An important part of CAN’s core program consists of the PhD and EngD projects launched at TU Delft, WUR, and UM. These cover a wide spectrum, ranging from the development of large-scale bioreactors to consumer and market research.
Twelve PhD and five EngD projects have been established, aiming for a good balance between technological, biological, and societal research. A balanced distribution among the participating universities has also been ensured. Work is currently underway on the following research projects:
Technology – Process design
- Using Computational Fluid Dynamics to optimize cell expansion bioreactor design for large-scale cultivated meat production (PhD Pieter Brorens – TU Delft)
- From Petri-Dish to Burger Menu: Platform process design for cell-cultivated meat and dairy products (PhD Ben Tumulero – TUDelft)
- Platform process design for cultivated meat products (EngD Frederic Michale – TUDelft)
- Platform process design for precision-fermented dairy proteins (EngD Effie Karampela – TU Delft)
- Efficient pilot-scale manufacturing of precision fermented dairy proteins (EngD project Martin Teran Velastegui, Marco Tilocca, Deborah Chikukwa – TU Delft)
- Efficient pilot-scale manufacturing of cultivated meat (EngD project Andrea Feliú Pérez, Mai Pham, Theodore Rizopoulos – TU Delft)
Also involved are:
- Ana Somoza-Tornos | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Chemical Engineering | Process Systems Engineering | Process Systems Engineering
- Cees Haringa | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Bioprocess Engineering | Industrial fermentation, computational fluid dynamics, downscaling, coarse-grained simulations
- Henk Noorman | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Bioprocess Engineering | Bioprocess Design
- Marcel Ottens | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Bioprocess Engineering | Bioprocess Engineering, Bioprocess Design
- Marieke Klijn | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Bioprocess Engineering | Data-Driven Bioprocess Development
- Martin Pabst | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Environmental Biotechnology | Microbial Proteomics
- Antoinette Kazbar | WUR | Agrotechnology and Food Sciences | Bioprocess Engineering | Downstream processing, microalga
- Rene Wijffels | WUR | Agrotechnology and Food Sciences | Bioprocess Engineering | Bioprocess Engineering
Biology – Cells and media
- Building a cell line engineering toolkit for cultivated meat (EngD Joana Pimenta – TU Delft)
- Selection and optimization of microorganisms/fungi that can efficiently produce animal proteins and other components under less stringent hygienic conditions (not strictly aseptic) for use in CA dairy products (PhD/EngD Willem Baris – WUR)
- Production of raw materials with a microbial cell factory for cellular agriculture (Jelle Hoek – TU Delft)
- Strategies for Medium Optimization in Precision Fermentation Alternative Dairy Proteins – A Techno-Economic Evaluation (EngD project Mia Keyser, Maria Kechagia, Gabriele Zuccaro, Gerardo Villanueva Maciel – TU Delft)
- Cost-effective raw materials for the production of cultured meat: a techno-economic assessment (EngD project Annu Mathew, Georgia Antiochou, Marit Brugmans, Rodrigo De Matos de Fernandes Manso – TU Delft)
Also involved are:
- Nynke van den Akker | Maastricht University | Cardiovascular Research Inst. Maastricht | Fysiology | Regenerative and reconstructive medicine vascular disease
- Jack Pronk | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Industrial Microbiology | Metabolic Engineering of yeasts and fungi
- Jean-Marc Daran | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Industrial Microbiology | Yeast fermentation process and metabolic engineering
- Josh Flack | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Bioprocess Engineering | Mammalian Cell Line Engineering for cultivated meat and biotechnology
