Creating a steak… the ultimate goal?
David Kilian joined MERLN in 2025 as an assistant professor, starting a new research line on cellular agriculture or 'cultivated meat'. This field uses tissue engineering techniques to produce traditional animal-derived products, offering a more sustainable protein source for future food. David Kilian: “Growing cow-derived cells into a steak is aiming extremely high. It's complex and very hard to reach. But this goal forces us to think about everything we need to get there: how can we move the knowledge and technology forward?”
New research line
David Kilian: “I first came into contact with cultivated meat research while working as a postdoc on biomaterials and biofabrication at Stanford University in 2023. In biomedical tissue engineering, many have noticed that the techniques and materials we develop can also help solve societal problems beyond clinical applications, such as food production. Now we are leveraging this expertise in tissue development, driven by the idea to create a more environmentally friendly and sustainable protein source for future food applications.”
“The motivation behind cultivated meat is to reduce the ecological footprint and carbon emissions, as well as the need for animal slaughter and industrial livestock farming. People are turning to current meat alternatives, which is great, but studies show that this shift alone is not enough to drastically reduce emissions. For those not ready to switch to plant-based diets or reduce their meat intake, cultivated meat offers an alternative with the same nutritional value and a familiar texture. Moreover, the field may also create products with added benefits, tailored to specific consumer or patient groups, such as people with deficiencies or allergies.”
To grow a steak
Kilian: "In the lab, we grow cow-derived muscle stem cells and expand them into millions or even billions of cells, aiming to create bigger structures: full whole-cut meat. We then bring these cells into contact with 3D scaffold materials – biomaterials with characteristics similar to natural tissue – together with specific compositions of the surrounding medium. The 3D structure helps the cells grow into muscle fibres and produce high levels of protein.”
“Growing large numbers of cells in the lab works well for burger patties or sausages, which don't need a complex 3D structure. What we aim to do now is apply tissue engineering principles to grow something like a steak: a piece of meat that looksmarbled and has a very specific structure, volume, and the right mouthfeel and taste, consisting of muscle and fat tissue.”
“Mouthfeel and taste are largely determined by fat – and that's where we face a challenge. It's really difficult to grow muscle and fat tissue together in the same environment, because they have very different requirements: different nutrients, growth factors, and scaffold materials, as well as different demands on the biomaterials used, such as stiffness or elasticity. At the stage we're in now, the structure doesn't have to be as large as a full steak yet. But balancing these differing needs and having cells grow into muscle fibres and differentiated fat cells in one combined construct – that is a major challenge.”
A great ecosystem
Kilian: "So far, we've learned a lot from the pioneers in the field, both globally and here in Maastricht, where Mosa Meat's Mark Post has been one of the early leaders. While the concept is pretty well developed, many fundamental challenges remain: the scalability of the technologies, the nutritional value of cultivated meat, and the maturation process from stem cells to fully mature, functional muscle or fat cells.”
“That's where MERLN comes in – embedded in the National Growth Fund-backed consortium for Cellular Agriculture (CAN) coordinated at TU Delft, with interdisciplinary academic and private partners. Our research is currently supported by CAN, a VENI grant from NWO, and a new consortium funded by NWO and CAN. In this new MeatUp project, we bring together academic partners at MERLN, Wageningen University and Zuyd Hogeschool, with private partners, to tackle the scalability of biomaterials technologies and their connection to bioreactor workflows for cultivated meat, while training and educating the next-generation workforce for this field.”
“Together with companies and academic partners, we have recently established the first scale-up facility, right behind the faculty, where we all have access to larger bioreactors to grow larger numbers of cells and bigger pieces of tissue. We rely strongly on communal efforts. For our network, communication with society is also really important. This includes outreach events with farmers, potential consumers, and people outside the field, to have open conversations about the why, the how, the benefits, and the concerns of what we're creating. For these kinds of projects it is crucial that all players come together. It requires an orchestrated effort to move forward.”
A steak… the ultimate goal?
Kilian: “Growing cow-derived cells into a steak is aiming extremely high. It's complex and very hard to reach. But setting it as a goal forces us to think about everything we need to get there: how can we move the knowledge and technology forward? Things happen step by step, so we won't have a fully new product this year or next. Our contribution is mainly on a more fundamental level: new technologies, platforms and knowledge. By solving the challenges along the way to creating 'the steak', the technologies and materials we develop can also contribute to biomedical applications of tissue engineering. After all, growing muscle and fat tissue in one construct is a problem we see in other tissue interfaces too, where two tissues grow in very close proximity. This is true for most of our organs, in skin layers, and in bone-cartilage junctions. That is why solving it will aid other directions as well – and these will be very valuable, regardless of whether the steak itself becomes a reality. It is more like an ambitious goal that encompasses all the elements we need to work on, whether we reach it or not.”
Text: Eline Dekker
Photo: Joey Roberts