The bio-printing of leather and meat: Andras Forgacs at TEDxMarin 2013

Summary

The speaker discusses breakthroughs in 3D bioprinting and biofabrication, highlighting their applications beyond medicine, such as producing sustainable animal products like meat and leather. With global concerns about environmental sustainability and the inefficiencies of traditional livestock farming, the speaker argues for using tissue engineering to solve these problems. This technology can reduce environmental impact by growing meat and leather from cells rather than raising animals. Biofabrication offers a more humane, efficient, and scalable alternative to current practices, potentially revolutionizing industries and reducing our reliance on animals as resources.

Takeaways

• 🧬 Tissue engineering has advanced to the point of 3D bioprinting human tissues, such as kidneys, livers, and lungs, for medical use.
• 🐄 The dependence on animals for food and materials (meat, leather) is unsustainable due to resource constraints like land, water, and greenhouse gases.
• 🌱 Reducing global meat consumption is crucial, but behavioral change toward plant-based diets is challenging on a large scale.
• 💡 Innovative farming methods are improving sustainability, but traditional agriculture hasn’t changed drastically in the past 50 years.
• 🍔 Culturing animal products, like meat and leather, directly from cells is emerging as a viable alternative to raising and slaughtering animals.
• 🐖 A biopsy from a single animal can grow enough cultured meat to feed half the world’s population, highlighting the efficiency of this approach.
• 👗 Biofabrication could revolutionize the production of leather, making it more sustainable and allowing customization of thickness, durability, and texture.
• 🌍 Cultured animal products are 99% more efficient in land use and 96% more efficient in water use compared to traditional livestock farming.
• 🏭 Future facilities producing cultured meat and leather could resemble breweries, operating in urban centers and offering transparency to consumers.
• 📈 The first breakthroughs in biofabrication may be in leather, which is less complex to produce than meat and more readily accepted by consumers and regulators.

Q & A

What is 3D bioprinting, and what body parts has it been used to create?

3D bioprinting is the process of using 3D printing technology to create human tissues and organs. It has been used to create small human tissues like kidneys, livers, lungs, and blood vessels.

What prompted the shift from focusing solely on medical applications to exploring animal products like meat and leather?

Initially, the company was focused on solving medical problems. However, after receiving suggestions to apply the technology to animal products, the realization came that tissue engineering could solve environmental and ethical issues related to global dependence on animals for meat and leather.

Why is the current method of raising animals for meat considered unsustainable?

Raising animals for meat is unsustainable due to its high resource consumption. It requires large amounts of land and water, contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, and poses risks to public health through disease and the abuse of animals.

What are the potential solutions to reduce the environmental impact of animal farming?

Solutions include encouraging plant-based diets, improving farming techniques for efficiency, and developing alternatives like cultured meat and biofabricated leather that reduce environmental strain and animal suffering.

What is biofabrication, and how does it relate to tissue engineering?

Biofabrication is the process of making tissues and organs from cells. It builds on tissue engineering techniques and has been used in medicine to grow body parts like ears, windpipes, and blood vessels, and it can be adapted to create animal products like meat and leather.

What environmental benefits does cultured meat offer compared to traditional animal farming?

Cultured meat uses 99% less land, 96% less water, and produces 96% fewer greenhouse gases. It also consumes about half the energy of traditional animal farming, making it far more sustainable.

How is cultured meat produced, and what are some of its challenges?

Cultured meat is produced by taking a biopsy from an animal, isolating and multiplying the cells, and assembling them into muscle fibers. Challenges include perfecting the flavor, texture, and scalability of the product, as well as making it affordable.

Why is biofabricated leather considered an easier challenge than cultured meat?

Leather is simpler to biofabricate because it involves mainly skin cells, which are two-dimensional and less structurally complex than meat. Leather also has fewer regulatory and consumer acceptance issues compared to food.

What are the advantages of biofabricated leather over traditional leather?

Biofabricated leather can be made without harming animals, is free of imperfections like scars or insect bites, and can be grown to specific shapes and sizes. It also allows control over the material's properties, such as durability, elasticity, and waterproofness.

How might biofabrication change the future of manufacturing animal products?

Biofabrication could lead to a scalable, humane, and efficient process for producing meat and leather. It may evolve into a more transparent and urban-friendly industry, akin to a brewery, where consumers can observe and engage with the production process.