- Marcel Vieira-Lara | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Industrial Microbiology | Metabolic processes of (industrially-relevant) organisms. Systems biology
- Dirk Martens | WUR | Agrotechnology and Food Sciences | Bioprocess Engineering | Cell culture, bioreactor, biotechnology, engineering
- João Marques Garcia | WUR | Agrotechnology and Food Sciences | Bioprocess Engineering | Cultivated meat and seafood
- Josué Heinrich | WUR | Agrotechnology and Food Sciences | Bioprocess Engineering | Bioprocess Engineering, Precision fermentation, bioreactors
- Mark Bisschops | WUR | Agrotechnology and Food Sciences | Bioprocess Engineering | Microbial biotechnology, bioprocess engineering, fermentation
Food Products
- Safe CellAg by Design (Researchers: Rick de Jongh, Aleksandra Pawlik, Hasmik Hayrapetyan, Mathijs Julsing, Jan Pieter van der Berg, Gijs Kleter, Gijs Spaans, Winnie Tao – WUR)
- Towards precision fermentation-based dairy products: a study on animal-free whey proteins to assemble future dairy structures (Stefan ten Voorde – WUR)
- Biofabrication strategies and biomaterials for 3D cell development (PhD/EngD Krithi Vishnu Balaji – UM)
- Recombinant Protein Production for Scalable and Versatile Scaffolds in Muscle Tissue Engineering for Cultivated Meat (PhD/EngD Sara Bianchi – MU)
Also involved are:
- David Kilian | Maastricht University | MERLN Institute | Biofabrication and Biomaterials in Cellular Agriculture | Biofabrication and Biomaterials for tissue engineered foodstuff
- Lorenzo Moroni | Maastricht University | MERLN Institute | Scientific director MERLN | Biofabrication for Regenerative medicine
- Matt Baker | Maastricht University | MERLN Institute | Instructive Biomaterials Eng | Synthesis and characterization of novel and dynamic materials
- Etske Bijl | WUR | Agrotechnology and Food Sciences | Food Quality and Design | Food science, milk & dairy
- Julia Keppler | WUR | Agrotechnology and Food Sciences | Food Process Engineering | Targeted functionalization of proteins during extraction or processing in foods
- Mark Sturme | WUR | Wageningen Food Safety Research | Team Agrochains | Molecular microbiology
- Masja Nierop Groot | WUR | Wageningen Food & Biobased Research | Food Technology | Applied food microbiology
Societal transition and impact
- Drivers and interventions to understand and support acceptance of cellular meat and dairy products (PhD/EngD Liam Dwyer – WUR)
- Designing for Sustainability Transformations: the case of CellAg (PhD/EngD Sarah Kunze – WUR)
- Inclusive design of sustainable value chains in Cellular Agriculture (Juan David Lopez-Taborda – TU Delft)
- Life Cycle Assessment of integral platform processes in Cellular Agriculture (EngD project Theodoros Rizopoulos – TU Delft)
Also involved are:
- John Posada Duque | TU Delft | Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Biotechnology&Society | Integral Sustainability for the Biobased Economy
- Lotte Asveld | TU Delft | Faculty of Technology Policy & Management / Faculty of Applied Science, Dept Biotechnology | Biotechnology&Society | Societal Aspects of Biotechnological Innovations – Responsible Research and Innovation for Biotechnology
- Arnout Fischer | WUR | Social Sciences | Marketing and Consumer Behaviour | Consumer behaviour in relation to new technologies and innovative products in food
- Bernice Bovenkerk | WUR | Social Sciences | Filosophy | (environmental) filosophy, animal ethics, animal wellfare, climate change
- Clemens Driessen | WUR | Environmental Sciences | Cultural Geography | (Bio)ethics, environmental philosophy, consumer/citizen responses, societal impacts and cultural dynamics, art and design
- Gemma Tacken | WUR | Wageningen Economic Research | Consumer Research | Market research
- Machiel Reinders | WUR | Wageningen Economic Research | Consumer Research | Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
- Marleen Onwezen | WUR | Wageningen Economic Research | Marketing and Consumer Behaviour | Social psychology
- Zoë Robaey | WUR | Social Sciences | Philosophy | Ethics of Technology