New Harvest

New Harvest is a donor-funded research institute dedicated to the field of cellular agriculture, focusing on advances in scientific research efforts surrounding cultured animal products. Its research aims to resolve growing environmental and ethical concerns associated with industrial livestock production.

New Harvest
Formation2004
FounderJason Matheny
Legal status501c3
PurposeResearch Institute
Executive Director
Isha Datar
Scott Banister, Karien Bezuidenhout, Vince Sewalt, John Pattison, Andras Forgacs
Websitewww.new-harvest.org

The 501(c)(3) non-profit was established in 2004 and is the longest running cellular agriculture-based organization. Today, New Harvest funds university-based research to develop breakthroughs in cellular agriculture, such as new culture media formulations, bioreactors, and methods of tissue assembly for the production of cultured meat. It also organizes a yearly conference – the first conference of its kind – where it connects scientists, entrepreneurs, and other interested parties in the biosciences and food security fields.

History

In 2004, New Harvest was founded by Jason Matheny to fund academic research into the use of cell cultures, instead of live animals, to grow meat.[1] Matheny became interested in cultured meat after researching infectious diseases in India for a master's degree in public health. In the course of his research, he toured a poultry farm outside Delhi where he saw "tens of thousands of chickens in a metal warehouse, doped with drugs, living in their own manure and being bred for production traits that caused them to be immune-compromised."[2] He said the experience made him recognize the need for a new way to meet a global demand for meat that is "exponentially growing" in even a traditionally vegetarian country like India.

When Matheny returned to the States, he read about a NASA-funded project that "grew" goldfish meat to explore food possibilities for astronauts on long-range space missions.[3] He contacted all 60 of the cited authors and teamed up with three—a tissue engineer, cell biologist and animal scientist—to consider the viability of producing cultured meat on a large scale. In 2005, their research was published in the journal Tissue Engineering which generated considerable public and scientific interest in New Harvest.

When a new Executive Director, Isha Datar, was appointed in 2013, New Harvest's focus grew to include other animal commodities like milk and eggs, that could be produced by biotechnology rather than livestock. Since 2014, New Harvest has helped found two start-up companies - Perfect Day and Clara Foods - created new grant programs, and shifted from their animal rights roots to a more sustainability-based outlook.

Research

Fellowship Program

New Harvest's Fellowship Program funds graduate and postdoctoral Fellows participating in cellular agriculture research. Since its establishment in 2015, New Harvest Fellows spanning six countries have been responsible for most of the organization's research output.[4] Projects have ranged from development of serum-free growth medium to bioreactor design to establishment of new cell lines. A number of New Harvest Fellows have been involved in the establishment of new cellular agriculture startups.[5][6]

Seed Grant Program

Seed Grants are awarded by New Harvest to short-term cellular agriculture projects. Grantees are typically at the undergraduate level, with projects lasting three to six months.[4]

Dissertation Award

Dissertation Awards are given by New Harvest to graduate students in their final year of study.[7] New Harvest's first Dissertation Award was given to Mike McLellan in early 2020.[8]

Conference

The annual New Harvest Conference is the first and oldest cellular agriculture conference. It was first held in 2016 with the intention of bringing together the top innovators in cellular agriculture.[9] Originally called Experience Cellular Agriculture and attended by primarily company founders, its audience has grown to include researchers, students, and investors as well.[10] Conference speakers are largely drawn from the New Harvest Fellows, startup founders, and investment firms looking to branch into cellular agriculture, speaking on research advancements, industry challenges, and the progression of cellular agriculture.[11] The New Harvest 2020 Conference was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]

Associated Companies

Perfect Day

Isha Datar, Perumal Gandhi and Ryan Pandya (two New Harvest volunteers) founded Muufri in 2014 to produce an animal-free cow's milk via biotechnology.[13] The start-up got seed funding from a synthetic biology accelerator program in Cork, Ireland. They tried to modify yeast to synthesize casein and whey, the two key proteins in milk.[14] Six months into research, Muufri received a $2M investment from Li-Ka-Shing's VC – Horizons Ventures.[15] Muufri has since re-branded to Perfect Day and has raised $61.5 million in VC funding since 2014.[16][17]

Clara Foods

Isha Datar, David Anchel, and Arturo Elizondo founded Clara Foods in February 2015 to develop a chickenless egg white.[18] The company participated in the Indie.Bio accelerator program in San Francisco, California.[19] Clara Foods is working to produce an egg white that is cholesterol-free and salmonella-free, while using lower land and water inputs and available at a reduced cost.[20]

See also

References
  1. "Research Needs -". www.new-harvest.org. Archived from the original on 2015-06-08. Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  2. "Advertising feature: Biotechnology". Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  3. "Fish fillets grow in tank". Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  4. "Opportunities". New Harvest. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  5. "Past Research Projects". New Harvest. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  6. "Current Research Projects". New Harvest. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  7. "Dissertation Award". New Harvest. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  8. "New Harvest Grants First Dissertation Award". Protein Report. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  9. "New Harvest 2016: Experience Cellular Agriculture". North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  10. "New Harvest 2016: Experience Cellular Agriculture". North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  11. Osborn, Annie. "Hot New Biotech in a Toasty Old Town: New Harvest 2019 Conference in Cambridge, MA". The Good Food Institute. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  12. "New Harvest 2020 Cancelled". New Harvest 2020 Cancelled. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  13. "Milk Grown in a Lab Is Humane and Sustainable. But Can It Catch On?". Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  14. "Test tube milk the latest to hit the engineered food scene". www.gizmag.com. Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  15. Nguyen, Tuan C. (2014-07-21). "Animal lovers use biotech to develp [sic] milk made by man instead of a cow". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  16. "Perfect Day for Cork as start-up raises $25m to develop cow-free milk". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  17. "Funding Rounds". Crunchbase. Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
  18. "New Company Sets Out to Make Egg Whites Without the Chickens!". Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  19. "Egg Whites, Rhino Horns, And Stem Cells: IndieBio's Plan To Bioengineer A Better World". Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  20. "Welcome". Clara Foods. Retrieved 2015-06-03.
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