Bremerhaven student Linda Meißner grows fish cells in the lab

Project studies as a perfect combination of specialised interests

In recent years, the importance of cell and tissue research has not only increased significantly in medicine. The food industry is also conducting research in this area in order to be able to meet the increasing demand for food in the future with the help of "laboratory meat". Inspired by the "SerAZel" research project, Bremerhaven student Linda Meißner is venturing into a particularly difficult field in her project on the Biotechnology of Marine Resources degree programme. In the laboratory for animal cells, she is working on cultivating immortalised muscle cells from fish. If she is successful, her results could form the basis for a new research project. She is supported in her work not only by her professor Dr Felicitas Berger, but also by the Alfred Wegener Institute.

For more than two years, Linda Meißner has been working alongside her studies as a student assistant in the laboratory for animal cells, where she supports laboratory head Prof Dr Felicitas Berger in experiments with cell cultures. These are usually mammalian cells that can be ordered as cell lines - i.e. immortal or immortalised cells. For her project studies, however, the student wanted to try something new: "The trigger for my project planning was the research project 'SerAZel', which aims to develop algae-based sera for cell research in order to be able to dispense with ethnically questionable foetal calf serum in the future. The possibility of also testing these serums on fish muscle cells seemed to me to be a perfect combination of my interests. I was particularly excited by the prospect of using cell culture in combination with marine resources, which is also the direction of my degree programme." However, there was a problem here. Unlike mammalian cell lines, fish cell lines from muscle are not so easy to obtain. "In other countries, companies are already producing them, but only for their own purposes and not for research. There is currently only one company in the USA from which fish muscle cells can be ordered. However, importing them is very difficult," says Prof Dr Felicitas Berger.

Cultivating muscle cells from fish is difficult

Because they had no success with the purchased fish cell lines, Linda Meißner wants to establish her own. However, this is not easy. "The biggest problem is the contamination that occurs when the cells are isolated and taken into the culture," explains Linda Meißner. "I work under very sterile conditions and the culture solution always contains an antibiotic. Nevertheless, my first three experiments didn't work and the isolated cells fell victim to contamination. The contamination probably came from the fish skin." It was not until the fourth time that the culture also contained uncontaminated cells. These are now allowed to multiply further and will then be characterised. "We have to find out whether they really are muscle cells. Unfortunately, we can't continue working with other cells, such as connective tissue cells, as they can't be used to produce meat," explains Prof Berger. Linda Meißner.

There are two milestones in working with primary cell culture, says the student. The first is the isolation of stem cells. "Differentiated muscle cells themselves are not capable of dividing. That's why we have to obtain stem cells. These divide to produce material for the typical meat structure," says Prof Berger. Her student must therefore first find out which environment these stem cells need. "The composition of the culture medium differs from organism to organism. I test different ones and check whether and what CO2 content and temperature the cells need." Scientific publications provide guidance as to which composition has worked well in the past.

Cells should become immortal

The second milestone that the student wants to achieve is to make the cells immortal. While normal cells divide a maximum of fifty times before they die, there is no maximum limit for immortalised cells. This would give her a cell line that she can continue to work with in future research projects. However, she cannot really influence this step. "This happens purely by chance through mutation and cannot be controlled. There are almost always cells that divide faster than others. These are selected and cultivated further. At some point, in the best case scenario, cells develop that no longer die at all," says the student.

It will be several months before it is possible to say whether her cultures contain immortal cells. Linda Meißner will probably be looking after her cell cultures for the whole summer. The student is delighted to have the opportunity to work on this innovative topic during her project studies: "I learnt so much as a student assistant from Ms Berger and wanted to deepen and expand my knowledge with my project instead of starting from scratch. And I like the idea that a fish cell line that works with algae-based serums could potentially produce TCS-free cultured fish meat. That would reduce the pressure on oceans and aquaculture."

The seven-semester Bachelor's degree programme in Biotechnology of Marine Resources recognises the potential contained in the sea for the discovery of new active ingredients, the development of sustainable solutions for feeding humanity and much more. Based on basic knowledge of marine biology, the programme combines areas of bioanalytics with bioprocess engineering to create new innovative ideas. "The sea serves as a role model for achieving these goals without harming it and robbing it of its resources," something that is very close to the heart of the 6th semester student.

The three-semester Master's degree programme in Biotechnology prepares students for careers in biotechnological professions in research and industry. The basic knowledge of marine and cell biology, oceanography and marine ecology, chemistry and bioanalytics acquired at the beginning of the Bachelor's degree programme is expanded by specialisations in areas such as cell and algae culture technology, mass spectrometry, environmental bioanalytics, marine microbiology, sustainable fisheries and ecosystem services.

The application phase for the winter semester 2024/25 is currently underway at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences. Prospective students have until 15 August to apply for the admission-free degree programmes - including Biotechnology of Marine Resources and Biotechnology - via the university's own application portal ecampus.hs-bremerhaven.de. Applications for the admission-restricted Bachelor's degree programmes in Digital Media Production, Physician Assistant and Social Work are only possible via the portal www.hochschulstart.de until 15 July.