To grow meat without an animal, some labs are still relying on an animal product. Fetal bovine serum, drawn from cattle blood, is the standard fuel for growing cells. It also happens to be one of the most expensive liquids in the lab, varies from batch to batch in ways that make experiments hard to repeat, and carries a real risk of viral or bacterial contamination. As long as cultured meat depends on it, the cow never fully leaves the process. Tufts University proposes a cleaner source: feed the cells with the insides of microbes instead.
What's actually in the broth
The method comes down to lysates, which are microbial cells broken open so the useful contents spill out. Grow the microbes cheaply, burst them, filter the result, and you get a nutrient-dense liquid that feeds animal cells about as well as serum does. The filing names a specific roster [WO2026090612A1]: Vibrio natriegens, a marine bacterium that can double its population in under ten minutes; Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the same yeast used in bread and beer; and several Lactobacillus strains from the family behind yogurt and fermentation. Bursting them open is done by sonication, high-frequency sound that shakes a cell apart from the inside.
The results are where it gets even more interesting. Cells grown on lysate media matched or outpaced conventional media, and held that performance over long stretches for immortalized bovine muscle cells and mackerel cells alike. Two details stand out. In one version, the bacteria are engineered to produce FGF-2, an expensive growth signal cells depend on, so the microbe manufactures it on site. In another, used culture liquid gets fed back to grow the next batch of microbes, so a costly waste stream becomes raw material.
Why this comes out of Tufts
Tufts University runs one of the field's central labs through its Center for Cellular Agriculture, where the research consistently targets what makes cultivated meat expensive rather than chasing novelty. This filing lands right in that pattern. It goes after the single costliest ingredient in the recipe and answers it with something a fermentation facility could realistically produce at volume.
Congratulations and a warm thank you to the inventors: James Dolgin, Damayanti Chakravarty, Taehwan Lim, David Kaplan, Nikhil Nair, and Avani Vaid, for showing that common microbes can do the job of a costly, cow-derived ingredient.
About the Author
I’m Kandice Vincent, a writer and editor covering cellular agriculture, food tech, and the future of how we produce and consume food. I work closely with founders, researchers, and mission-driven companies to turn complex science into something people can actually understand. I care deeply about where food is headed, how we get there, and who’s shaping that future. Based in Mexico, I’m usually writing with my rescue dog Taco nearby, who remains unimpressed by patents but highly invested in mealtimes.
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