Identification and Characterization of Species-Specific Genetic Elements for GMO-Free Cultivated Meat Engineering

PhD Program Overview

The Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein at Imperial College London, in collaboration with the Department of Chemical Engineering, is offering a fully funded PhD opportunity focused on the identification and characterization of species-specific genetic elements for GMO-free cultivated meat engineering. This project aims to develop a “cis-genic” genetic engineering toolkit for cultivated beef, using bovine-only genetic parts to enhance cell proliferation, differentiation and growth without triggering GMO labelling.

Research Focus

• Identification and characterisation of native bovine genetic elements
• Machine learning for genetic part design
• CRISPR-Cas9 cell engineering
• Open-access bovine genetic part registry

Supervisory Team

Principal Investigator: Francesca Ceroni, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London
Co-supervisor: Cleo Kontoravdi, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London