Research BriefingPublished: 17 November 2025Nature Food (2025)Cite this articleSubjectsBiological techniquesBiotechnologyWe demonstrate that bovine fibroblasts can undergo spontaneous immortalization after 500 days in culture, without genetic modification or p53 inactivation. These rare events provide a safe, stable and economically viable cell source that overcomes key barriers to cultivated beef production.This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institutionAccess optionsAccess Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journalsGet Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription27,99 € / 30 dayscancel any timeLearn moreSubscribe to this journalReceive 12 digital issues and online access to articles118,99 € per yearonly 9,92 € per issueLearn moreBuy this articlePurchase on SpringerLinkInstant access to full article PDFBuy nowPrices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkoutFig. 1: Immortalization and application of bovine dermal fibroblasts for cultivated beef production.ReferencesPost, M. J. et al. Scientific, sustainability and regulatory challenges of cultured meat. Nat. Food 1, 403–415 (2020). A review that covers cell source, medium optimization, biomaterials and scaffolds for cultivated meat production, and maps current barriers in the field.Article Google Scholar Fridman, A. L. & Tainsky, M. A. Critical pathways in cellular senescence and immortalization revealed by gene expression profiling. Oncogene 27, 5975–5987 (2008). This paper mapped crucial pathways that control senescence and immortalization.Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Pasitka, L. et al. Spontaneous immortalization of chicken fibroblasts generates stable, high-yield cell lines for serum-free production of cultured meat. Nat. Food 4, 35–50 (2023). This was the first report, to our knowledge, of spontaneous immortalization of fibroblasts and demonstration of their growth in a single-cell suspension, paving the way for scalable cultivated meat production.Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Vincze, O. et al. Cancer risk across mammals. Nature 601, 263–267 (2022). This comparative study demonstrated that cancer risk decreases with increasing body size across mammals, highlighting ruminants such as cattle as having exceptionally low cancer incidence.Article ADS CAS PubMed Google Scholar Pasitka, L. et al. Empirical economic analysis shows cost-effective continuous manufacturing of cultivated chicken using animal-free medium. Nat. Food 5, 693–702 (2024). This paper reports a techno-economic analysis showing that continuous manufacturing with animal-free medium can reach cost parity with traditional chicken production.Article PubMed Google Scholar Download referencesAdditional informationPublisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.This is a summary of: Pasitka, L. et al. Spontaneous immortalization of bovine fibroblasts following long-term expansion offers a non-transformed cell source for cultivated beef. Nat. Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01255-3 (2025).Rights and permissionsReprints and permissionsAbout this article