Prof. Carola Nielser, UKZN, believes cellular agriculture offers a sustainable solution to food security.

At the University of KwaZulu- Natal (UKZN), Professor Carola Nielser’s research focuses on stem cells from muscle and fat tissue. However, what she didn’t expect was to be researching cultured meat in a dish.

“For my Ph.D, I was looking at stem cells and how they can become muscle, fat or other tissue,” says Nielser. “When we’re looking at muscle, we’re looking at it purely from a cell point of view. Which cells make up muscle? What do you need to culture? How do you increase the number of cells and make them become the right kind of muscle that you need?”