A new Center at Imperial will address the crucial global issue of our current unsustainable and environmentally damaging food ecosystems.
Imperial’s Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein, launched today, will develop innovative and evidence-based solutions through the design, delivery and commercialization of alternative food products that are economically and environmentally friendly, nutritious, affordable and tasty.
The center, spread across seven Imperial academic departments, will advance research in precision fermentation, cultured meat, bioprocessing and automation, nutrition, and AI and machine learning.
This work will ensure that our future includes more protein options – and that they taste great, are nutritious and are cheap. Dr. Andrew Steer President and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund
The Bezos Earth Fund is providing the funding as part of a $100 million commitment to develop sustainable protein alternatives and expand consumer choice, and a total $1 billion commitment to food transformation. It is one of several Earth Fund Centers working with other institutions and industry partners to develop and market new alternative protein products that give consumers more choices in meat and dairy.
Professor Hugh Brady, President of Imperial College London, said: “Food security is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. For a sustainable future, we must ensure that people around the world can be adequately and nutritiously fed with minimal impact on biodiversity, climate and our wider natural environment.
“Imperial has leading research, innovation, partnerships and unifying power to advance global food systems and we are very excited about the potential of our new Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein.”
Dr. Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the Earth Fund said: “The Bezos Earth Fund is proud to support Imperial as the home of our second sustainable protein center. By 2050, the world’s population will exceed 10 billion people, so now is the time to rethink the way we produce and consume food. This work will ensure that our future includes more protein options – and that they taste great, are nutritious and are cheap.”
Watch the launch event below:
Transforming our food system
Protein is essential for human health; without it our cells, tissues and organs cannot function. Protein comes from what we eat, including both animal and plant sources, such as meat, eggs, fish, nuts and legumes such as beans.
However, animal protein production requires extensive land use and produces significant greenhouse gas emissions. As the world’s population grows, the health of both people and the planet will increasingly depend on the widespread availability of proteins that taste good and are produced in ways that reduce emissions and protect nature.
Plant-based proteins are already gaining popularity as a meat alternative, such as in burgers based on pea proteins. In addition, new technologies are creating new types of proteins that also have the potential to meet these demands, including through microbial fermentation, which can produce proteins and nutrients that can be used in food formulations, and cultured meat grown from animal cells.
The widespread adoption and acceptance of these alternative proteins depends on improvements in their quality and price, as well as reductions in costs and energy consumption. To convert these proteins into healthy and tasty food, other components must also be produced more sustainably and efficiently, such as healthy fats and carbohydrates and aspects such as taste, aroma, colorings and vitamins. This is where engineering biology comes into the picture.
Accelerating development
Engineering biology applies technical concepts to the design, construction and manufacture of cells and products. The Center will use a combination of rational and computer-driven engineering strategies with automation in biofoundries – where cells are converted into mini-factories that produce useful products – to accelerate the development and scale-up of new bio-based processes.
The Center’s ethos is that bioengineered solutions can and should be both planet and people positive. Dr. Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro Center director
It will also include institutes and facilities that will help translate discoveries into real-world applications, train the next generation of bioengineers and support commercialization. These include the Center for Synthetic Biology, established in 2009 as the first of its kind in Europe, SynbiCITE, the UK industrial translation center for synthetic biology, and the Center for Translational Nutrition & Food Research, which has partnerships with Quorn, Nestle, Unilever and Waitrose, among others.
Director of the new Center, Dr. Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro, from Imperial’s Department of Bioengineering, said: “The Centre’s ethos is that bioengineered solutions can – and should – be both planet and people positive. Imperial is uniquely positioned to harness the potential of engineering biology to accelerate the alt-protein revolution and transform global food systems.”
Dr. Andy Jarvis, Future of Food Director at the Earth Fund, said: “Later is dangerously too late when we think about growing the world’s protein sources. Imperial College London has led pioneering efforts in Engineering Biology, leaving the university perfectly positioned to advance sustainable protein options that will satisfy the growing global masses.”
International partners
The Center’s hub will be based in Imperial, with three spokes in the UK and three abroad, with more than 65 international partners, ranging from cutting-edge research and innovation to the commercialization of new products.
The UK spokespeople are grouped among members of the Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Hub at UCL and Aberystwyth University, the Food Center at Reading University and the Growing Kent & Medway consortium involving the National Institute of Agricultural Botany and the Universities of Kent and Greenwich are.
International talks are organized by the Technical University of Denmark (Biosustain), Tufts University (Center for Cellular Agriculture) and the National University of Singapore.
The launch of the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein at Imperial follows last month’s announcement of a sister center at North Carolina State University, as part of the Bezos Earth Fund’s commitment to help transform food and agriculture systems, including efforts to reduce livestock emissions. .