Cultivated meat begins with animal cells grown outside the animal. Less mature cells can be used in hybrid products, but differentiated muscle remains the technical gold standard for reproducing meat’s structure, protein composition, and texture. Achieving that transformation efficiently depends heavily on the ingredients used in the culture medium.
Isolating a Familiar Cell-Culture Ingredient
Hanwha Solutions’ patent application [WO2026071587A1] investigates whether monoethanolamine can promote the differentiation of muscle stem cells without adding insulin, transferrin, or selenium, three components commonly supplied alongside ethanolamine in cell-culture supplements.
Ethanolamine itself is not new to cell culture or muscle differentiation workflows. The filing’s contribution lies in testing its effect without adding those other three components.
The disclosed experiments used primary bovine muscle stem cells isolated from beef round tissue. After five to seven days, cells treated with 5 μg/ml monoethanolamine showed a Desmin-based measure of muscle differentiation of 36%, compared with 14% in the control without added ethanolamine. The filing also describes longer, more uniform muscle-like structures and increased expression of MyoD and MyHC, markers associated with muscle formation.
These findings suggest that ethanolamine may have a more focused role in guiding muscle cells towards differentiated tissue. If it can reduce reliance on a multi-component supplement at scale, it could lower the number of raw materials that must be sourced, qualified, and controlled, with potential benefits for consistency and production economics.
Hanwha Brings Chemistry into Cellular Agriculture
Hanwha Solutions Corp. operates across chemicals, energy, and advanced materials. This application extends its chemistry-led R&D into cellular agriculture, where simpler and more controllable culture media could support efficient cultivated-muscle production.
Congratulations and a warm thank you to the inventors: Kim Hyeong Taek and Eun Ji Lee, for investigating a more focused approach to cultivated muscle formation.
I’m Pieter Labuschagne, Head of Technology at Newform Foods, where I lead technical strategy, R&D, and partnerships across cellular agriculture and applied biotechnology. I’m naturally curious and driven by a simple principle: understand things deeply first, then use that understanding to solve meaningful problems well. With an MSc in Biotechnology and more than seven years of experience across microbial and mammalian cell-culture systems, I focus on translating complex biotechnology into practical, scalable solutions. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, I’m happiest surfing, making music, and connecting with people working toward a more sustainable food system.
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This article is based on publicly available information. Lab Grown Technologies is not affiliated with the inventors or organizations mentioned.
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