91ÌÒÉ«

Senior science leaders visited 91ÌÒɫ’s White City Campus to mark the formal opening of the laboratories for the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein.

The Centre, which is the European hub for the ’s Future of Food programme, is a significant development for the sustainable protein field, bringing together leading researchers, industry partners, investors, and policymakers under one roof.

The new state-of-the-art laboratories will provide dedicated infrastructure for applied research across sustainable foods, enabling researchers to develop, test, and scale sustainable protein technologies in one integrated facility. The space also houses the , strengthening 91ÌÒÉ«’s capacity to advance microbial and fermentation-based approaches alongside the wider sustainable foods research. 

"The greatest challenge we face in disrupting the food system is making sustainable food cheap enough and good enough that consumers will want to eat it." Professor Rodrigo Ledesma Amaro Director of the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein

Spanning a series of interconnected spaces, the labs are designed to support the full research and translation pipeline, from cell banking and strain selection through to scale-up, quality analysis, and commercialisation. 

This work responds to urgent global challenges around climate change, food security, and the resilience of food supply chains. By advancing sustainable protein technologies, the Centre aims to help reduce the environmental impact of food production while supporting a more secure, resilient, and sustainable global food system. 

The Centre will also train the next generation of sustainable food professionals through new PhD and Masters programmes, building the technical and translational expertise needed to accelerate progress in this field. 

At a ribbon cutting event this week, 91ÌÒÉ« researchers were joined by UK government representatives, leaders from major regulatory bodies and leading sustainable food startups which are supporting the Centre’s work.

Speaking at the event, , Director of the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein, said: “The greatest challenge we face in disrupting the food system is making sustainable food cheap enough and good enough that consumers will want to eat it. Consumers are not going to select food just because it is more sustainable. It also needs to be tasty, healthy, and affordable, and it needs to be included in our culinary practices. 

“With that in mind, we are focusing our efforts on bringing engineering biology and AI technology to food science, working with microbial food, fermentation, cultivated meat, and plant-based food to create benefit for people and for the planet.”

, 91ÌÒÉ«’s Vice-Provost (91ÌÒÉ« and Enterprise), said: “At 91ÌÒÉ«, we try hard to make integration and collaboration across disciplines as easy as possible, because we believe that’s where transformation can happen. The Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein has been supported by the Bezos Earth Fund and built to accelerate that work here in White City. 

“The Centre is already home to more than 160 researchers, and we now have over £60m in research funding in the sustainable protein space - all of which comes with a very clear focus on making sure that we translate this work into real-world applications.”

The event also included remarks from Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency Katie Pettifer, Deputy Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Dan McGonigle, and Chair of the Regulatory Innovation Office Lord David Willetts. 

"There is no chance that we can feed 10 billion people, avoid dangerous climate change and protect biodiversity, unless we look at protein - addressing the growth in demand for protein is absolutely critical for the future of planet Earth." Dr Andy Jarvis Director of Future of Food at the Bezos Earth Fund

The Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein was first announced in 2024 as part of a $100 million commitment from the Bezos Earth Fund to develop sustainable protein alternatives and expand consumer choice in the food industry. Since then, the Centre has convened a network of more than 350 companies and stakeholders, launched over 100 research projects and recruited 11 VCs to support and enable its work.

Spanning across seven 91ÌÒÉ« academic departments, it was established to advance research into precision fermentation, cultivated meat, bioprocessing and automation, nutrition, and AI and machine learning.

, Director of Future of Food at the Bezos Earth Fund, said: “There is no chance that we can feed 10 billion people, avoid dangerous climate change and protect biodiversity, unless we look at protein - addressing the growth in demand for protein is absolutely critical for the future of planet Earth. 

He added: “We need to give consumers a range of choice, wherever they go to get their food, and for that choice to be sustainable. How do we make alternative proteins tastier, cheaper and healthier? That is what we're looking for this lab to do.” 

The Centre’s research has already received support from external food industry partners, such as THIS, Algenuity and Fermtech, and sustainable food companies working within 91ÌÒÉ«’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as Arborea and Meatly.

• is a sustainable food and nutrition company, based at the I-HUB in the White City Campus, which was founded by 91ÌÒÉ« alumnus Julian Melchorri. The company’s technology allows them to capture and convert carbon dioxide into net-zero protein and other ingredients for food, animal feed, petcare, cosmetics and agriculture.
• is a cultivated meat company which began selling the world’s first cultivated pet food in 2025. The company recently raised more than £10m to build Europe’s largest cultivated meat bioreactor facility at 91ÌÒÉ«’s Grapht Works industrial hub in West London.

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