Dr. Andrew Stout: Nature and Nurture—Cell Lines and Media

Why It Matters

Integrating cell‑line engineering with affordable, food‑grade media is essential for scaling cultivated meat, directly affecting its economic viability and ability to meet global protein demand.

Key Takeaways

• Cell lines and media are inseparable in cultivated meat production.
• Early 1900s Lewis media pioneered food‑grade, optically clear culture.
• Fibroblasts dominate cultures but can be engineered into muscle or fat.
• Two strategies: wrangle existing cells or domesticate new lines for traits.
• Affordable, animal‑free, scalable media remains critical for commercial viability.

Summary

The seminar, led by Dr. Andrew Stout of the Good Food Institute, examined the intertwined evolution of cell lines and culture media for cultivated meat. He traced the lineage back to Warren and Margaret Lewis, whose early‑1900s work on an optically clear, food‑grade medium laid the groundwork for today’s cell‑based protein systems. Stout highlighted how media composition directly reshapes cellular phenotype, noting that fibroblasts—originally observed by the Lewises—tend to outgrow muscle progenitors but can be coaxed into fat or muscle cells through simple protocols or MyoD overexpression. He contrasted two development pathways: “wrangling” existing, fast‑growing cells like fibroblasts, and “domesticating” muscle or adipose cells to endow them with desirable traits. Concrete examples included Believer Meats’ use of chicken fibroblasts to achieve stable, single‑cell suspensions without extensive genetic manipulation, and recent genetic engineering that converts fibroblasts into functional muscle fibers. Stout also referenced historical observations of media‑induced size and nuclear changes, underscoring that media‑cell interactions have long been a driver of phenotype. The talk concluded that scalable, animal‑free, low‑cost media paired with purpose‑built cell lines are the twin pillars needed to transition cultivated meat from niche labs to mass‑market products, influencing cost structures, regulatory pathways, and consumer acceptance.

Original Description

Seminar Series: The Science of Alt. Protein

Nature and nurture—Cell lines and media

Dr. Andrew Stout

Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture

May 28, 2026

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While cell lines and media are frequently discussed as separate and distinct development areas for cultivated meat, real world experience reveals that these two inputs are inextricably tied, and that a focus on one without consideration of the other is unlikely to create optimal systems. In other words, maximally efficient cell culture systems depend on both the "nature" of the cells and the "nurture" of their media environment.

In this seminar, Andrew Stout, PhD, Assistant Professor at Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture and GFI grantee, discusses opportunities for convergent development of both cell lines and media for cultivated meat, as well as possible pitfalls that come from mismatches between the two.

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Meet the speaker:

Andrew Stout is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA), where his research group focuses on cell line and media development for cultivated meat applications. Prior to joining the Tufts faculty in 2025, Andrew served as Co-Founder and CSO of Deco Labs, Inc., a company working to commercialize low-cost media ingredients for cell culture. He obtained his Ph.D. from Tufts University in 2022 through a New Harvest Fellowship, before which he obtained a B.S. in Materials Science from Rice University and performed cultivated meat and precision fermentation research at Maastricht University and Geltor, Inc.

Moderator:

Bianca Datta, Ph.D., Senior Scientific Partnerships Manager, The Good Food Institute

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About The Good Food Institute:

The Good Food Institute is a nonprofit think tank and international network of organizations working to accelerate alternative protein innovation to build a more sustainable, secure, and just food system.

Learn more at https://gfi.org/​

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