Specifically, the researchers used mixtures of prolamins derived from corn, barley and rye flour, also known as zeins, hordeins and secalins, respectively. Nevertheless, Prof Huang and his team leveraged these characteristics of prolamins to come up with an affordable and sustainable resource for meat culture. In fact, prolamins are generated as waste in the starch and vegetable oil industries. Prolamins are a family of plant storage proteins that, due to their specific amino acid profile, have low nutritional value. The team's work, in line with NUS' thrust to produce cutting-edge sustainability research, was published in the journal Advanced Materials. "By using readily available cereal prolamins as biomaterials for high-precision 3D printing technology, we open up a new method for manufacturing edible and structured scaffolds to produce cultured muscle meat slices with fibrous qualities," said Prof Huang. Crucially, plant proteins also satisfy common requirements for food consumption, making the resulting scaffold fit for culturing meat. In search of an alternative, the team led by Professor Huang Dejian, Deputy Head of the NUS Department of Food Science and Technology, turned to plant proteins, which are known to be biodegradable and biocompatible with animal cells. However, cell culture scaffolds are typically made from synthetic or animal-based materials, which are either too expensive or inedible. Cultured meat is produced by taking skeletal muscle cells from animals and growing them on three-dimensional constructs called scaffolds, which provide structural support as the cells multiply and develop into tissues. As consumers become more conscious of the environmental and ethical ramifications of their food, lab-grown meat, also known as cultured meat or cell-based meat, is becoming an increasingly popular source of dietary protein.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |