Empowering Research in Alternative Proteins: GFI Israel’s 2024 Grant Awards

13 Groundbreaking Projects Selected Across Three Local Programs:

1. Food Security and Protein Supply Chains grant: Leveraging alternative proteins as a platform to enhance national food security. 
2. Joint Research Grant Program in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Innovation, Science & Technology: Continuing our longstanding partnership with the Ministry for the third consecutive year, this program aims to foster innovative research in the field of alternative proteins.
3. Proof-of-Concept Grant: Designed to support groundbreaking ideas addressing challenges in achieving taste and price parity for meat alternatives. 

We are excited to announce the winners of GFI Israel’s 2024 Research Grant Programs and highlight the groundbreaking projects that are shaping the future of alternative proteins. Stay tuned to learn more about these scientists and their impactful work!

1. Food Security and Protein Supply Chains Grant

Food security is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century and is a critical factor for the stability and prosperity of both nations and the global population. National food security refers to a country’s ability to ensure a stable and safe supply of food to its population during both normal times and times of crisis. It is typically divided into three pillars: local production, imports, and storage. Today, much of Israel’s protein consumption relies on imports, including animals and goods transported by sea, such as processed food products or raw materials for local protein production. Over 85% of meat and fish are imported, along with the feed needed for local poultry, egg, and dairy production. We believe that increasing the use of alternative protein substitutes for animal-based food products has the potential to significantly strengthen food security in Israel. In line with this vision, GFI Israel issued a call for research proposals exploring alternative proteins as a means to strengthen national food security. Three outstanding proposals have been selected for further development:

Dr. Sharon Elizur-Schlesinger in collaboration with Prof. Oded Shoseyov

Both researchers are from Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment at the Hebrew University. Dr. Elizur-Schlesinger’s lab specializes in the dynamic identity of stem cells. She is a Senior Lecturer and a member of the Israeli Cultivated Meat Consortium Research Center, where she leads and manages the pilot service center. Prof. Shoseyov specializes in combining plant molecular biology, protein engineering, and nanobiotechnology to develop high-performance materials for affordable and sustainable applications. Their collaborative project will explore how edible plant-based scaffolds can be utilized in the cultivated meat industry while promoting the manufacturing of these products in Israel. The research will focus on food safety and supporting the local agricultural sector.Prof. Yoav Livney
Prof. Livney is an expert in the physical chemistry of food biopolymers, serves as the director of the Technion’s Hecht Sustainable Protein Research Center (SPRC), and the head of the Biopolymers for Food & Health Lab. His project aims to harness the edible fungus Neurospora intermedia to create meat alternatives and advancing sustainability.

Prof. Eyal Shimoni
Prof. Shimoni is a Senior Research Fellow and the Head of Food & Water at the Samuel Neaman Institute for National Policy Research. His project, “Roadmap and key steps for alternative protein towards Israel’s food security 2050”, aims to quantitatively analyze the role of alternative protein in the context of Israel’s food security, focusing on the sustainable and healthy “Israeli plate” in 2050.

2. Joint Research Grant Program in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Innovation, Science & Technology

For the third consecutive year with the  Ministry of Innovation, Science & Technology, we issued a collaborative research grant program, aimed to promote research and development activities in the field of alternative proteins. The global challenges posed by the livestock industry, from public health risks to climate change, are further exacerbated by the increasing demand for animal-based food. This grant program invited researchers to develop innovative solutions and advance the cultivated meat, fermentation, and plant-based alternatives. Six groundbreaking projects were selected:

Prof. Yoav Livney
Prof. Livney’s project aims to develop an alternative protein from yeast to create alternative protein products. The project proposes an innovative and sustainable approach for alternative protein products using yeast, leveraging their ability to grow on agrifood side-streams advancing circular bioeconomy and food security.

Dr. Ben Shahar in collaboration with Prof Eyal Kurzbaum
Dr. Ben Shahar and Prof. Eyal Kurzbaum, both from the Shamir Research Institute, collaborate to utilize novel fungal strains from the Shamir Research Institute Fungal Collection for alternative protein production. Dr. Shahar focuses on isolating natural materials from microorganisms, plants, and agricultural waste, while Prof. Kurzbaum specializes in environmental microbiology, particularly water treatment. Their project develops sustainable mycelium-based proteins through submerged fermentation, aiming to establish these proteins as a viable and sustainable food industry resource.

Dr. Or Shahar
Dr. Or Shahar from Migal Institute, specializing in cell and molecular biology with expertise in cultured cells, has received a grant for his innovative project aimed at establishing cultivated fish cell lines. The project seeks to develop a novel methodology for large-scale cell line production, with the potential to advance the field of edible fish-based cultured cells.

