Steven McIntosh, chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and colleagues Angela Brown, Kelly Schultz and Mark Snyder, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, are collaborating on a new project: artificial meat. Combining their specialties of antibiotic resistance, biomaterials, scaffold microstructures and energy, they are working on growing muscle tissue in the lab.
If successful, it could alleviate environmental hazards. “Fertilizer is a highly chemical substance,” McIntosh said. “It goes into crops, which go into animal feed. It’s a highly inefficient process. So let’s skip all of that. Don’t grow the crop. Don’t bother feeding an animal. If you want to eat meat, grow the meat.”