Ning Xiang named Canada Research Chair to tackle cultivated meat scale-up

Dr Ning Xiang has been named Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Cellular Agriculture at the University of Alberta, supporting a research program focused on the cells, scaffolds, bioreactors and culture media needed to make cultivated meat production more affordable.

• Ning Xiang was named Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Cellular Agriculture, joining six University of Alberta researchers recognized in the federal program’s latest cycle.
• Her research program targeted cultivated meat production costs through animal cell culture, edible scaffolds, bioreactor development and strategies to recycle cell culture media.
• Xiang’s group secured funding for a dedicated laboratory renovation, while identifying pilot-scale cultivated meat production as a longer-term objective for its research.

The appointment was included in the university’s October 23 announcement of its latest Canada Research Chairs. Xiang is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences, working in the Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science.

Her program brings together cell biology, materials science and bioprocess engineering. Alongside developing animal cell culture technologies and food-compatible scaffolds, the team is investigating ways to remove waste products from culture media so that the nutrient-containing liquid can be reused.

Media recycling is one of several areas through which Xiang aims to reduce resource consumption and production costs. Her research also covers bioreactor design, including improvements to cell density, nutrient delivery and oxygenation, and the development of stable animal cell lines suited to cultivated meat production.

The appointment comes as Xiang establishes the facilities and research team needed to carry out that work. According to an account published by Cultivated X, drawing on an interview with New Harvest, she is overseeing a Canada Foundation for Innovation-funded renovation to create a dedicated cell culture laboratory within her department.

The department’s food science focus means the group is developing cellular agriculture capabilities in an environment already concerned with food composition, processing, safety and consumer acceptance. Xiang’s stated research interests include assessing the flavor, texture and nutritional value of cultivated meat, alongside developing food safety assessment protocols.

The laboratory renovation is a step toward a longer-term ambition to establish a pilot-scale cultivated meat production line. No production capacity or commissioning date was identified in the account, and the pilot line remains a research objective rather than an operational facility.

Xiang joined the university in September 2024 following a recruitment process involving New Harvest. The appointment followed the university’s 2022 partnership with the nonprofit to establish an Institute of Cellular Agriculture.

Before moving to Edmonton, Xiang conducted postdoctoral research at the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture under Professor David Kaplan. She obtained her PhD in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University.

Her previous research included non-animal edible scaffolds and microcarriers, with work examining how these materials support cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation. She also co-founded Chinese cultivated meat company CellX, contributing to the development of fibrous scaffolds and degradable microcarriers.

The Alberta group now has eight students working across cell line development, edible scaffolds, media formulation and recycling, bioprocessing, and consumer and sensory research, according to the Cultivated X report. Its funding includes an NSERC Discovery Grant.

Two PhD students, Bowen Wang and Hannah Chang, are supported through New Harvest’s Cellular Agriculture Prairies Ecosystem, or CAPE, project. Their work addresses bovine cell lines for cultivated meat and fat production.

New Harvest’s description of Wang’s project identifies cell expansion and attachment-dependent growth as obstacles to scaling cultivated beef. His research involves bovine satellite cells and fibroblasts isolated from Alberta cattle, with the aim of establishing stable cell lines and guidelines for their development.

CAPE connects academic and industry partners to investigate how agricultural resources from the Canadian Prairies could supply cellular agriculture and food biomanufacturing. Its research includes using crop side streams to develop alternatives to conventional cell culture inputs.

Xiang has also assembled a network of 20 to 30 principal investigators across the university, spanning food science, engineering, biology and computing science. The group intends to pursue joint funding as an initial step toward a formally recognized center or institute.

Securing research funding remains a practical challenge. In the New Harvest interview reported by Cultivated X, Xiang highlighted university-industry grants that require companies to provide matching contributions. Early-stage cultivated meat businesses often lack the spare capital to support long-term academic projects, limiting researchers’ access to those programs.

“I believe we need more funding mechanisms that recognize the unique challenges of emerging food technologies and support innovation before a mature industry is established,” Xiang said.

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