Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day 2023
On January 19, 2023, the Office of the Vice Provost for Innovation convened the first annual Tufts University Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day at District Hall in Boston. The event was a great success, bringing together key leaders in the cellular agriculture community to discuss the evolving state and regulatory environment of the industry, review cutting-edge research, innovations and challenges, and track the latest investment trends shaping the future of food.
The Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day featured an impressive lineup of speakers, including:
- David Kaplan, Stern Family Professor of Engineering, director of the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture, and a leading researcher in the development of cultivated meat;
- Uma Valeti, the CEO and founder of UPSIDE Foods, the first U.S. cultivated meat company and first to obtain a successful FDA pre-market review FDA for cell grown chicken;
- Isha Datar, executive director of New Harvest, a leading non-profit organization supporting both research and professional training in cellular agriculture;
- Bruce Friedrich, president and founder of Good Food Institute, a think tank, advocacy and research grant organization dedicated to advancing sustainable, alternative sources of protein in the food supply;
- Tim Olsen, head of the new cultured meat division of Merck KgaA;
- Amir Zaidman, chief business officer of The Kitchen Hub, a leading food technology-focused seed investor and technology incubator;
- Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, assistant professor in the Division of Agriculture, Food, and Environment at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, who conducts life cycle analyses of cultivated meats;
- Bob Hibbert, a leading practitioner of food and agricultural regulatory law;
- And many more.
The photos above showcase some of the highlights of the day.
Check out the complete agenda below.
