Originally from Edinburgh Owen started out consulting with Bain & Co in the UK and South Africa. He then joined Sanergy, a Nairobi-based start-up, creating a zero-waste system by using insects as animal feed. He scaled their insect protein business creating pilot production, passing regulation, conducting initial sales, and raising funds for what is now East Africa’s largest waste processing facility. While working at Sanergy Owen became vegan and recognised rearing insects did not align with his values. Since leaving Sanergy Owen has worked in six different countries either starting companies or advising corporates. He has previously been funded by US VCs including Lightspeed Ventures and Pear VC, and has advised global food companies, governments, and investors on their plant-based food strategies.
 
Owen has been vegan for the last eight years and believes that moving away from animal agriculture we can create a more peaceful, healthier, and sustainable world.

Helder has a 3y BSc in Chemistry and a 2y specialization in Biotechnology, when he started working with bioreactors, first with bacterial systems and later with animal cells. Helder has a PhD in developing a metabolically-optimised serum- and protein-free animal cell bioreactor production process of a recombinant antibody-cytokine fusion protein for tumour-targeted therapy, sponsored by a major pharma company. He has also two Post-Docs, in establishing cell-based assays under GLP-Good Laboratory Practices and in developing cell and protein-based diagnostics. During his PhD he also engaged into a 2y MBA to acquire management skills.
 
Helder’s work experience of more than 22 years involved the creation and management of cell therapy and biotech companies developing own products and technologies. More recently, in order to use all the learnings acquired before, since the technologies involved are quite similar, Helder moved into cultured meat, when he joined a pioneer company and worked directly with the inventor of the first cultured meat burger. Helder has been consultant and advisor for several companies and institutions and has an extensive number of peer-review publications and patents, some of which have been licensed-out. Helder is highly motivated to making cultivated meat an affordable reality, therefore contributing to an enormous positive impact for humankind.

Kim obtained both her BSc and MSc from Maastricht University in the Netherlands. After her MSc, she continued with her PhD in cardiovascular sciences at the Pathology group in the Maastricht University Medical Center. Within her PhD, the main interest was to investigate atherosclerosis development and the role of immune and mesenchymal cells in this process. Following her PhD, she extended her stay in Maastricht with one year of postdoc, before moving to London for a second postdoc within King’s College London. Here, the main interest was to identify novel targets for treatment after myocardial infarction via stimulation of cardiomyocyte division. This was achieved through high content screening of various proteins and gene interference strategies.

Kim is ready for the next step in her career, by using her obtained research skills within Meatly to contribute to a more sustainable and animal-friendly world. Kim believes that cultivated meat will be a gigantic step forward in achieving this.

Zoe gained an MChem from the University of Oxford, where she studied the binding between membrane proteins and various antibiotic drug candidates using mass spectrometry.
 
After university, Zoe launched her career in the biotech industry as a biotechnologist and then upstream scientist in the process development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). In these roles, Zoe was able to develop her skills in mammalian cell culture and implement novel process designs to decrease the cost of mAb drug products. Zoe is excited to bring her process development background to Meatly, and to apply her experience to rapidly and affordably, optimise and scale up the cultivated meat manufacturing process.

Magno obtained his BSc in Biology and PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Mogi das Cruzes in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The main interest was to evaluate fat cell differentiation and the immunometabolic role of adipose tissue during cancer-cachexia syndrome. He then moved to Prague, where he did a three-year postdoc at the Institute of Physiology at the Czech Academy of Sciences, where he was working with lipid metabolism in obesity conditions. He then joined a biotech company based in Antwerp as a Process Development Scientist to work with bioreactors for avian cell biomass production. He is passionate about sustainability, innovation, and biotechnology and is excited to bring his experience to Meatly and help make cultured meat a reality.

Anastasiia joined the team upon completing her MSc in Molecular Medicine at Imperial College London, where she studied the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of endothelial cell gene expression. Prior to this, Anastasiia completed an BSc Biology degree with a specialisation in Bioorganic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia. Her research explored the efficiency of various promoters for stable and long-term transgene expression in fibroblasts both in vitro and in vivo.

Anastasiia is keen to contribute to the ethical and sustainable future by applying her skills and knowledge in the cultivated meat industry.

Miru graduated with a BSc. in Neuroscience from Queen Mary University of London and completed her dissertation at Blizard Institute, part of Barts and the London School for Medicine and Dentistry, working in the Centre of Genomics and Child Health. She focused on the molecular characterization of long non-coding RNAs in regulating neurodevelopment, project that included optimising differentiation protocols and analysing spatiotemporal gene expression patterns. Her academic background in neurodevelopmental epigenetics and pre-clinical translational biomedicine provided her with extensive experience in tissue biology and mammalian cellular culture necessary for the progressive research ongoing at Meatly’s lab.

Due to being deeply interested in biotech and driven by an endless devotion to animals and nature, Miru wants to use interdisciplinary approaches to create meaningful, innovative and practical solutions for a more ethical and sustainable future.

Desiree completed a BSc in Bioengineering degree from the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC) in Mexico, where she studied the relationships between lipid sources of animal and plant origin in the substitution of fish oil in diets for Seriola dorsalis. During her undergraduate studies, she undertook a Research Internship at the Department of Biomedical Innovation (CICESE), where she worked with cell cultures and cell assay techniques. She then moved to the UK to pursue a master’s degree in Industrial Biotechnology at the University of Aberdeen.

Prior to joining Meatly in June 2023, Desiree worked as a research and development Laboratory Technician in Reagents. Desiree is excited to be part of the Bioprocess Development team as a Bioprocess Scientist and contribute to the scale-up and manufacturing of cultivated meat.

Jordan obtained his BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town, after which his passion for biology and biomimicry led him to pursue an MSc in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at University College London (UCL). After his MSc, he joined the UCL department of Biochemical Engineering for an Engineering Doctorate as part of the UCL-Pall/Cytiva Centre of Excellence. The main focus of his research was the characterisation of a novel bioreactor design for biotherapeutics production, with a focus on mixing and fluid dynamics. He is excited to apply his knowledge on process scale-up and optimisation to help produce an ethical and sustainable source of meat.

Davide obtained his degree in Veterinary Medicine at University of Padova in Italy. He then conducted a PhD at the same university in veterinary science and food safety, with the aim of studying sustainable ingredients for pets nutrition. After investigating the use of blue-green algae for dogs and cats in Italy, he moved to the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture in the US focusing on insects cell lines development and nutritional optimisation. He then concluded his PhD as a visiting researcher at Meatly. He is specialised in evidence-based clinical nutrition and is currently a resident at the European College of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition.

Davide became vegan at the beginning of his veterinary studies, and since then has been contending with a dilemma: how can we feed our pets healthy meat produced in a sustainable and ethical way? He believes cultivated meat is the answer.

Bea is currently pursuing a BSc in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) with The Open University, set to graduate next year, and is balancing part-time studying with full-time work.

Her career in science began in the pharmaceutical industry as a Cell Culture Technician, where she developed her skills in mammalian cell culture. It was during this time that Bea first learned about the cultivated meat industry, a discovery that resonated deeply with her values as a committed vegan. Inspired by the potential of cultivated meat to revolutionize food production and sustainability, she decided to pivot her career to this field and was delighted to join Meatly in March 2024.