinction” via Pharma Manufacturing: https://www.pharmamanufacturing.com/articles/2021/the-next-phase-of-drug-creation/ 

In this episode, we revisit our Season 1 conversation with Dr. Sandhya Sriram, CEO and Co-Founder of cultured seafood maker Shiok Meats. In December 2020, Singapore became the first country to approve cultured cell-based meat for human consumption. So for this replay, we’ve included a special segment to discuss how diners are reacting to trying cultured meat (chicken) in the real world, for the first time! We then go back to our original episode in which we talk with Dr. Sriram about how her fast-rising startup initially raised $4.6 million in funding AND created an MVP (minimum viable product)… in under a year. Now, that funding has hit over $20 million, and Shiok Meats is poised to become the first cultured cell-based crustacean meat company to have their products widely available in the market by 2022. Dr. Sandhya Sriram takes us into the fascinating world of lab-grown shrimp, crab and lobster, and also shares some valuable tips and insights for rising entrepreneurs in the space. 

Shiok Meats website: https://shiokmeats.com/

Music interlude created by Lee Rosevere.

California-based startup MeliBio is creating real honey that replicates AND actually improves upon bee-made honey—without ever exploiting or harming bees. In this eye-opening episode, CEO Darko Mandich tells us how MeliBio is creating vegan, bee-less honey that is based on the molecular composition of commercially available honey. MeliBio also plans to take their honey a step further and customize it to be better than the bee-made version.

Darko also shares with us why it's so important we work to stop the destruction of our planet's bee population by creating alternatives that consumers can turn to. Honey is one of the most powerful super-ingredients ever to exist in nature, but commercial production is damaging to bees and their ecosystems. If Earth's 20,000 wild and native bee species died, the surface of our lush planet would quickly turn barren and look more like Mars. 

MeliBio's website: https://www.melibio.com/

Let's face it. Zoos and aquariums suck for animals. In this episode, we hear from two companies that are creating encounters with wildlife without ever harming or disturbing animals. Some of their top projects include life-size realistic animatronic dolphins who can communicate with us and 3D cameras that enable us to see the world through the eyes of an elephant on the African savannah. In this episode, Roger Holzberg of Edge Innovations and Adrien Moisson of Wild Immersion tell us how their companies are using cutting-edge technologies to reinvent and reshape the wildlife display and marine park industry worldwide. This is the After Animals podcast's first-ever double feature! 

Edge Innovations' website: https://www.edgefx.com/real-time-animatronics 

Wild Immersion's website: https://en.wildimmersion.io/