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Roscosmos and URSC will continue supporting 3D-bioprinting experiments

A press conference dedicated to the 3D-bioprinting experiment results under microgravitation took place in the Museum of Cosmonautics.

Hero of the Russian Federation, the first bioprinting experiment participant, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Invitro Director General Alexander Ostrovsky, 3D Bioprinting Solutions Managing Partner Yusef Khesuani, Skolkovo Fund Advanced Production Technologies, Nuclear and Space Technologies Cluster project manager Ivan Kosenkov and United Rocket and Space Corporation Executive Director Nikolai Burdeyniy took part in the event.

Earlier, the experiment to print meat onboard the International Space Station was successfully performed using the magnetic bioprinter “Organ.Avt”. The experiment included producing cow, rabbit and fish sample pieces using corresponding cells. The experiment unique character is that it was performed under special conditions, microgravity, as well as the technology specifics itself, which doesn’t require using natural resources. So, for example to produce 1 kilogram of beef on Earth, one requires 15,000 liters of water, pasture and a cow itself.

The method of meat bioprinting is about copying and reproducing natural process of cell regeneration found in the live organism in laboratory conditions. The experiment carried out under extreme conditions with microgravity shows a success and wide perspectives of rational food industry technologies without excessive natural resources usage and environmental pollution.

According to the UN forecasts, the Earth’s population by 2050 will reach 10 billion people, which will dramatically increase the food demand. According to the UN intergovernmental expert commission climate change report published in September 2019, the traditional cattle breeding has a drastic effect on climate change and poses a threat to the world’s food security.

Studying the printed specimens will allow understanding the interaction between various tissue cells and enhance the scientific base needed to create the scalable production. According to OECD forecast, by 2025 world beef consumption will grow by 8% compared to 2018, reaching 27 million tons. Meanwhile, according to various polls, from 20% to 50% of consumers are ready to try cultured meat products. In case the price of 1 kilogram of cultured meat is brought down to the “usual” meat, this market might grow to $50 billion by 2025.

The international project was carried out in cooperation between Roscosmos, 3D Bioprinting Solutions Russian laboratory, Skolkovo Fund Advanced Production Technologies Cluster, Russian Invitro company, as well as Israeli biotechnological food company Aleph Farms.

United Rocket and Space Corporation Executive Director Nikolai Burdeyniy: “Since 2000, 77 applied scientific programs have been implemented at the Russian segment of the ISS; the crew has devoted more than 19,000 hours to experiments. Roscosmos together with URSC has developed a system of commercial experiments and is forming a project roadmap. We are going to facilitate the process of preparing and carrying out such experiments, cut the time and set it in a specially designed industry provision. We are actively working with direct clients to make the industry documents correlate with the clients’ interests”.