{"id":3954,"date":"2026-06-05T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/?p=3954"},"modified":"2026-05-29T21:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T21:37:53","slug":"summer-school-omics4cmeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/summer-school-omics4cmeat\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring the Next Generation: A Q&#038;A with Daniel Sim of Omics4CMeat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"3954\" class=\"elementor elementor-3954\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1986fbfe e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"1986fbfe\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4d4053cd elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4d4053cd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Daniel Sim of the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/cccm.mcmaster.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Omics4CMeat<\/a><\/strong> project led the team\u2019s Summer School program at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcmaster.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">McMaster University<\/a><\/strong> last summer. Over July and August 2025, he introduced young students to the science behind alternative proteins and the future of cultivated meat.<\/p><p>We spoke with Daniel about his experience running the program, from the initial inspiration to what he hoped the students would take away, and how the team is preparing for an expanded version this year. Here\u2019s what Daniel shared with us:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-83e455e elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"83e455e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-00e0ec0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"00e0ec0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li><strong>Please tell us a little about yourself:<\/strong><ul><li>My name is Daniel Sim. I am a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Ravi Selvaganapathy and Dr. Rakesh Sahu at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. I construct protein\u2011based microcarriers. They act like scaffolds to support adherent cell culture in bioreactors as we scale up production for cultivated meat.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Please tell us about the summer school program<\/strong><ul><li>The Summer School program ran from July to August 2025. Every Wednesday, I gave an hour\u2011long presentation to a cohort of 20\u201330 students aged 11\u201314 here in the Engineering Technology Building at McMaster University. I walked them through the main types of alternative proteins being researched: familiar plant\u2011based products, less familiar precision\u2011fermentation products, and finally, cultivated meat as a future option to look forward to.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>What inspired your team to create this program, and what key outcomes were you aiming for?<\/strong><ul><li>Speaking to young students is critical in this digital era where misinformation is everywhere about even the simplest topics. These students may become future engineers and scientists, and all of them will be future consumers. It\u2019s important for us to show them the kind of work we do and how it can impact them. Our team is very dedicated to our work and while we could talk at length about our subjects, it is excellent practice to be confined to specific timeframes for conciseness.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>What were the most challenging and most pleasantly surprising aspects of planning the program, and how did you address them?<\/strong><ul><li>Capturing the students\u2019 attention was critical because bogging down the talk with too much jargon would just evaporate any focus. That being said, we did some testing to make sure we weren\u2019t going light either. The students proved to be critically thinking about the topic over the course of the talks, so it was only fair that we stepped up ourselves and gave them more to work with.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-de7ffb8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-testimonial\" data-id=\"de7ffb8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"testimonial.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-testimonial-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-testimonial-content\">\"These students may become future engineers and scientists, and all of them will be future consumers. It\u2019s important for us to show them the kind of work we do and how it can impact them.\"<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-testimonial-meta elementor-has-image elementor-testimonial-image-position-aside\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-testimonial-meta-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-testimonial-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Daniel-Sim.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-3959\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Daniel-Sim.png 500w, https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Daniel-Sim-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Daniel-Sim-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Daniel-Sim-12x12.png 12w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-testimonial-details\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-testimonial-name\">Daniel Sim<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-testimonial-job\">PhD student, Omics4CMeat project<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a13dc20 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a13dc20\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li><strong>What was your favourite part of the program and why?<\/strong><ul><li>The questions for sure. The students would begin investigating new avenues already, and I had many questions which began branching off into other adjacent sectors of scientific research as well. I enjoy having that level of query after a talk. It shows they were not only listening but actively processing the information and looking for more.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>We understand you are planning another summer school this year, with added lab activities and seminar-style engagement. What new elements will students experience?<\/strong><ul><li>Our work involves food-safe products that blend biomedical and chemical engineering with food chemistry to make novel ideas. We\u2019re looking for a way to bring the students in and show them some aspects of protein chemistry in a fun, engaging way. We haven\u2019t laid out all the details yet, but we\u2019re definitely hoping to get them more invested in the hands-on aspect of science, not just the fun facts from a presentation.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>As you prepare for the upcoming program, what are you most eager to share with participants?<\/strong><ul><li>We have some new data to share and have been working hard to make better visuals. It can be challenging to convey excitement about a product when so much of the chemistry happens at the microscopic level. We\u2019ve been looking for better ways to share that excitement with them.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Do you have any other final words?<\/strong><ul><li>I\u2019d like to acknowledge my professors Dr. Ravi Selvaganapathy and Dr. Rakesh Sahu for their guidance and our lab manager Dr. Nidhi Jain for her support with technical issues. I\u2019d also like to thank\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/new-harvest.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Harvest<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for helping fund our outreach to students, this couldn\u2019t have happened without your support!<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3dd1045 elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"3dd1045\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d57abbd elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d57abbd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Daniel\u2019s insights highlight how early outreach can help students connect with emerging scientific fields, including cellular agriculture and alternative proteins. To learn more about the Omics4CMeat team and their ongoing work, explore the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/research-portfolio\/\">Portefeuille de recherche<\/a><\/strong> page.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daniel Sim of the Omics4CMeat project led the team\u2019s Summer School program at McMaster University last summer. Over July and August 2025, he introduced young students to the science behind alternative proteins and the future of cultivated meat. We spoke with Daniel about his experience running the program, from the initial inspiration to what he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,6,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage-news","category-ag-act","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3954"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3972,"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3954\/revisions\/3972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatesmartagrifood.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}