Liz Specht, Ph.D.
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Liz Specht oversees GFI’s Science and Technology department to build a roadmap for accelerating alternative protein research while empowering scientists to execute on this vision.
Areas of expertise: plant-based meat, fermentation, technical analyses, forecasting and modeling, synthetic biology, public speaking.
Liz works to identify and forecast areas of technological need within the alternative protein field. Her efforts also catalyze research to address these needs while supporting researchers in academia and industry to move the field forward. Liz has a bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Johns Hopkins University, a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of California San Diego, and postdoctoral research experience from the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to joining GFI in 2016, Liz had accumulated a decade of academic research experience in synthetic biology, recombinant protein expression, and development of genetic tools. She is a firm believer in the power of technology to enable us to meet growing food demands in a sustainable way.
Presentations
Around the web
Publications
Meat by the molecule: Making meat with plants and cells (The Biochemist)
This article from The Biochemist provides a high-level overview of plant-based and cultivated meat.
Analyzing cell culture medium costs
This white paper explains different routes to lowering the cost of cell culture medium and making cultivated meat economically viable.
Translating biomedical advances to cultivated meat (Biochemical Engineering Journal)
This peer-reviewed article discusses how advances from the biomedical cell culture industry can contribute to the development of cultivated meat.
Featured blogs
Why plant-based meat will ultimately be less expensive than conventional meat
Right now, plant-based meat commands a premium in most restaurants and grocery stores. That’s going to change.
Meet Dr. Liz Specht, GFI’s associate director of science and technology team
A Q&A with The Good Food Institute’s Associate Director of Science and Technology about her past, her future, and the future of science in food.
GFI releases first-ever State of the Industry Report on fermentation in alternative proteins
Plant-based and cultivated meat have been recognized as two primary pillars of the alternative protein industry, but fermentation is increasingly proving its incredible promise for the future of alternative proteins.
Tackling the cell-based meat cost curve
The GFI Science & Technology team analyzes the primary cost drivers of cell culture media and highlights where innovation is needed to bring cell-based meat down the cost curve.