What's Your Problem? Growing Meat from Cells
Sep 25, 2025
Justin Kolbeck, co-founder and CEO of Wildtype, is on a mission to revolutionize seafood by cultivating salmon cells without harming fish. He discusses the thrill of watching heart cells beat, the challenges of scaling production, and navigating regulatory hurdles. Justin emphasizes the urgency of addressing wild fish stock issues and details their journey from lab experiments to potential cost-effective solutions. With taste tests showing consumers can't tell the difference from traditional salmon, Wildtype aims for a sustainable future in seafood.
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Seeing Cells Beat Sparked The Idea
- Justin saw beating human cardiomyocytes in a friend's lab and realized cells “know what to do.”
- That moment convinced him growing edible tissue from cells felt doable compared to therapeutic work.
Humble Lab Start And A Christmas Eve Origin
- Justin and Arie started in a small rented biotech bench and ran thousands of experiments to find usable cells.
- Their starter salmon cells came from a fish Arie dissected on Christmas Eve 2018.
Three Breakthroughs To Close Cost Gaps
- The path from a $300,000 prototype to commercial scale required three breakthroughs: right cells, cheap feed, and engineering.
- Each step cut costs by orders of magnitude to make vat-grown salmon feasible.