GOURMEY and DeepLife unveil world’s first avian digital twin to advance cultivated meat

GOURMEY has announced a major step forward in cultivated meat innovation with the launch of the world’s first avian digital twin, developed in collaboration with French biotech DeepLife. The system pairs GOURMEY’s proprietary cultivation technology and analytical infrastructure with DeepLife’s AI-powered modeling to simulate and optimize every stage of cell-based meat production.

According to the company, the digital twin enables virtual experimentation that accelerates R&D, reduces cost, and fine-tunes critical variables such as protein yield, fat structure, and umami profile. “Thanks to years of investment in advanced analytics, high-resolution infrastructure, and data-driven R&D, GOURMEY has built a unique proprietary data advantage,” it said in a statement. “This puts us years ahead in unlocking the full potential of AI-powered biology.”

The foundation of this approach is detailed in a recent preprint co-authored by members of GOURMEY’s team, which outlines the construction of a high-resolution avian interactome model built from multi-omics data – transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic – collected from duck embryonic stem cells cultivated over a seven-day period. The study demonstrates how this model enables causal analysis of cell metabolism and regulatory networks, revealing actionable targets that can be optimized without relying on genetic modification.

To structure these interventions, the research introduces a novel Target-Action-Metabolite (TAM) framework. This allows researchers to map desired cellular outcomes – such as increased proliferation or enhanced fat synthesis – back through the network to metabolites and process parameters that can be adjusted in the culture media. One example highlighted in the study was the identification of oleoyl-lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) as a metabolite that could activate energy-regulating genes like SIRT6, potentially improving cell viability and reducing lipid imbalances.

This science-based strategy directly supports GOURMEY’s goal of reaching cost-competitive production. Its €7/kg (US$7.50/kg) cost trajectory, previously validated by consultancy Arthur D. Little, is being further de-risked through AI-driven optimization, the company says.

Beyond reducing costs, the integration of multi-omics data allows for more sophisticated control over quality attributes such as flavor and nutritional value – key factors for consumer acceptance. The digital twin enables in silico adjustments to media formulations that can shift cellular metabolism toward producing higher levels of unsaturated fats or sensory-relevant compounds, based on network predictions.

The approach is also aligned with growing regulatory interest in non-animal testing methods. The European Food Safety Authority has called for New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) that incorporate systems biology and omics data. GOURMEY’s platform, through its ability to track genome stability, expression profiles, and metabolite outputs across production batches, could support this shift in food safety evaluation.

While digital twin technologies are increasingly used in sectors like aerospace and pharma, this is their first application in cultivated meat – and the first ever reported for avian cells. With this launch, GOURMEY and DeepLife say they are not only accelerating the development of premium cultivated products but also paving the way for broader applications across the alternative protein space.