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.

Dr. James Ryall brings nearly 25 years of extensive experience in the biotech sector, including 20 years as a research academic and over four years as the Chief Scientist at Vow, a pioneering cultured meat company in Sydney, NSW. Dr Ryall continues to provide support to the cultured meat and cellular agriculture industries through his role as an advisory board member at Cellular Agriculture Australia. He now leverages his deep expertise as a strategic advisor to startups and scaleups, specialising in biomanufacturing. Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Ryall has received numerous awards and fellowships, notably the AK McIntyre Award from the Australian Physiological Society for his outstanding contributions to physiology. He continues to contribute to academic research as an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne. 

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.

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.

Ben Sutherland is the Principal Food Technologist for Food Standards Australia New Zealand. He provides food technology input into FSANZ’s many initiatives and manages applications to amend the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. His role involves becoming an expert in pretty much everything to do with food – enzymatic production of D-allulose one day, cell cultured foods the next! Bridging the knowledge gap between consumers, entrepreneurs, the food industry and food regulation is also a focus of Ben’s work at FSANZ. Ben is currently managing FSANZ’s first assessment of a cell cultured food. 

Audrey Baker is a PhD student in Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University. Her research interests centre on emerging sociotechnical food regimes, including how institutional, political, technological and ecological systems are co-created with emerging food production strategies, how these impact and may be influenced by food/land sovereignty movements and priorities at different scales, and which experts get to define a healthy, sustainable, just food system. Audrey's current project investigates values motivating different actors in cellular agriculture and cultivated meat and seafood research, and how moral/ethical and political visions may shape the field’s technological development. While working on the PhD part-time, Audrey is also an instructor and program manager with Cornell’s Master of Public Health Program. Before working at Cornell, Audrey spent over a decade developing and teaching food and agriculture education programs for youth and adults. Audrey lives with her 10 year old son in Ithaca, New York.