NZ CellAg 2025

International Speakers

David Kaplan - Keynote

Tufts University, USA

David Kaplan is the Stern Family Endowed Professor of Engineering at Tufts University, a Distinguished University Professor, and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He directs the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) and the USDA-sponsored Institute for Cellular Agriculture. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

James Ryall - Keynote

, USA

James Ryall

Claire Bomkamp

Good Food Institute, USA

Dr Claire Bomkamp serves as Senior Lead Scientist, Cultivated Meat & Seafood and is a member of GFI’s Sustainable Seafood Initiative. She focuses on analysing the technical landscape of the cultivated meat and seafood industry, identifying bottlenecks, and engaging researchers in order to move cultivated meat and seafood technology forward. She holds a PhD in neuroscience from the University of British Columbia and a bachelor’s degree in behavioural neuroscience from Western Washington University.

Joanne Tunna

Cellular Agriculture, Australia

Jo is the Chief Operating Officer of Cellular Agriculture Australia and brings over 15 years of experience across government, not-for-profit and private sectors. She has a breadth of expertise spanning strategy, project management, business development, and corporate sustainability. Jo is dedicated to working with impact-driven organisations to decarbonise our food system and has been focused on accelerating the development of alternative proteins since joining Cellular Agriculture Australia in 2021.

New Zealand Speakers

Rachel Bennie

University of Canterbury

Rachel Bennie is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Canterbury. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Canterbury in 2022 under the supervision of Prof. Ian Shaw. Following her doctoral studies, she joined Prof. Renwick Dobson’s research group as a Postdoc on the MBIE Catalyst Future Foods Research Programme in collaboration with the University of Auckland. Rachel’s research focuses on safe cell line development and hybrid cultivated meats, aiming to understand the cell-plant protein interactions to improve organoleptic properties and how we can inform government on policies and legislations for cultivated meats in New Zealand.

Katy Bluett

Future Food Aotearoa

Katy is an experienced food industry professional. Through bespoke consulting services in her business Appetite for Change, she supports ambitious businesses to innovate, commercialise and grow faster.

Katy is also Executive Director of Future Food Aotearoa, a founders movement formed in 2020 to accelerate the growth and impact of foodtech businesses from New Zealand.

Katy has worked in a variety of local and international leadership roles across top FMCG, ingredients and technology companies, launching over 1000 F&B products along the way. She has also led the F&B sector for Callaghan Innovation, the Government’s Innovation agency, working with more than 400 of NZ’s most innovative and promising F&B businesses, fuelling her passion for food systems transformation.

Laura Domigan

Opo Bio Aotearoa

Dr Laura Domigan is the co-founder and Chief Scientist at Opo Bio Aotearoa, a cell line development start-up company located in Auckland. Opo Bio spun out of the University of Auckland in 2022, and the founding technology was based on work carried out in Laura's lab in Chemical and Materials Engineering. Laura is a protein biochemist and tissue engineer, with a PhD from the University of Canterbury, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Tufts University, USA. Laura is a long-time supporter of cultivated meat, and is excited about the future of this technology in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Georgina Dowd

Plant & Food Research

Dr. Georgina Dowd is a senior scientist and research team leader of the Marine Cell Technologies Team at Plant & Food Research. Her work focuses on developing cell lines from finfish, with applications ranging from cellular agriculture to biotechnology advancements. She is currently leading the MBIE Endeavour Programme Fish Cell Production Systems (FCPS), driving innovation in cultivated seafood and marine products.

With expertise in marine cell biology and biotechnology, Georgina is passionate about advancing sustainable food solutions and bridging the gap between scientific research and industry applications. She also has an interest in Māori perspectives on food systems, ensuring a thoughtful approach to integrating new technologies within broader cultural and environmental contexts.

Beyond research, Georgina is actively involved in growing the cellular agriculture community in New Zealand, fostering industry collaborations and discussions to support the development of this emerging sector.

Ben Schon

Plant & Food Research

Dr Ben Schon is a Senior Scientist within the Food Materials & Structure Team at Plant and Food Research, New Zealand. His focus is on new materials and technologies to better understand and improve food substances from a materials perspective. Ben currently leads a programme of work focused on exploring the viability of cellular horticulture as a food production method - how plant cell foods may be produced in vitro using a combination of fabrication techniques and plant cells.

Lyn Wise

University of Otago

Associate Professor Lyn Wise heads the Tissue Repair and Regeneration Lab at the University of Otago. Lyn completed a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago, where her interest in regenerative medicine was stimulated by her discovery as to how virus lesions could heal without scarring. After a stint at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Melbourne, Lyn returned to the University of Otago to lead Health Research Council-funded programmes resulting in the commercialisation of biologic therapies for wound complications. Working with local and international collaborators, Lyn has since applied her suite of cellular and animal models to the development of various natural and synthetic molecules aimed at healing and regenerating human tissues. Recently, this has included Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment-funded research into materials generated from algal and fish sources that act as scaffolds for tissue production, with applications in both regenerative medicine and cellular agriculture.

Speakers