Prof. Havazelet Bianco-Peled in collaboration with Prof Shulamit Levenberg
Both researchers are from the Technion Institute. Prof. Bianco-Peled is the Vice Dean for Teaching Affairs at the Technion’s Faculty of Chemical Engineering and the founder and former Chief Scientific Officer of SEAlantis. She is an expert in bioadhesion and biomedical polymers. Prof.Levenberg is the Vice Dean for Strategic Development at the Technion’s Faculty of Biomedical Engineering and the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Advisor at Aleph Farms.  Prof. Levenberg’s expertise is focused on stem cell and tissue engineering for medical applications and cultivated meat. Their innovative project aims to develop a fat replacement for bio-printed cultivated meat in the form of Pickering emulsions stabilized with nanoparticles. The results of this project are expected to expand scientific knowledge of fat replacement in cultivated meat and its potential effects on muscle cells.

Prof. Tamar Juven-Gershon in collaboration with Prof Amos Danielli
Both researchers are from Bar-Ilan University. Prof. Juven-Gershon is the Vice Dean for Teaching at Bar-Ilan University and an expert in gene expression regulation and promoters engineering.  Prof. Danielli is an expert in in vitro diagnostics and biosensing. Their project, titled “High-Level Expression and Detection of Chicken Growth Factors,” aims to address a key limitation in the cultivated meat industry by achieving price parity. This will be accomplished by engineering gene regulatory elements to enhance the production of specific growth factors and improve their monitoring in the growth medium.

Dr. Yosef Fichman
Dr. Fichman, a senior lecturer in the School of Plant Sciences and Food Security at Tel Aviv University, is an expert in plant molecular biology. His project aims to enhance the nutritional value of the Lemna by producing lysine and taurine. Lemna is recognized as a potential superfood due to its high protein content, increasing lysine and taurine levels, would further elevate its nutritional value, making it a more complete protein source.

3. Alternative Proteins Proof-Of-Concept

This grant program sought innovative approaches and ideas that require proof of concept and have the potential to improve the biomimicry of meat alternatives and/or reach price parity of such products. The call specifically targeted proposals that require proof of concept or the potential to reach higher Technological Readiness Levels (TRLs). Four promising proposals were selected:

Prof. Alexander Golberg

Prof. Goldberg from Tel Aviv University is a faculty member at Tel Aviv University School of Mechanical Engineering. He is an expert in biomanufacturing, non-thermal process development, halophyte biorefineries, and seaweed biotechnology and process engineering. He is also the co-founder of Genesea Advanced Technologies. His project, titled “Development of Suna: A Seaweed-Based Alternative to Canned Tuna,” aims to develop a cost-effective and sustainable tuna alternative using seaweed proteins, specifically focusing on addressing the challenges of texture, taste, thermal stability, and affordability in plant-based alternatives. The project is positioned to advance the TRL and create a new benchmark in the seafood alternative market, addressing canned tuna applications. 

Dr. Maayan Gal in collaboration with Dr. Daniel Bar

Both researchers are from Tel Aviv University. Dr. Gal is an expert in drug development and characterizing peptide-protein interactions and is the co-founder of Projini AgChem, Bountica, and Arrakis Bi. Dr. Bar specializes in cellular biology and applies machine learning to peptide design. Their project, titled “Mimicking Fat Perception: Peptide-Based CD36 Activation for Enhanced Food Sensory Experience,” aims to develop peptides that mimic fat sensation by targeting the CD36 receptor to achieve a fat sensation in healthy foods at an affordable price. The project offers a solution that enhances the sensory experience of plant-based products and aligns with consumer demands for healthier, more sustainable food options.

Dr. Anat Izhaki

Dr. Izhaki’s career focuses on plant development, including studies on embryo patterning and organ development. The project, titled “Soy Cell-Suspension Culture for Production of Soy Proteins,” aims to develop a novel photosynthetic soybean cell-suspension culture to produce large amounts of high-quality soy proteins for use as raw material in the plant-based food industry. Scaling up this technology holds promise for meeting the growing demand for alternative protein sources in the plant-based food industry and providing an additional source for food production and food security.

Dr. Marina de Leeuw 

Dr. de Leeuw is a researcher at the Volcani Institute, ARO, and an expert in metabolic modeling for cell design, analysis of omics data, genomics, and microbiology. Her project, titled “Optimization of Media Components for Lipid Production by Oleaginous Yeast,” aims to support the alternative meat industry by enhancing the flavor and sustainability of plant-based meat substitutes. The project focuses on optimizing lipid production using a yeast strain by developing a metabolic model and testing different growth media.

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At GFI Israel, we are proud to support these innovative projects, advancing the alternative protein field towards more sustainable and resilient food systems. Stay tuned for more updates and opportunities to join the movement toward a more sustainable food future

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GFI Israel