Inside a lab in Zurich at ETH’s Institute of Human Movement Sciences, researchers are growing beef—not on farms, but in petri dishes.
It’s not the first time researchers have cultivated meat in the lab. But until now, muscle fibers, the very thing that gives meat its structure and bite, were a stubborn problem. When grown in labs, they were thin and limp, not really like real beef.
But that’s about to change. A team led by regenerative biology expert Ori Bar-Nur has found a way to coax bovine cells into forming thick, functional muscle fibers that not only look and behave more like real meat but may one day taste like it, too.
A Molecular Recipe for Better Meat
The breakthrough hinges on a carefully crafted cocktail: three small molecules, added to a nutrient-rich medium where bovine muscle precursor cells called myoblasts are grown. These molecules act as signposts, guiding the cells through the complex steps of muscle formation.
The approach isn’t new in principle. Bar-Nur developed it years ago while studying degenerative muscle diseases in mice at Harvard. But applying it to cow cells is a leap into uncharted territory.
The team began by extracting cells from standard beef cuts—fillet, sirloin, cheek, and flank—rather than from live animals. With the three-molecule mix, the myoblasts formed thick, contracting muscle fibers. Under the microscope, the lab-grown fibers pulsed gently, just like natural muscle.
From Petri Dish to Your Plate
The findings, published this week in Advanced Science, are a major step forward in cultivated meat technology. Using bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing, proteomics, and even RNA velocity analysis (which tracks how cells transition from one state to another), they mapped how cells change from raw material to muscle tissue.
With this enhanced technique, the researchers created 3D skeletal muscle structures—tiny steaks of lab-grown meat. Unlike earlier efforts that yielded flat or stringy muscle, these constructs showed organized tissue patterns that could contract on their own. “We observed prominent contractility solely in bovine muscle rings produced with the iFRhi or iFRC conditions,” the authors wrote.
What’s more, these lab-grown tissues included not only slow-twitch (endurance) fibers but also fast-twitch (powerful, glycolytic) ones—the kind typically found in real steaks. Some of these muscle fiber types had never been produced before in vitro.
“Meat Without Murder”
The broader promise of cultivated meat is sweeping: reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut land and water use, and spare billions of animals from slaughter. According to Bar-Nur, it’s also about providing meat that’s safer and more customizable. “These innovative new food products will have to undergo a prolonged and complex authorisation procedure before they reach shop shelves and, ultimately, our plates,” said Adhideb Ghosh, the study’s co-lead author.
So far, the ETH team has only grown a few grams of muscle—far from the many ounces needed for a burger, let alone a steakhouse menu. Scaling up remains a major challenge. The cost of growth media, regulatory hurdles, and public acceptance all stand in the way.
But the momentum is building. Lab-grown chicken is already approved for sale in Singapore. In the U.S., the USDA greenlit cultivated chicken in 2023. Beef, which is more complex due to its thicker muscle fibers and fat content, is the next frontier.
The Zurich team is now exploring commercial possibilities. Bar-Nur is considering launching a start-up to turn their findings into a product.
The research is funded in part by the Good Food Institute, an advocacy group focused on plant- and cell-based meat, and by Swiss public funding through Innosuisse.
Will It Taste Like the Real Thing?
Bar-Nur hasn’t tasted the meat himself—Swiss regulations don’t yet allow it—but some of his colleagues have, through sanctioned tastings elsewhere. Their verdict? Similar to real meat.
Which makes sense, because it technically is meat. The only difference is that no cow needed to die to make it.
Still, hurdles remain. The muscle fibers need fat for flavor. The cost of the medium must come down. And most importantly, consumers will have to decide if this future of food is one they want on their plates.
But for the scientists in Zurich, one thing is clear: what once seemed like science fiction is inching toward science fact. And the beef of tomorrow might just come from a bioreactor, not a barn.
