We are glad to announce that Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (RKMVERI) will be conducting a special lecture on “A Microbial Platform for a Novel Ingredient to Make Meat from Plants” on 22 Dec 2023, 12 noon at Seminar Hall, Narendrapur Campus.
Speaker : Dr. Bisajoy Roy-Chaudhuri, Principal Scientist Impossible Foods, Redwood City, CA, USA.
Co-ordinator: Dr. Kishor Kumar and Dr. Dipak Manna
Abstract
Impossible Foods is a US-based company that specializes in producing meat products from plants. The company is on a mission to make the global food system truly sustainable by eliminating the need to make food from animals. One of our flagship products is the Impossible Burger, a plant-based burger patty that mimics the taste and texture of meat.
The key ingredient in Impossible Foods’ products is heme, a molecule universal to life that gives meat its characteristic flavor and color. At Impossible Foods, we produce heme bound to leghemoglobin (LegH), a plant protein, via fermentation of genetically engineered Pichia pastoris. As part of the strain development effort, we have taken a two-pronged approach, overexpressing LegH and heme synthesis enzymes to produce functional heme-bound protein. Optimization of the transcriptional and translational landscape has enabled a more than 100-fold improvement in LegH titer.