Difference between revisions of "Real Vegan Cheese"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Maria Chavez (talk | contribs) |
|||
| (12 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) | |||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
* Biology | * Biology | ||
** Getting the major casein | ** Getting the major [[Molecular_biology#Proteins|casein proteins]] expressed, and ideally secreted. | ||
** Achieving a high level of expression. | ** Achieving a high level of expression. | ||
** Ensuring | ** Ensuring any necessary [[Molecular_biology#Post-translational_modification|post-translational modifications]] take place. | ||
** Cost-efficient protein purification. | ** Cost-efficient [[protein purification]]. | ||
** Stable micelle-formation. | ** [[Molecular_biology#Role_of_phosphorylation_and_glycosylation_in_micelle_formation_or_coagulation |Stable micelle-formation.]] | ||
** Finding a suitable milk-fat replacement. | ** Finding a suitable milk-fat replacement. | ||
** Finding a suitable lactose replacement | ** Finding a suitable lactose replacement | ||
* Ethical and | * [[Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications]] | ||
** A comparison between yeast bioreactors and dairy cows will be essential | ** A comparison between yeast bioreactors and dairy cows will be essential | ||
** [[Life Cycle Analyses]] | |||
* Safety | * Safety | ||
| Line 28: | Line 29: | ||
= Getting involved = | = Getting involved = | ||
[https://www.realvegancheese.org/news/so-you-want-to-join-the-real-vegan-cheese-project-orientation-for-new-folks '''So, you want to join the Real Vegan Cheese project? - Orientation for new folks'''] - September 2022 blog post. | |||
Here are some different ways to get involved: | Here are some different ways to get involved: | ||
*Go to one of our Monday evening working meetings: | *Go to one of our Monday evening working meetings 7pm PST: | ||
**[https://www.meetup.com/counter-culture-labs/events/calendar/ Counter Culture Labs Meetup calendar] | **[https://www.meetup.com/counter-culture-labs/events/calendar/ Counter Culture Labs Meetup calendar] | ||
**[https://www.meetup.com/biocurious/events/calendar/ BioCurious Meetup calendar] | **[https://www.meetup.com/biocurious/events/calendar/ BioCurious Meetup calendar] | ||
| Line 38: | Line 40: | ||
*[https://realvegancheese.org/contribute/ Help fund the project] | *[https://realvegancheese.org/contribute/ Help fund the project] | ||
*Send us an email at info@counterculturelabs.org | *Send us an email at info@counterculturelabs.org | ||
*Add to this wiki. | *Add to this wiki. | ||
| Line 52: | Line 53: | ||
**[[Bacterial cultures]] | **[[Bacterial cultures]] | ||
**[[Educational Videos]] | **[[Educational Videos]] | ||
*[[Narwhal]] | *[[Narwhal Cheese]]! | ||
*[[Experiments started January 2016]] | *[[Experiments started January 2016]] | ||
*[[Shared Laboratory Notebook]] | *[[Shared Laboratory Notebook]] | ||
| Line 60: | Line 61: | ||
*[[Existing vegan cheeses]] | *[[Existing vegan cheeses]] | ||
*[[Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications]] | *[[Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications]] | ||
*[[Health effects and cancer link]] | *[[Health effects: allergy and cancer link]] | ||
*[[Product viability]] | *[[Product viability]] | ||
*[[Budget, planning and orders]] | *[[Budget, planning and orders]] | ||
Revision as of 02:54, 23 May 2023
The goal of this project is to make real vegan cheese by engineering normal baker's yeast (S. cerevisiae) to express milk protein (casein), purifying the protein, creating a milk-substitute by blending in vegan replacements for lactose and milkfat, and finally turning the resulting milk-substitute into semi-hard cheese like gouda using the normal cheese-making process. Watch a brief video about the project.
The main challenges include:
- Biology
- Getting the major casein proteins expressed, and ideally secreted.
- Achieving a high level of expression.
- Ensuring any necessary post-translational modifications take place.
- Cost-efficient protein purification.
- Stable micelle-formation.
- Finding a suitable milk-fat replacement.
- Finding a suitable lactose replacement
- Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications
- A comparison between yeast bioreactors and dairy cows will be essential
- Life Cycle Analyses
- Safety
- Ensuring a safe and responsible research environment is already a key goal of CCL and BioC, but we will have to field potential safety concerns specifically related to the Real Vegan Cheese project.
- Funding and spreading the word
- We have raised about $37,000 on indiegogo and the funding we raised is being used on developing the feasibility of producing Real Vegan Cheese from baker's yeast.
- Patents
- We plan to patent and abandon to keep this technology free for everyone
- Education
- Providing hands-on lab training.
Getting involved
So, you want to join the Real Vegan Cheese project? - Orientation for new folks - September 2022 blog post.
Here are some different ways to get involved:
- Go to one of our Monday evening working meetings 7pm PST:
- Read our Introductory mini-textbook (work in progress)
- Get on one or more of our mailing lists
- Help fund the project
- Send us an email at info@counterculturelabs.org
- Add to this wiki.
Project topics
- Science
- Narwhal Cheese!
- Experiments started January 2016
- Shared Laboratory Notebook
- How to take notes and record data
- Questions and answers
- Cheese making
- Existing vegan cheeses
- Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications
- Health effects: allergy and cancer link
- Product viability
- Budget, planning and orders
- Wetware inventory
- Software
- External communications
- Service and reagent providers - Sequencing, synthesis, enzymes, etc.
- Bureaucracy
- Video - Video and audio documentation, teleconferencing and live-streaming
- Finances - Incoming monies, purchases, etc.
- Media - Articles written about us
- Similar projects - Other people doing similar stuff