Speaking to AgFunderNews after announcing “unprecedented” funding to hire five new faculty members to work on cultivated meat at a time when funding to startups in the space has sharply deteriorated, Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) director Dr. David Kaplan said he remained optimistic about the long-term prospects for the industry.
“What we’re seeing is a normal contraction and rebirth that has to happen in any new industry or technology,” said Kaplan, a professor of biomedical engineering who launched the cell ag center at Tufts in 2020 and secured a $10 million grant from USDA in 2021 to establish the National Institute for Cellular Agriculture within Tufts University.
Source: Tufts professor has ‘zero worries’ about viability of cultivated meat