Imagine that we could make tissues indistinguishable from those produced by humans or animals, at will, and at comparable cost to the natural products. With the rate of progress being made, it won’t be imaginary much longer.

If we don’t need to kill animals for food, leather, or other products, then we reduce animal suffering. We increase biodiversity because we don’t need to devote huge land areas to feed farm animals. And we help climate change - the meat industry is a huge contributor to greenhouse gases.

This dream needs more than cultivated cells. We need to organise them into tissues, with multiple cell types in the correct places and doing the right things.

Directing cells to organise into tissue structures such as leather, corneas and cultivated meat has huge implications for medicine, fashion and the food industry.

Che Cannon joins me in this episode to share his work in this area. Che is the CEO of BSF Enterprise PLC, and we delve into the intersection of science and business in developing innovative technologies such as this.

Che shares the complexity of tissue mechanics and the advantages of bottom-up methods over traditional top-down approaches. We also talk about the environmental benefits and ethical considerations of alternative leathers and cultivated meats.

Additionally, Che explains the progress that has been made on the medical device front with corneal repair.

On the business side, we also cover the unusual step by the company to raise funds by listing on the stock exchange.

There are many practical applications of these technologies, and they are surely the future of sustainable materials in various industries, making these developments hugely important.

“Cultivated meat has a good purpose and can lift lots of technologies.” – Che Connon

You’ll hear about:

01:11 Exploring Cell and Material Interaction

03:30 Tissue Engineering and Its Applications

06:22 The Science Behind Lab-Grown Leather

15:31 Cultivated Meat: Innovations and Challenges

20:41 Macromolecular Crowding in Cell Culture

25:27 The Future of Cultivated Meat

28:49 Market Opportunities in Asia

31:46 Corneal Repair Technology

36:06 BSF Enterprise: A Unique Path to Funding

40:01 Future Directions in Research and Development

Connect with Che Connon:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/checonnon/

3D Bio-Tissues - https://www.3dbiotissues.com/

Kerato - https://kerato.co.uk/

BSF Enterprise - https://bsfenterprise.com/

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdavison100/

If you need any lab equipment:

Grant Instruments: https://www.grantinstruments.com/

Grant Instruments on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grant-instruments-cambridge-ltd/

In this episode of The Big Experiment, we are live, recording from the Synthetic Biology UK 2024 conference hosted by the Biochemical Society, at Hinxton Hall near Cambridge, home of the famous Genome Campus.

Synthetic biology is the practice of manipulating biology to achieve outcomes that don’t occur naturally or in some cases are not naturally possible.

Common examples include producing new proteins for therapeutic use, but there are many other applications of lab-derived augmentation of living things.

These include making meat without killing animals, altering plant photosynthesis to improve crop production, using bacteria to clean up contaminated soils, making new vaccines and antibiotics before we need them, and many more.

See here for the Biochemical Society’s useful resource page on this subject, which has lots of articles and info: Synthetic Biology.

There were too many fantastic applications to cover in one show, but I hope this episode gives you an idea of the potential. I take my roving microphone on a tour of the event, talking to researchers showcasing their work. We hear about a wide range of studies including creating affordable CRISPR diagnostics, engineering synthetic microbial communities for enhanced bio-production, and much more.

This episode showcases the future of synthetic biology and some of the great advances we can expect. In some cases, as you’ll hear, I hope we don’t ever need to use them.

It also highlights some amazingly talented young scientists at the coalface of scientific discovery. The professors of tomorrow.

“It’s amazing we can do things in the lab that evolution hasn’t thought of.” – Mark

You’ll hear about:

01:10 - What is synthetic biology?
04:06 - Therapeutics from engineering biology: how and why
08:11 - Ana Pascual Cambridge Uni - CRISPR diagnostics for all?
12:36 - Casey Chen UCL - Making new microbial communities
15:58 - Mark's poster tour interlude
19:48 - Gabrielle Admans Cambridge Uni - Predicting vaccines before pandemics
22:08 - Giuliano Bonfa, Italian Inst Tech - T-rEx fights solid tumours?
25:42 - Max Armitage Nottingham Uni - Finding new antibiotics

Connect with the Biochemical Society:

Website - https://www.biochemistry.org/

X - https://x.com/BiochemSoc

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdavison100/

If you need any lab equipment:

Grant Instruments: https://www.grantinstruments.com/

Grant Instruments on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grant-instruments-cambridge-ltd/

Weight loss drugs are in the spotlight. Obesity is a huge and potentially profitable problem, attracting lots of scientific and medical resources.

But there are circumstances where avoiding weight loss is crucial and where it is beneficial to put weight on. Cachexia is a serious condition affecting cancer patients, which is characterised by significant weight loss and muscle wasting. Appetite is often suppressed, but just eating more doesn’t work anyway.

The resulting frailty and weakening of the body has debilitating effects on the daily lives of cancer patients. Cachexia can even affect the outcome of the cancer itself, both by weakening immune systems and by making it harder for patients to tolerate harsh cancer treatments.

Long thought to be just an inevitable side effect of cancer, the condition is now being studied separately with a view to fidnbing new treatments as adjuncts to cancer therapy.

One company at the clinical trial stage for treating cachexia is Actimed Therapeutics, and I am thrilled to be joined by their CEO, Robin Bhattacherjee.

We discuss the challenges of developing treatments to halt and reverse weight-loss when the mainstream drug industry is going the other way, the innovative approach of Actimed Therapeutics in working with the molecule S-pindolol, and the huge impacts this work can have for the survival rate of cancer patients.

Robin also shares insights from his extensive career in the biopharma industry, and gives excellent advice to people starting their career in this field.

“This could be transformational for cancer patients.” – Robin

You’ll hear about:

00:25 - An introduction to Robin

01:59 - Robin on his journey into science

06:41 - Advice for starting a career in pharmaceuticals

11:15 - What is cachexia?

17:01 - Treating cachexia to fight cancer

18:40 - S-pindolol the lead molecule explained

22:50 - Balancing catabolic and anabolic actions

25:31 - Other mechanisms that need targeting

26:32 - The progress of clinical trials

33:16 - The challenges raising money for anti-weight loss products

Connect with Robin:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-bhattacherjee-4b436613/

Actimed Therapeutics - https://actimedtherapeutics.com/home/

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdavison100/

If you need any lab equipment:

Grant Instruments: https://www.grantinstruments.com/

Grant Instruments on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grant-instruments-cambridge-ltd/