Thursday, August 18, 2022

Bruin biophysicist’s research pushes forward development of cultured meat

CNSI member Amy Rowat advances technology toward tasty new alternative protein offerings

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CALIFORNIA NANOSYSTEMS INSTITUTE

Mini burger 

IMAGE: IN DEVELOPMENT—A CULTURED MEAT “MINI-BURGER” view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE COURTESY: JEANNIE BARBER-CHOI/UCLA

After earning her undergraduate degree, Amy Rowat found herself at a fork in the road. Should she follow her love of science to graduate school for physics, or her passion for cooking to culinary school?

At the time, academia won out. But over the long term, she’s answered the “science or food” question her own way: Why not both?

Now an associate professor of integrative biology and physiology and the holder of UCLA’s Marcie H. Rothman Presidential Chair in Food Studies, Rowat has spiced up both her pedagogy and her research with her gastronomic interests. She is founding director of Science and Food, a campus-based organization that promotes knowledge of science through food and food through science. And in recent years, her research in mechanical biology — exploring how physical forces affect cells — has included studies into cultured meat that may help to eventually add labmade steaks to the grocer’s shelves.

She views that scientific endeavor, aided by the tailwind of private philanthropy, federal research grants and her membership in the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, as an aspect of a broader research mission.

“Very broadly, our work is driven by the desire to advance both human and planetary health,” Rowat said. “When I realized there was a gap in the field of alternative proteins, my skillset and the expertise of my lab in biophysics, engineering, cell biology and mechanical biology seemed like a strong fit.”

She points to one of many deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions to the supply chain sometimes rendering household staples hard to find, as an example of why expanding the menu of protein-rich foods would benefit society.

“Having other methods to produce animal protein can help increase the resilience of our food system,” she said.

Although there are a number of problems to be solved along the way, cultured meat has the potential to cause less greenhouse gas emission, reduce antibiotic use and occupy less land pound-for-pound than traditional meat from livestock.

“I see cultured meat as a complement to other solutions, such as regenerative agriculture,” Rowat said. “An important aspect is simply to have these alternative protein sources out there.”

Cultured chicken nuggets are already obtainable in Singapore. With similar products working their way through U.S. regulatory processes, Rowat predicts that cultured meat may be available for sale stateside in the next year and a half. Of course, it remains to be seen whether it will find widespread adoption, as plant-based meat alternatives have, or occupy a niche such as feeding people living in extreme environments.

The ability to grow cells in labs is nothing new. However, the cost and the challenges involved with production for consumption at consumer scale have been substantial obstacles. In her research, Rowat is looking for methods that add efficiency to the processes behind cultured meat.

A study she led appearing in the August 2022 edition of the journal Biomaterials signals a step forward for the effort.

Rowat and her colleagues take on a fundamental limitation, that animal cells require some sort of scaffold to grow on if they’re going to develop and function properly. But the petri dish won’t do the trick at industrial scale. Rather, the instrument for the job is a large vat called a bioreactor. To date, cultured meat has been grown on tiny beads, called microcarriers, made of inedible polymers. They must later be separated from the cells, increasing cost and cutting into efficiency.

In the paper, the UCLA team presents a process for making edible microcarriers from gelatin and a food-grade enzyme. Because muscle stem cells have been shown to grow more readily on grooved surfaces — similar to the texture of skeletal muscle — the researchers also describe a technique for patterning their microcarriers. In a proof-of-concept experiment, they cultured cow muscle cells, harvested them into a patty and cooked it with olive oil until browned.

Two resources connected to the CNSI played important roles in the study.

The team made their grooved microcarriers at the UCLA NanoLab, a cleanroom facility for the fabrication of devices that reach down into the scale of billionths of a meter. To measure the mechanical properties of the microcarriers, and confirm the 3D shapes of the grooved ones, the scientists used instruments at the Nano and Pico Characterization Laboratory, a CNSI Technology Center.

The study also benefited from private support, through the Good Food Institute as well as the Noble Family Innovation Fund, a CNSI resource that backs research with potential to launch knowledge-driven commercial enterprises and benefit society.

That philanthropic assistance has borne fruit in more ways than one. Seed funding led to progress that helped attract major grants from the National Science Foundation and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. And the Noble Fund award is backing experiments at another CNSI Technology Center, the Molecular Screening Shared Resource, which allows scientists to quickly test large libraries of molecules.

Rowat has previously worked with the MSSR on investigations toward fighting cancer; for her cultured meat investigations, the facility will enable her to screen a collection of food ingredients for the ability to aid in growing fat cells. This is the key to another ambition of Rowat’s: to create the capacity for a sumptuous cut of cultured steak shot through with flecks of fat.

“The holy grail in this work is to develop a piece of meat that is more spatially patterned, like a filet mignon, and marbled with fat,” she said. “Fat is really important for mouthfeel, for texture, for flavor and for nutrition.

“That’s the next frontier we’re working on now, and we’re grateful for the Noble Family Innovation Fund support. We’re excited for the next level of findings, which we think will make cultured meat more delicious and healthful.”

After climate-linked disasters, some US animal shelters experience a spike in dog and cat numbers for up to a year

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Burned trees in Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S.A. 

IMAGE: BURNED TREES IN FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA, U.S.A. view more 

CREDIT: HEIDI E. BROWN, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

After climate-linked disasters, some US animal shelters experience a spike in dog and cat numbers for up to a year

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Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000066

Article Title: Disaster event effects on cat and dog populations within United States animal care facility services: A cross sectional study

Author Countries: U.S.A.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

“Nutri-Score” label may counter misleading sugar claims on groceries

Consumer survey supports the use of Nutri-Score labeling to help boost public health

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Product examples with the three sweet claim variations and the Nutri-Score. 

IMAGE: PRODUCT EXAMPLES WITH THE THREE SWEET CLAIM VARIATIONS AND THE NUTRI-SCORE. view more 

CREDIT: JÃœRKENBECK ET AL., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

A new analysis suggests that the Nutri-Score—a label indicating the overall nutritional quality of a food product—can counteract the misleading effects of sugar claims. Kristin Jürkenbeck and colleagues of the University of Göttingent, Germany, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on August 17, 2022.

High consumption of sugar has been linked to an increased risk of becoming overweight and other health issues. Some companies therefore label products with claims about sugar content, such as “without added sugar” or “less sweet.” However, consumers may interpret such claims to mean that a food product is healthier than it really is.

Another type of label, the Nutri-Score, is increasingly being used in European countries to inform consumers of the overall nutritional quality of food products. Previous research shows that the Nutri-Score can indeed guide consumers to make healthier food purchases.

Now, Jürkenbeck and colleagues have examined how the Nutri-Score might interact with sugar-content labels. In October 2020, they conducted an online survey of 1,103 German participants. The survey asked participants for their perceptions after being presented with images of the packaging of three hypothetical products—instant cappuccino, chocolate muesli, and an oat drink—with different combinations of sugar claims and Nutri-Score labels.

Statistical analysis of the survey results suggests that, when a Nutri-Score was not present, claims about reduced sugar did indeed mislead participants into believing that hypothetical products were healthier than they actually were. However, the presence of a Nutri-Score counteracted those effects, reducing misconceptions about the healthiness of less nutritional foods.

On the basis of these findings, the researchers call for restricted use of sugar content claims and similar labels, and mandatory use of the Nutri-Score by companies that do make such claims. They also call for future research to evaluate the effects of the Nutri-Score for additional food categories and in the context of other advertising claims that could mislead consumers about food healthiness.

The authors add: “Nutrition or taste claims about sugar on the front of packages can improve the health perception of foods with poor health images.”

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONEhttps://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272220

Citation: Jürkenbeck K, Mehlhose C, Zühlsdorf A (2022) The influence of the Nutri-Score on the perceived healthiness of foods labelled with a nutrition claim of sugar. PLoS ONE 17(8): e0272220. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272220

Author Countries: Germany

Funding: This research was funded by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv). For publication we acknowledge support by the German Research Foundation and the Open Access Publication Funds of the University of Goettingen. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

To grow food on Mars, researchers find that alfalfa plants can fertilize the natural soil and marine cyanobacteria can desalinate the high salt water

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Growth of radish plants. 

IMAGE: GROWTH OF RADISH PLANTS IN ALFALFA TREATED BASALTIC REGOLITH SIMULANT SOIL USING FRESH WATER (LEFT), UNFILTERED (MIDDLE) OR FILTERED (RIGHT) BIODESALINATED WATER. view more 

CREDIT: KASIVISWANATHAN ET AL., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

To grow food on Mars, researchers find that alfalfa plants can fertilize the natural soil and marine cyanobacteria can desalinate the high salt water

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Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272209

Article Title: Farming on Mars: Treatment of basaltic regolith soil and briny water simulants sustains plant growth

Author Countries: U.S.A.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.
 

Isolation may affect horses' health too: Housing them alone appears to stress and hamper their immune system

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Two horses in Germany. 

IMAGE: TWO HORSES IN GERMANY. view more 

CREDIT: IBRAHIM RIFATH, UNSPLASH, CC0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/PUBLICDOMAIN/ZERO/1.0/)

Isolation may affect horses' health too: housing them alone appears to stress and hamper their immune system

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Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272445

Article Title: Single housing but not changes in group composition causes stress-related immunomodulations in horses

Author Countries: Germany

Funding: The study was funded by the Ministry of Food, Rural Affairs and Consumer Protection of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Study fails to show that dogs or wolves can form reputations of humans

The animals didn’t learn to approach a “generous” human over a “selfish human” for food after direct or indirect interactions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Pack-living dogs with animal trainer at the Wolf Science Center 

IMAGE: PACK-LIVING DOGS WITH ANIMAL TRAINER AT THE WOLF SCIENCE CENTER view more 

CREDIT: ROOOBERT BAYER AT WOLFSCIENCECENTER, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

A small study did not find evidence that wolves or dogs could form reputations of humans as “generous” or “selfish” with food, after direct or indirect interactions. Hoi-Lam Jim and colleagues at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria, present the findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on August 17, 2022.

Among animals that live in groups, forming reputations of individuals can play an important role in cooperation. Because dogs can cooperate with humans, some researchers have hypothesized that dogs can form reputations of individual humans by observing humans’ interactions with a third party. However, research on the topic has produced mixed findings. Additionally, if dogs indeed have this ability, it is unclear whether it evolved during domestication or was already present in their wolf ancestors.

To help clarify, Jim and colleagues conducted a study with nine wolves and six dogs at the Wolf Science Center in Austria. Each test animal observed interactions between two humans and a dog, in which the “generous” human fed the dog and the “selfish” human withheld food. Afterwards, the test animal demonstrated whether they had formed reputations of the humans by choosing which of the two humans to approach. A second phase tested whether each animal formed reputations after interacting directly with humans who either fed them or withheld food.

Statistical analysis of the results suggested that neither the dogs nor the wolves formed reputations of the humans after either indirect observation or direct interaction. Thus, the findings do not support the idea that dogs and wolves are able to form reputations.

However, the wolves did pay more attention to the generous human when observing interactions with a dog. Furthermore, two wolves and three dogs did show preference for the generous human after the combined experience of both indirect observation and direct interaction.

The researchers call for further research on the topic, perhaps involving a larger number of dogs and wolves, and with thoughtful consideration of context. For instance, it may be that some animals are more likely to form reputations in stressful or dangerous situations, although those are not possible to test experimentally for ethical reasons.

The authors add: “Overall, neither dogs nor wolves distinguished between a generous or selfish human after indirect or direct experience. However, wolves showed more attention toward the generous person during the observation phase, and some dogs and wolves did prefer the generous person when looking at indirect and direct experiences combined.”

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONEhttps://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0271590

Citation: Jim H-L, Plohovich M, Marshall-Pescini S, Range F (2022) Wolves and dogs fail to form reputations of humans after indirect and direct experience in a food-giving situation. PLoS ONE 17(8): e0271590. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271590

Author Countries: Austria

Funding: HLJ and FR were funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): W1262-B29 (www.fwf.ac.at). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

South America might have been settled over 18,000 years ago, with evidence of a genetic bottleneck around 12,800 years ago, per Y chromosome genomic analysis

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Schematic representation of the geographic distribution of Q-Z780 and sub-lineages. 

IMAGE: COLORED CIRCLES REPRESENT GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION AND SUB-LINEAGE MEMBERSHIP AS SHOWN IN THE INSET TREE. DIVERGENCE TIMES ESTIMATED IN THIS STUDY ARE REPRESENTED IN ITALICS, IN KYA, AND WITH A 95% CONFIDENCE INTERVAL BETWEEN PARENTHESES (FOR MORE DETAILS SEE METHODS). THE SIZE OF THE CIRCLES IS RELATED TO THE NUMBER OF SUBJECTS AND IS SPECIFIED WITH THE "N" IN THE BOX TO THE RIGHT. INDIVIDUALS WITH MEXICAN ANCESTRY FROM LOS ANGELES HAVE BEEN ARBITRARILY REPRESENTED IN CITY OF MEXICO. view more 

CREDIT: PAZ SEPÚLVEDA ET AL., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

South America might have been settled over 18,000 years ago, with evidence of a genetic bottleneck around 12,800 years ago, per Y chromosome genomic analysis

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Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0271971

Article Title: Human Y chromosome sequences from Q Haplogroup reveal a South American settlement pre-18,000 years ago and a profound genomic impact during the Younger Dryas

Author Countries: Argentina

Funding: MM was supported by funding from the Consejo Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICET; http://www.conicet.gov.ar/?lan=en); the PICT2014 #0396, Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (http://www.agencia.mincyt.gob.ar/); and the Fundación Bunge y Born (https://www.fundacionbyb.org/), Argentina. GB was supported by funding from the PIP2013-2015 #325 of the Consejo Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICET; http://www.conicet.gov.ar/?lan=en); and the PICT 2013-2015 #424 of the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (http://www.agencia.mincyt.gob.ar/), Argentina. CMB was supported by funding from the PIP CONICET 2010 N°1 of the Consejo Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICET; http://www.conicet.gov.ar/?lan=en); the PICT 2005 #16-32450; PICT 2008 #715; PICT 2013 #1611; PICT 2015 #2167; and PICT 2017 #27 of the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (http://www.agencia.mincyt.gob.ar/), Argentina. PBPS, ACM, EJS, JJZ, MC, MS, DRG, EA and ELAG was supported by funding from the Consejo Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICET; http://www.conicet.gov.ar/?lan=en); PBPS, DRG, and EA was supported by funding from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (http://www.agencia.mincyt.gob.ar/), Argentina. CS and MRS was supported by funding from the Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (www.cic.gba.gob.ar), Argentina. JED was supported by funding from the Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, Argentina (www.unju.edu.ar). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

 

Navy dolphins wearing video cameras capture the sights and sounds as they hunt fish and even a sea snake

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Assorted images of Dolphin S from the study. 

IMAGE: A. DOLPHIN S WITH CAMERA ATTACHED TO THE LEFT SIDE OF HER HARNESS. B. DOLPHIN S DRILLS INTO THE SEA FLOOR TO SEIZE A FISH. NOTICE THE WHITE OF THE EYE OR SCLERA (ARROW) SHOWS THE EYE ROTATED TOWARD THE FISH. C. DOLPHIN S BRINGS OUT THE FISH WITH LIPS FLARING IN THE POSTERIOR HALF OF THE GAPE AREA TO SHOW THE UPPER TOOTH ROW AND GULAR AREA EXPANDING. view more 

CREDIT: RIDGWAY ET AL., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

Navy dolphins wearing video cameras capture the sights and sounds as they hunt fish and even a sea snake

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Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0265382

Article Title: Sights and sounds dolphins, Tursiops truncatus preying on native fish of San Diego Bay and offshore in the Pacific Ocean

Author Countries: U.S.A.

Funding: The authors (SR, DD) received funding from the Office of Naval Research (https://www.onr.navy.mil/). The associated grant number is 12604848. In addition, authors received funding from the National Marine Mammal Foundation (nmmf.org). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.