In New York, mycelium-based materials firm Ecovative has raised $60 million to add capacity and advance development and commercialization in textiles, packaging and food sectors. The Series D round brings Ecovative’s total funding to $100 million. It was led by Viking Global Investors, and Senator Investment Group, