In-Vitro Meat: The Healthy Meat for the Future

Winston Churchill stated long back in 1932 that after fifty years, that man wouldn’t bother to grow a full chicken for meat and rather grow meat in a suitable medium. It’s more than fifty years now, but the wait won’t be long for in-vitro meat to reach the market. Things would speed up with PETA’s offering of $1 million to the first scientist who would release in-vitro meat in the market. PETA has been supporting the in-vitro meat research as there is a whole lot of harm being caused to animals and the environment to meet the meat addiction of people. Meat eaters are also concerned over the several diseases like heart diseases and diabetes that are increasingly affecting meat eaters. Contaminated meat has been reported to have caused several deaths in United States. Grazing has led to the insufficient utilization of croplands and has led to the depletion of resources. Excessive carbon di oxide, nitrogen, and other emissions into the environment have also led to concerns over the increased livestock and the need for in-vitro meat was recognized.

In-vitro meat has been devised as the best alternative to keep away from all the ill-effects of animal farming for meat. This is also known as cultured meat as meat is produced through tissue culture technique. In-vitro meat is not the same as the imitation meat for vegans which have been produced from vegetable proteins. The starting material for in-vitro meat is the stem cells derived from waste matter in slaughter houses. These stem cells are grown in a concoction of sugar, amino acids, lips and minerals. This has led to the growth of thin muscle like strips, the first precursors of in-vitro meat. Around 3000 of these strips has to be packed together and arranged with a few strips of lab-grown fat and the new product thus formed will be able to replace the conventional animal meat.

Due to the several steps involved in the production of in-vitro meat, the product is expected to be rather expensive when it reaches the market. The research are still going on and the first in-vitro meat will be grown with intensive care over looked upon by highly qualified academic staff in an academic laboratory. The process is partly handmade and requires enough of manual work done over in-vitro meat and therefore will be expensive. The scientists have also informed that the first productions will be a little awkward at sight as they will seem color due to lack of blood involved.

The issues faced by the world due to the increased demand for meat, was that what bought the attention of scientists to produce in-vitro meat. The destruction caused to the agricultural land and land wastage to feed the livestock is very high and will tend to increase in a tremendous rate in the coming years. This has been contributing in a great way to energy loss, land wastage, global warming, air pollution and decline of biodiversity. By replacing livestock meat with in-vitro meat, the damage that is being caused to the environment can be greatly reduced.

Mark Post is the man and the brain behind this artificial in-vitro meat production and plans to present the world the first man-made meat by August or September. He is a vascular biologist in the Netherlands University of Maastricht and is funded by an anonymous person. There are several people who have tested the in-vitro meat and have not been rather impressed with its taste when compared to livestock meat. Efforts are being made to add to the taste of this in-vitro meat by supplementing the lab-grown meat with the right amount and good quality artificial fat and a little of lab prepared blood rich in iron. Scientists believe that this can complement to the taste and look of the meat and soon can be made into tasty burgers and nuggets.

What is Biomimetics?

The nature has always been the main source of inspiration for man’s inventions and discoveries. Centuries back Leonardo Da Vinci designed ships in the shape of fish. Men tried to create flying machines out of flapping wings like that of birds. The Wright Brother’s noticed that huge birds could be on flight even without flapping their wings and thus created the first aircraft based on their studies of bird’s and their flight mechanism. This dependence on nature for scientific inspiration has been classified into biomimetics science. This name has been derived from Bios which means life and mimetics meaning imitation. This simply means that the nature is imitated in this form of science. The name, biomimetics was given by the American biophysicist, Otto Schmitt and he developed the Schmitt trigger inspired from the squid nerve mechanism.

Biomimetics has been prevalent in the world since time immemorial and now even high end industries are making use of biomimetics to produce high-tech innovations. There are very many examples of nature paving way for remarkable creations. The human skeleton has been studied since the 1800’s and the complex structure was a mystery. Studies by Hermann Von Meyer revealed that the structuring of the femur bone of the thighs was a bit unusual and had ridges to support the body in right position. This femur balance was properly utilized by Gustave Eiffel in the Eiffel tower in 1889 and the 984 foot high tower of biomimetics example still stands tall and strong unshaken by any natural force.

Another simple example of biomimetics is the invention of Velcro. You wouldn’t believe that the idea of the Velcro stickers were derived from the dogs paws. It was the Swiss inventor George de Mestral who noticed that his dog had small seeds stuck onto its paws after a walk. Intrigued over this, he examined the paws, and found it to have tiny hook shaped burrs. He then developed the Velcro based on this same natural phenomenon, thus used the science of biomimetics. He then developed the two part Velcro sticker, which stuck to one another and could be used several times. The idea was later patented in 1955.

The floating leaves of the water lily (Victoria amazonica) became the source of biomimetics inspiration for botanist Joseph Paxton and he successfully built the great Victorian Crystal Palace in 1851. He observed that the floating leaves of this plant could hold the weight of a small baby and this was possible because of its ribbed underside which supported the leaf. This sparked the biomimetics idea of using simple lightweight material to support huge glass pieces. He then built a 108 feet tall building with over 200,000 glass panes and supported them using cast iron. He won the design competition without any engineering training and simply made use of the biomimetics knowledge. The scaled structure was tested for its strength and even 300 men umping onto it could not break it. The original Crystal palace was huge than the exhibit, but succumbed to fire in 1936.

Recently, the large binocular telescope in Arizona was built based on the biomimetics study in honey bee. The two large mirrors of the telescope have been supported using the honeycomb structure. Biomimetics have been applied in the production of  Swim suits and have been created which come with ridges as in shark skin and thus claim to reduce the drag that would be caused otherwise. The penguin feathers are now being studied extensively in biomimetics by the textile industry to create clothing material that can resist even coldest climate conditions. The opening and closing of the pine cone helps it to retain moisture foe the drier times. This phenomenon is now widely studies to create similar model clothing. There are several other natural phenomenon happening in the world around us and by proper biomimetics studies, they can be discovered and utilized

What is Bioeconomics?

Bioeconomics is a new field of study originated from the combination of biology and economics. The word bioeconomics was developed by Gary Becker in 1930 who was an American economist. What is Bioeconomics? In simple words, it is a new branch of economics where the sociobiological activities are used to give a briefing about the human behaviour. The Socioeconomic system is observed and studied in accordance with the biological world and the relation between the components is also studied. This has helped to reduce the gap between experimental biology science and numerical economical science and the two different cultures have been brought together in this attempt like resource economics.

Bioeconomics is a branch of social science which has helped to explain economic events better based on biological theories and happenings. Different organisms survive in nature, cooperating and fighting to utilize the available resources and they go on based on the theory of survival of the fittest. Thus the basic ideas of biology have been used to better explain the economic system. The basic teleology of any individual according to this theory is based on the genetic fitness of the organism. What has happened with Bioeconomics is that, the Neo-Darwinian theory of evolution has been applied to social and economic sciences. The natural economies is analysed as every organism in nature competes for the limited resources to survive and propagate in this limited environment.

Bioeconomics implication simply means that every living organism has to make use of its resources and environment to live. When the resources are wasted, this directly means that the development of life forms is affected. Nature lays certain restrictions towards extending and modifying human culture, and this can be studied only using Bioeconomics. The costs associated with this kind of overcoming nature’s constraints can be calculated using Bioeconomics and sociobiology studies.

The socioeconomic and biological systems interact in nature. The social and economic activities of living organisms bring about changes and impacts on the biological system. This gives rise to issues like global warming. These interactions are rather complex and has been found to cause serious after effects effecting humans. Bioeconomics studies are based on the better frugal and efficient utilization of the biological resources based on the socioeconomic environment. In these studies, humans have been taken as the dependant point and the nature as the constant. This kind of evaluation will give a proper economy-nature equation.

Unlike other forms of sciences, bioeconomics deals with treating nature as a source of ideas rather than a simple source for human needs. Newer ideas are developed which has helped to come up with harmless innovations, benefitting both the humans and the environment. The feeling of a cooperative bioeconomical individual has been developed out of bioeconomics.

In normal condition, a whole lot of onion is wasted during harvest and dumped as low quality. With the advent of bioeconomics, this onion waste can be now converted into high quality product and thus economic loss has been prevented and even saves the environment. The low grade onion is squeezed to produce its juice which is fermented to produce vinegar. The left over onion mash is composted and used as fertilizer for onion cultivation. This has many positive effects for human economics and the environment, thus creating a balance in nature.

This kind of bioeconomics approach can help to reduce the use of harmful fertilizers which eventually prevent many health problems to humans. This can also give healthy bio-organic foods. Towards the economic side, using the waste material means saving money and promotes sustainable agriculture. There are several other researches and developments made as a result of bioeconomics which aims to build a better nature, economic system and life in the world. 

Vitrification, Preservation and Cryoprotectants

We all know that living organisms are primarily composed of water and on freezing, these water molecules convert into ice. There are many amphibians and insects who can withstand freezing without converting into ice. Amphibians like frog produce glycerol by the liver and it works like ‘antifreeze’. Glycerol, ethylene glycol etc. are cryoprotectants and prevent ice formation. The cryoprotectant prevents water from forming into crystals and makes it harden like glass. This is known as Vitrification. At freezing temperature, normal cells get damaged due to ice crystal formation. When a cryoprotectant is used the water molecules get frozen in their own locations without forming the ice crystal lattice. This thus causes no damage to the cell and thus the cells, tissues and even whole organs can be maintained in that particular biological stage without causing any damage to it.

Cryoprotectants work by reducing ice formation, but there are substances which are known by the name of ice blockers which are targeted towards ice nuclei formation and thus stop freezing. This was first observed in artic fish which used certain anti-freeze proteins to prevent freezing.  To bring about Vitrification, cryoprotectants have to be used in very high concentrations which might at times lead to toxicity. The problem was that cryoprotectants became too viscous at high concentrations making perfusion difficult. This problem was effectively solved by using ice-blocker along with cryoprotectant to bring about optimal vitrification.

Glycerol was the first ever cryoprotectant used initially to freeze store bull sperm and was later adopted to store red blood cells. Later DiMethyl Sulfoxide was used for vitrification where it was used along with glycerol and slow cooling technique to store mouse embryos which were later rewarmed to produce live mice. The breakthrough in vitrification storage was when the 8 cell human embryo was preserved at liquid nitrogen temperature by using the optimal concentrations of DMSO at the several stages. Human embryos are now preserved at 4 and even 2 celled stages using a combination of DMSO, glycerol and propylene glycol. Today, over a million embryos are being preserved worldwide and have been proven to be a giant leap towards infertility treatment. There are several children round the world who have been once cryoprotected embryos at liquid nitrogen temperature.

Glycerol was used effectively for cryopreservation of human blood and sperm and was also used to prevent freeing in cryonics patients. The problem was due to the viscosity of glycerol in high concentrations that it could not bring about complete vitrification. The problem was well realized when the need came up to vitrify tissues and organs. Glycerol as cryoprotectant could only bring about partial vitrification with 20% ice formation. Some organs can become completely damaged even by small ice crystals as it affects the connection between the cells. Crystallization when using glycerol for vitrification can be prevented by using glycerol solution of the optimal concentration of 68%volume/volume glycerol and water solution. At this concentration there was no crystallization that occurred and water hardened like glass.

The devitrification problem is caused mainly due to the rewarming of a cryoprotected tissue which leads to ice crystal formation. This can cause damage to the tissues, organs or cells on re-obtaining the cells from its vitrified stage. This devitrification problem can be prevented by rewarming at high temperatures quickly. According to reports, researches and calculations, to bring about rewarming without devitrification problem, it is required to deliver 1667 degree temperature in a sec. This high and quick temperature to retrieve vitrified cells can be obtained through radio frequency rewarming. Anti-nucleators like polyvinyl alcohol can also bring about rewarming without causing destruction to the cells.

Synthetics Genomics: Creating Synthetic Life

Genomics is the science of study of the genetic structure of organisms, DNA coding and its manipulation. Synthetic genomics is a new branch of genomics which involves the synthetic creation of genetic matter. DNA holds the genetic information of the cell and Synthetic genomics aims at creating artificial DNA and hence create artificial life. DNA is chemically synthesised and computational and bioinformatics techniques are used to code and design the favourable genetic structure. Until the development of Synthetic genomics, the ways by which genetic structure changed was through evolution and artificially through induced mutation. But, the result of induced mutation will not be specific. With Synthetic genomics, the whole genetic hardware of the cell could be changed and the cell as a whole will work according to the newly synthesized genome.

This has paved way for a new era in genetic biology. Scientists can now create organisms with unique and useful genetic material that was marked as impossible to obtain. With Synthetic genomics, small chromosome segments, genes, gene processing or even an entirely new genome could be produced to make the organism give the desired result. This has given scientists to foresee newer advancements like production of biofuels and specific vaccines against diseases.

De Novo synthesis of gene segments has been used since 35 years, but creating a whole genome from this would take years. This has become easier now with Synthetic genomics where DNA synthesizers are used to create genetic material using reagents quicker than the earlier methods. Har Gobind Khorana and his 17 co-workers first synthesised the gene in 1970s. Since then scientists have been working on creating synthetic genes by the basics of Synthetic genomics. Recombinant DNA techniques was largely followed till recent times as time consuming rDNA techniques have been replaced largely with Synthetic genomics.

The first artificial life was created through Synthetic genomics in May 2010, when Craig Venter and his team created an entirely new bacterial genome. It has been called rightly as designer organism as the scientist designs the genome of the cell from scratch. The bacterium thus produced was watermarked by the scientists so that at any level of its progeny, the scientist will be able to identify it as synthesized. Synthetic Genomics Inc. was found by Craig Venter and team now aims to produce biofuels from genetically synthesized microbes.

Synthetic Genomics Inc. aims to produce the highly demanded Ethanol from algae produced through synthetic genomics. The scientists aim to produce new algal cells that would release oils which can be later refined to produce biofuels. The project is funded at $600 million by ExxonMobil. There are other researches in Synthetic genomics like methods to increase the hydrocarbon recovery by using microbes and also advanced agricultural products from synthetic genomics. The proper assembly of the genome and its expression in the cell is the major challenge faced by scientists.

As with any other technological advancement, synthetic genomics has also several associated risks. The potential risks that Synthetic genomics might pose to the future include bioterrorism, health risks to scientists and laboratory workers and possible leak of synthetically structured organism’s intro the environment creating environmental imbalance. Considering the technology available today, constructing even a simple virus is very difficult but with technological advancements, this process might become easy. Synthetic genomics can be used to produce bacteria or virus which can be used in bio warfare or bioterrorism. Viruses which had posed severe threat though the disease they caused like the Variola virus of 1918 could be reproduced through Synthetic genomics. But, according to reports, even without these Synthetic genomics advancements, there are several other methods of bio-war and bio-terrorism and the risks with every technology remains, yet strict precautions are taken. 

IPR in biotech industry in India

Biotechnology has been there for about centuries, but was in the last 50 years that this field received a prominent role and name in the world of technology. India is now advancing in its biotechnology inventions and discoveries in leaps and bounds. India is ranked 12^th in the list of top biotech nations, being the third topper among the Asian countries. The government has ever supported the Indian biotechnology scenario and the advancements of the IPR in Biotech industry in India is a proof of this support. India has skill, talent, human resources, and even lower R & D facility, this got sparked with the newer IPR regulations and the Indian biotechnology industry is in a boom stage now.

Year’s back, when the first Patent Act was released according to Patent Act of 1970, the government had provisions to patent processes, but not for products. This was one of the major reasons why the biotechnology industry experienced a setback till the year 2005. The companies did not come forward to invent any new product, as they could not patent their hard earned invention. After all the hard work and money added into creating a new product, the IPR in biotech industry in India, could not protect the sole rights of the inventor and anyone could reverse the process to recreate the specific product. This broke all the competitiveness.

The World Trade Organization created the Trade-Related Aspects for Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement in 1994. According to the TRIPS rules, the biological process used for creating a plant or animal could not be patented, but patenting was open to non-biological and microbial processes which was used to product a new plant or animal. With this, the newly found gene sequences, genetic markers etc. could be patented. The TRIPS agreement was adopted by India to save and uphold the concerns of the biotech companies regarding the IPR in biotech industry in India. The Patent (Amendment) Bill 2005 was released on March 23, 2005 in compliance with the TRIPS act.

The Bill had strict regulations according to which product patenting was made available. After facing several oppositions in its developing stage, the patenting of life forms has been excluded. Several organizations came up with the argument that all life forms are god’s gift and any individual or company could not hold a sole patent over any organism by simply altering its gene structure. There were even oppositions over granting IPR in biotech industry in India as a whole. Meeting these resistances, plants, animals and even seeds could not be patented whereas microorganisms could be patented.

There were yet restrictions and conditions applicable while patenting microorganisms. The IPR in biotech industry in India allowed patenting only on inventions and not on discoveries. Any microorganism or substance which is freely found in nature, if discovered, could not be patented according to IPR in biotech industry in India. But, if the microorganism has to be isolated and processed to give a specific property, then the product could be patented as a new invention is made through human intervention. Newly discovered naturally occurring gene segments have been excluded from the patents, but synthetic genes are included. A major drawback has been that software patenting has been strictly barred according to the IPR in biotech industry in India 2005 Act which will affect the development of the bio-informatics industry in India.

New plant varieties are protected according to the sui generis system and gives proper rights to the farmer over the protected new variety. This is a major problem for the small farmers due to the high price of the technology. Traditional knowledge about plants are being lost in the name of exclusive rights giving way to biopiracy with the IPR in biotech industry in India. The indigenous people are losing their knowledge in the name of IPR with over 35,000 Indian medicinal plant patents being owned by US and UK. This has become a major threat for India. The people are eagerly waiting for the new act from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to protect the traditional concerns.

There are still several amendments to be made to the IPR in biotech industry in India to get back the patents of Indian biodiversity in other countries. The awareness about the farmer rights, provisions and infringement acts should be spread to the farmers. The overall IPR in biotech industry in India should be made effective to promote investment and eventually leading to economic development.

Greener Cities with Vertical Farming

Professor Dickson Despommier felt the need for alternative greenery and farming in the cities and he came up with the term Vertical farming which made use of aeroponics and hydroponics to grow plants without soil in the city buildings named as ‘farmscrapers’. We have only limited land and water supply and there is high demand for space and water. According to the reports, by the year 2050, there would be no land unoccupied by man where cultivation and farming could be done. There is a rampant search to find a good alternative to produce feed without using up much space. This was then that Dr. Dickson Despommier came up with the thought of Vertical farming.

We depend upon land to live, like farmlands to grow crops and animals and we also need the forests to keep the atmosphere fresh and oxygen filled. With people being worried over the consequences of excess land usage and the issues related, the idea of Vertical farming has been very warmly welcome by the masses. The idea of growing and farming plants, cattle, fishes and poultry in concrete and glass buildings in the heart of the city, under controlled environment is on its way to becoming a reality. The benefits that Vertical farming provide makes it preferable than conventional farming.

With vertical farming, crop production will become more efficient and healthy. They are grown in a controlled environment and therefore there is no way that insects or pests can enter the ‘farm’. The food thus obtained from vertical farming will be of better quality and contamination free as there are no pesticides or insecticides used in vertical farming. The crops can be grown in purely organic cultures and thus the quality of the crops thus produced can be ensured. The loss of crop and farm lands due to natural disasters and changing climates is prevented with vertical farming. The temperature is maintained at the optimal level and also, any fruit or vegetable can be grown according to the demand in that area as there will be no seasonal restrictions in vertical farming.

 Vertical farming ‘farmscrapers’ are intended to located within the cities and this will contribute in a huge extent to the transportation charges and the related fuel emissions while transporting it from distant villages. In these vertical farming centres, the black water will be recycled and reused for irrigation and this will help to reduce the scarcity for drinking water which is one of the major problems that the world is facing today. When compared to conventional farming methods, the bulk load of water that is spent in cultivating a crop is several times more the water that is used in vertical farming. Reuse and recycling of water will be done in the maximum possible ways within these vertical farming towers. Even the transpiration waters are collected are used in the controlled environment. This will also reduce the events of contaminated water run-away from the farmlands into the lakes and rivers.

Vertical farming is not a benefits alone technology and has its related disadvantages too. One of the main problems of vertical farming is absence of pollination. Under controlled environment, there will be no insects that bring about pollination and thus pollination will have to be manually performed. Due to the involvement of intensive labour, the crops, fruits and vegetables produced from vertical farming will be priced high. The whole set-up of these vertical farming towers will involve a good deal of investment as land, creation of the vertical farming lab, lights, temperature and ambience settings and other related expenses. There are several limitations and scientists are working to make vertical farming a reality.