In this instalment of The Cell Base's ‘Start-up spotlight,' we speak to Steen Ooi, PhD, founder, CEO and CSO of Livestock Labs, a California, US-based firm that specialises in developing genetically engineered cell lines for the cultivated meat sector.

What inspired the establishment of Livestock Labs, and what is the company's primary focus in the cell-ag space?

My time as lead of porcine cell engineering at New Age Eats alerted me to a systemic problem facing the industry – access to dependable cell lines capable of delivering and growing at the necessary scale and under conditions where the economics work.

Coming from academia with over 25 years of utilising genetic tools to control and manipulate cells, it seemed obvious that genetic modification (GM) presented an ideal solution. As such, Livestock Labs' sole focus is to use genetic engineering to create livestock cells that are tailor-made for cellular agriculture, for companies needing that starter material as an ingredient for food products, as well as those focused on tech development.

How does Livestock Labs leverage genetic engineering, data analytics and machine learning to develop cell lines tailored for cultivated meat production?

When we talk about cells tailored for cultivated meat production, we mean cells that have the necessary traits for reproducible large-scale growth and production. These phenotypes include immortalisation, suspension growth, tolerance to metabolic stress and long-term genetic stability, which, in turn, underpins functionality such as the ability to correctly undergo terminal differentiation.

Data analytics and machine learning (ML) are great discovery tools that help uncover the molecular pathways and characteristics that underpin these traits. With these insights, Livestock Labs utilises genetic engineering techniques such as homology-dependent repair and targeted integration to introduce genetic payloads that confer these desired characteristics, ensuring our cell lines are optimised for cultivated meat production.

Phase-contrast/bright-field micrographs showing pig-derived fibroblasts at 4x magnification, 10x and 20x magnification

What specific challenges in R&D and scaling production does Livestock Labs address for its clients in the cultivated meat industry?

Currently, all cultivated meat companies require access to cell line development, whether in-house or through a contract research organisation. Even companies that are focused on specific parts of the value chain, such as scaffolds, media or bioreactors, need to invest in cell line generation even though this is not their primary focus. Consequently, the time and resources available are sub-optimal to create and fully characterise cells that can go the distance.

Livestock Labs aims to solve all this by creating fully characterised, production-ready cell lines that will serve as the foundation for efficient, cost-effective and high-quality meat production and the gold standard for R&D.

How do your stable and cost-effective cell lines help mitigate the financial and technical burdens typically faced by cultivated meat producers?

By harnessing genetic engineering, we can create cells with capabilities suited for cultivated meat’s unique requirements. One of the key cost drivers of growing cells and generating biomass is the media used, specifically the provision of serum/serum replacements and growth factors. We can engineer cells that produce these factors, reducing or even obviating their use in growth media.

We’re also developing novel genetic switches using food-appropriate compounds to enable temporal-spatial control of genetic payloads – by using compounds that are a fraction of the cost of growth factors, we can help further reduce production costs. In addition, the use of genetic engineering to control cells enables reproducible growth and more predictable production, reducing run-to-run variability and helping customers develop and ‘lock in’ workflows.

Can you describe the key technologies or processes that differentiate your cell lines from those currently available in the market?

Companies that provide primary cells from a species of interest are not new; however, the cells available are in no way production-ready and require time and resources to get them there, which is in contrast to Livestock Labs’ cells that will be production-ready from the start.

Some companies provide cells that are either ‘spontaneous’ or selected for desired phenotypes. Such cells inherently carry mutations that, while producing the desired phenotypes, may also cause unintended pleiotropic effects affecting their performance and long-term stability, which in turn impacts regulatory approval.

Genetic engineering allows for the precise introduction of genetic payloads of interest: we know where the modifications are and can screen for cells that only carry the intended modifications.

How does Livestock Labs ensure the consistency, quality and scalability of its cell lines for large-scale production?

Livestock Labs’ cells will undergo rigorous characterisation from the start to ensure the precision of the genetic modifications made, their performance and long-term stability. Our cells will also undergo long-term culture and regular testing to identify the lines with the greatest stability and functionality. As part of our development process, we will partner with various stakeholders to assess cell performance in pilot and more large-scale production runs.

How has Livestock Labs navigated regulatory challenges, and what strategies have been crucial in bringing your cell lines to market?

As veterans in cultivated meat, we understand the crucial importance of ensuring our cells will satisfy regulatory requirements. It is important to note that, as a B2B supplier of cell lines to the industry rather than a producer of final food products, Livestock Labs' cells do not require regulatory approval. That said, from our inception, a guiding principle has been integrating regulatory compliance into the design of our cells.

Our primary market is the US, and a common misconception is that the use of GM automatically subjects any such cells to additional regulatory requirements – the fact that GM is already an integral part of the US food systems firmly dispels this notion. Cell lines are classified as a food ingredient, and safety is paramount for their approval for use in food products for human consumption.

We are working closely with the US Food and Drug Association, and as we create and characterise our cells, we will continue to seek guidance on the data required to satisfy claims relevant to safety. For customers seeking to use our cell lines in their food products, this approach ensures regulatory compliance and offers significant cost and time savings during the pre-market notice application process.

Can you share any significant collaborations or partnerships that have played a pivotal role in the development and success of your cell lines?

We are currently in the process of initiating conversations that will lead to exciting pilot projects from 2025 onwards. We plan to collaborate with up to ten companies and institutions by providing them with our cell lines to test in their R&D pipelines. In exchange, these partners will provide detailed data on the performance of our cell lines.

Through these collaborations, our partners will gain early access to our most cutting-edge cell lines, and we will prioritise their interests when engineering future cell lines to match specific requirements and desired properties.

How does Livestock Labs' evolving cell line portfolio provide a competitive advantage for your clients in the cultivated meat industry?

Clients should view Livestock Labs similarly to microchip manufacturers, such as Intel and ARM. Like these companies, our cell lines will be upgraded periodically to deliver the characteristics that customers demand and incorporate insights from the latest research in tissue culture and genetic engineering. Whether clients are working on media formulations, scaffolds, bioreactors or the final meat product, our evolving cell line portfolio will allow them to focus on their core competencies. By outsourcing their cell line needs to us, clients save time and money while ensuring they have access to the best cells on the market, providing them with a significant competitive edge in the cultivated meat industry.

Is there anything else you would like our readers to know?

I don’t envision a future where cultivated meat is able to fulfil its potential as a viable alternative means of mass food production without the involvement of genetic engineering. This places Livestock Labs front and centre, and we intend to be integral to the evolution and success of cultivated meat.