Synthesizing High-Tech Food is TOUGH, featuring Kate Krueger of Helikon
Tough Tech Today with Meyen and Miller
English - April 08, 2021 14:00 - 52 minutes - 36.3 MBTechnology tough tech frontier technology entrepreneur startup venture Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
In one sentence: “Synthesizing” and “food” are uncommon word pairings, but the engineered dishes they serve may be an appetizing feast for the senses.
Overview:
Climate change, a growing global population, and maturation of new biotechnologies are driving the motivation for – and means of – producing more food. Engineering is improving traditional agricultural means for food production, yet, in our conversation with Kate Krueger of Helikon, emerging synthesization techniques are bringing food from the lab to the market, with exciting and healthy results.
Topic Timecodes:
00:59 What is "high-tech food"
01:57 "Cheese doodle" tech
04:06 Recombinant protein technology
06:17 Relationship between recombinant protein technology and climate change
08:07 Growth factors & proteins
11:58 Veracity of claims of cosmetic benefits due to wheat-grown proteins
12:38 Analogy to stem cells
13:04 Economic challenge of growing growth factors
14:42 Summary of mechanism for generating proteins genetically
16:50 Is eating meat bad for the environment?
19:01 Wildtype and genetically-engineered salmon
19:41 Taste of lab-grown meat & "fat tech"
21:02 Politics around meat-eating & environmental sustainability concerns
23:00 Potential for lab-grown meat
25:28 More funding for startups than universities & Kate's cross-silo experience in cell ag space
28:39 Helikon Consulting
32:01 Potential harms for "high-tech food" & regulation by FDA/USDA
34:43 Long-term effects on human microbiome due to consumption of lab-grown meat as opposed to more "biodiverse", from-the-wild foods
36:50 Red tomatoes & ethylene gas
38:45 Kid Kate & why biology/chemistry as concentration
40:01 Why consulting for Kate now?
41:10 Balancing industry and academic perspectives
45:40 Rapid-fire questions for Kate
47:45 Kate asks us rapid-fire questions
51:44 Kate's advice to audience
Show Notes:
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