Natalie Rubio is the First Person in the World to Complete a PhD in Cellular Agriculture
Species Unite
elizabeth novogratz
5.0 • 911 Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2021
⏱️ 39 minutes
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Summary
"… a lot of the platform technologies do not make sense from a food perspective, and there's just never been a reason to do things a different way. So, for example, cell culture is very expensive and very resource intensive because the medical field doesn't really need those things to be done in a very cost-effective manner - because people, have a high cost thresh hold when it comes to paying for their own healthcare and drugs… But it's totally different when we're thinking about food." – Natalie Rubio
- Natalie Rubio
Natalie Rubio recently made history as the first person on the planet to complete a PhD in cellular agriculture, which is the production of animal-sourced foods from cell culture or meat that is grown in a lab without using animals.
Her thesis: Entomoculture: Insect Cell Cultivation for Cellular Agriculture, makes the case for growing meat from insect cells. (Natalie also coined the term "entomoculture.")
All of the above is beyond exciting for 8 million reasons, for Natalie and for all of humanity. Every milestone in the world of cellular agriculture, academically or as an industry, is a massive step toward building a food system that is sustainable and humane, a food system that does not involve factory farms, slaughterhouses, cruelty, and suffering.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Species, unite, unites. One of the most interesting experiences is when me and one of my colleagues at Tfts presented our research at the Reciprocal Meat Science Conference in Fort Collins. |
| 0:27.0 | We went to give this presentation to a room full of animal science, meat science people. |
| 0:33.6 | And it was most beneficial conference |
| 0:36.7 | that I've been to just because the questions we got |
| 0:38.4 | were so nuanced and from this perspective |
| 0:40.9 | that we hadn't thought of like when we were talking about. There won't be any. from this |
| 0:45.0 | we hadn't thought of like when we were talking about. |
| 0:44.0 | There won't be any microbes and this will be pure muscle, fat cells or whatever. |
| 0:50.0 | And one of the questions we got was, you know, |
| 0:52.0 | there are some good bacteria in the food we eat. |
| 0:56.0 | So you're not getting the bad bacteria, but you're also not getting the good bacteria. |
| 0:59.5 | So how will that affect people's micro, biomes and health? were like I don't I don't know. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Novigrats. This is Species Unite. We have a favor to ask. If you like today's |
| 1:20.7 | episode and you have a spare minute, could you please rate and review |
| 1:25.1 | Species Unite on Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to Podcast. It really helps people |
| 1:31.7 | to find the show. |
| 1:33.0 | This conversation is with Natalie Rubio. |
| 1:41.0 | Natalie recently made history as the first person on the planet to complete a |
| 1:46.2 | PhD in cellular agriculture. |
| 1:49.5 | Her thesis was on Insect Cellular Agriculture. This is exciting for about 8 million reasons, for |
| 1:55.8 | Natalie and for humanity. Cellular agriculture as a field of study is a massive step toward |
| 2:02.1 | building a food system that is sustainable and humane. Hi. How are you? |
| 2:24.0 | I'm good, nice to meet you. |
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