Editor's Desk

The editor

Dr. Benjamin Zamanian

Chief Editor

Cell-Ag is honoured to have Dr. Benjamin Zamanian as its Chief Editor.

Dr. Zamanian is a scientist, inventor and biotechnology entrepreneur with more than fifteen years in biomaterials, tissue engineering and cellular agriculture. Few working in this field have stood on both sides of it, at the laboratory bench and in the companies attempting to carry the science to market. He has done both, and this publication is the better for it.

Harvard and MIT trained, his research began within the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology ecosystem at Brigham and Women's Hospital, with further executive study at Harvard Business School, MIT and MIT Sloan, Yale School of Management and Stanford University.

His work spans hydrogel and microgel engineering, edible scaffolds, microcarriers, myoblast culture, serum-free media development and the bioprocess economics that decide whether cultivated protein ever becomes affordable. It has appeared in npj Science of Food, Acta Biomaterialia, Biofabrication, Small, Advanced Healthcare Materials, Organogenesis and Artificial Organs, and has been cited more than 1,190 times, giving him an h-index and i10-index of 11.

His 2010 paper in Small on the interface-directed self-assembly of cell-laden microgels remains a foundational contribution to the directed assembly of tissue-like structures. In 2025 he co-authored a study in npj Science of Food on naturally abundant edible scaffolds for cultivated snack production, reporting support for myoblast growth, all nine essential amino acids, favourable sensory results and a projected industrial-scale cost below seven cents per unit.

He is founder and chief executive of TechnoBiom, the cell-agriculture biotechnology platform he established in 2020 in Pasadena, California, developing edible scaffolds, microcarriers, hydrogel systems, AI-assisted media optimisation and low-cost alternatives to foetal bovine serum. In 2025 he co-founded OrgaBiom, an animal wellness venture developing species-specific probiotic and organ-targeted solutions.

He serves as biotechnology and biomedical investment advisor to the Royal Family of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, conducting scientific, operational and commercialisation due diligence across biomanufacturing, cultivated proteins, biomaterials, therapeutics, medical devices and applied artificial intelligence.

He was previously Vice President of Innovation at Omeat and an affiliated scientist at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, and has served as chief editor of CultivatedMeats.org since 2022. He is the author of three books on management and family enterprise, and co-founder of the Esmail Zamanian Addiction Medicine Award. He works in English and Farsi.

Interests: Dr. Zamanian is founder and chief executive of TechnoBiom and co-founder of OrgaBiom. Cell-Ag reports on the field in which those companies operate; any item touching them, or a direct competitor, carries that disclosure within the piece.