This includes identification of key factors affecting the growth of cultivated fish cells
Avant and A*STAR’s Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) have inked a research collaboration to jointly advance the scale-up of Avant’s proprietary process to enable cost-effective, food-grade production of cultivated fish in Singapore and beyond.
The parties will establish a Joint Research Laboratory for Cultivated Fish Bioprocessing in Biopolis, Singapore where both parties will jointly develop and optimise solutions for scalable production of cultivated fish cells. These include the identification of key factors affecting the growth of cultivated fish cells, and the process design to improve scale-up and production economics.
The joint facility will tap on BTI’s deep expertise in bioprocess research and development, including animal cell bioprocessing and multi-omics analytical sciences and technologies.
Avant is the first company in Asia to develop technologies for fish cell cultivation and has showcased multiple commercial products, including fish fillet and marine peptide. Avant is also the first in the world to make cultivated fish maw. Avant has expanded its operations to Singapore in mid-2021 as part of the company’s strategic development and commercialisation.
Avant has hired a team of scientists and engineers for the joint research laboratory and is in the process of setting up its pilot production facility in Singapore by 2022. Singapore is the first nation in the world to approve the sale of cultivated meat. Avant expects their products to be subjected to the same regulations under the Singapore Food Agency’s novel food regulatory framework, which requires companies to seek pre-market assessment for novel food such as alternative protein products that do not have a history of being consumed as food.
Carrie Chan, Co-Founder & CEO, Avant commented, “We expect to gain insights into methodologies that can potentially be applied in other cell types as well.”
