Cultured meat is meat made from cells, instead of animals. To make cultured meat, a tiny sample of cells is taken from an animal and multiplied exponentially outside of the animal to make (theoretically) infinite amounts of meat. You can make chicken by culturing chicken skeletal muscle cells, pork fat from pig adipocytes, foie gras from duck liver cells. Meat made without animals but composed of the same stuff. It is a weird yet fascinating concept, and a feat easier said than done. In college, Natalie Rubio, a Chemical & Biological Engineering student at CU Boulder, was largely unenthused with her post-grad job prospects – until she read an article about cultured meat, fell in love with the idea, and chased it desperately. In 2016, Natalie started her PhD on cultured meat at Tufts University – one of the first universities in the world to support research on the topic. In this TEDxTufts talk, Natalie reflects on the ups and downs of her career in cultured meat - an industry wrought with technical challenges and controversy. Dr. Natalie Rubio is the Co-Founder & CEO of Deco Labs, a Tufts spin-out company focused on commercializing enabling technologies for the cellular agriculture industry. Natalie has a B.S. in Chemical & Biological Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder (2015) and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Tufts University (2021). Her career is dedicated to replacing the role of animals in our food systems via innovations in biotechnology. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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