Dr Marianne Ellis

Bath University
CARMA - Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Hub

Marianne Ellis, BEng, PhD, CEng, MIChemE, is a Professor of BioProcess & Tissue Engineering at the University of Bath (UK). Her research is focused on bioprocess design for tissue engineering applications, currently focused on sustainable manufacturing for cellular agriculture, including in her role as Director of the EPSRC Sustainable Manufacturing Hub, CARMA. More broadly, she has interests in the scale up of non-animal technologies (in vitro models and cellular agriculture), and cell therapies. Marianne is one of the founders of the cellular agriculture community in the UK, involved since 2012 and has acted in an advisory capacity to the UK government and international government agencies and charities. Marianne has twice successfully translated sustainable manufacturing technologies from university research to industry, having co-founded two companies, including Cellular Agriculture Ltd.

Dr Elliot Swartz

Good Food Institute

Dr Elliot Swartz is a principal scientist specializing in cultivated meat at The Good Food Institute (GFI) (www.gfi.org), an international network of nonprofit organizations developing the roadmap for a sustainable, secure, and just protein supply. Elliot’s work at GFI focuses on analyzing the technical and economic bottlenecks facing the cultivated meat industry, identifying opportunities to accelerate the industry, and educating scientists, the public, and other industry stakeholders. For the past six years, Elliot has worked on projects ranging from food safety and environmental impact to in-depth analysis of the cultivated meat value chain. Elliot holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he worked with induced pluripotent stem cells to model neuromuscular disease.

Dr Sebastian Rakers

BLUU Seafood

Dr Sebastian Rakers (born 1980) is co-founder and managing director of BLUU Seafood. Trained as a cell and marine biologist, he can draw on more than twelve years of experience in the development of cell cultures from various fish species. Prior to founding BLUU Seafood, Sebastian was deputy department head of the Marine Biotechnology Division at the Fraunhofer Development Centre for Marine and Cellular Biotechnology (EMB) in Lübeck. At BLUU Seafood, he is responsible for research and development of cell lines, cell culture media and product development but also for business strategy, people business and investor relations.

Dr Will van den Tweel

Those Vegan Cowboys

After getting his PhD in Biotechnology (1988) from the Agricultural University in Wageningen (The Netherlands), Will joined DSM in the Netherlands. During his 30+ years at DSM, he held various international management positions in Research, Business Development and Business Management. Under his leadership multiple sustainable biobased processes were commercialized (fine chemicals, semi-synthetic antibiotics, bio-succinic, and canola protein). Early 2020 Will joined Those Vegan Cowboys. Those Vegan Cowboys, is an initiative of the founders of The Vegetarian Butcher (sold at the end of 2018 to Unilever). The aim of Those Vegan Cowboys is to sustainably produce milk proteins by efficient microbial fermentation processes. Focus is especially on caseins, and using these caseins for making good tasting cow-free cheese.