FEX without cow meat? The Mexican company that prints meat … and dreams of creating artificial organs

Imagine the entry of the butcher in the future. There are no animals, or traditional pieces. instead of, 3D printer working silentlyCreate a slice of beet -shaped vegetable meat. It is not a scientific imagination: It is a fact that already happens in Mexico.

Foods, led by Dr. Mario Moise, by Fariz and his wife Gracel, Creating a revolution in the way we eat… and the way we can activate.

Everything began with the skin

Before thinking about the free hamburger, Dr. Alvarez team had a clear goal: Helping people to renew the skin. The goal Create artificial fabrics for patients with skin diseasesBurns or even to try cosmetics without using animals.

You may be interested in reading: Mexican scientists create vegetable meat in three -dimensional. Will you try it?

They started cultivating laboratory cells, a slightly similar process What happens with the mother of the breadIt starts from a living base that feeds, grows and doubles. With this technique, they developed skin models and also managed to grow neurons.

“We have already worked with the skin and neurons. In the case of the skin, this can serve both for therapeutic purposes and for security tests in cosmetics or toxins,” explains Alvarez.

However, to advance in more complex fabrics, such as the kidneys, they had to face a great challenge: How to repeat pores that allow nutrients to reach cellsAs the capillaries do in the human body. There was where I entered the three -dimensional printing technology it developed.

Betabel who wanted to look like meat

The same technique that sought to renew the skin soon Served for another experience: food printing. One of his most exciting creations It was a beet -shaped vegetarian sheetDesigned to simulate meat tissue and make dinner doubt.

“We wanted to ask dinner: What I have in front of him, is it meat or not?

The printer they designed in their laboratory is able to produce up to 1 kilo of vegetable meat per hour. To better understand it, álvarez launches an unexpected comparison:

“A cow, if you calculate, produce only 16 grams of useful meat per hour. We print 1000 grams. It’s almost 100 times faster.”

Peas

Instead of using soybeans, such as many vegetable alternatives, Choose a different protein: peas. the reason? Consume less water, It has a more neutral flavor, and causes less sensitivity As well It is nourishing.

“We evaluate many proteins, but the peas have a very interesting balance between sustainability and the value of protein,” the researcher says.

Thanks to the elasticity of your printer, the team Figure, fat and texture can be controlled Even Printing objective characters such as bats for all saints. All this with accessible materials such as Coconut oil, peas and tubers.

3D printing for recovery

The most promising thing is that this technology too It can be used to print human organs. They are currently seeking financing collegeMember The demand for high transplants.

“We are stuck in tissue engineering because we need to repeat how nutrients reach the body. All cells are close to capillary vessels. We have to mimic this in artificial tissues.”

This progress will not only work for transplants, but also to experience medicines and cosmetics without resorting to animal models. They have already tried the system to conduct skin toxicity studies and kidneys.

Open flag, open doors

Foods are also betting Training new generations of scientists. at the moment They cooperate with 10 graduate students and more than 30 volunteersSome external universities.

For example, Alejandro started as a volunteer and today is part of the team in another project on cancer.

“We are interested in forming talent, and this always means that there are open doors for those who want to learn,” Alvarez says.

the future? Laboratory-Cardicia Laboratories in every colony

Although this looks a yotopoy, foods imagine the printed vegetable meat privileges in different colonies. But besides the advertisement, what they are looking for is to make scientific research and consolidate it behind the project.

“This has started as a scientific investigation … But now it is somewhat greater. It allows us to explain what we do and attract the looks to the Mexican flag,” Alvarez concludes.

BGPA