K A S H R U T . C O M_©

November 13, 2025 from Food Ingredients First:

"Scientists in Israel have developed a method to naturally “immortalize” cow cells without genetic modification or abnormal transformation — challenging long-held beliefs that genetic methods are the only way bovine cells can renew themselves.

"The discovery addresses one of the most stubborn bottlenecks in cultivated beef and lamb production by providing a “safe, stable, and scalable” source of cells for sustainable and ethical meat production without the environmental toll of traditional livestock farming.

"While similar self-renewal has been achieved previously in chicken cells, this study overturns previous assumptions that such processes were not possible in large mammals due to their natural resistance to cellular transformation, says the team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Believer Meats, who jointly conducted the research.

"The study’s lead, professor Yaakov Nahmias from the Grass Center for Bioengineering at the university founded Believer Meats in 2018, which partnered with GEA last year to enhance the scalability and sustainability of cultivated chicken.

"The process, published in Nature, was driven by the activation of telomerase and PGC1α, allowing the cells to “reset their biological clocks” and regenerate mitochondria.

"The study highlights that in traditional cell biology animal cells stop dividing after a certain number of generations and enter a stage called “senescence.” Until now, cattle cells could only evade this limit through gene editing, which raised concerns around safety and regulatory approval.

"The scientists isolated cells from Holstein and Simmental cows and cultured them in the laboratory for over 500 days. The team tracked the cells’ progression through aging and senescence, “until cell colonies appeared,” he adds.

"After 240 cell generations, they observed “spontaneously renewing” bovine cells, which had never been demonstrated before in large mammals.

"No disruption in the normal growth regulation of the cells was observed during molecular analysis, and the cells retained their DNA repair capabilities, which the authors note depicts a “natural, controlled pathway of renewal.”

"The findings eliminate one of the biggest technical and regulatory barriers to producing affordable cultivated beef, note the researchers. Securing approval across different countries is complex and costly, with manufacturers also facing various bottlenecks around cell line sourcing and culture media.

"Nahmias emphasizes that “stable, self-renewing bovine cell lines” are the cornerstone for scaling cultivated beef. Growing the cells without genetic modification “removes a major technical and regulatory barrier” in the field.

"Looking ahead, the team plans to investigate whether the natural cell renewal process can be applied to other mammals and whether these cells can be developed into muscle and fat tissues suitable for cultivated meat production."