Entomoculture: Using Insect Cells for Cellular Agriculture

Entomoculture is a subfield of cellular agriculture exploring the use of insect cells as a sustainable food source. Insect cells are favourable as opposed to “traditional” meat cell sources such as bovine or avian cells because they: (1) are generally more resilient and can adapt to a variety of growth conditions, (2) have reduced energy costs because they can be grown at room temperature instead of needing to be heated to physiological temperatures, (3) require simpler and more cost-effective media components compared with traditional cell sources, and (4) can transition between adherent monolayers and suspension cultures to support large-scale cell production. This presentation will cover the rationale for using insect cells for food production, current research efforts in this space, and the challenges we hope to address in future research.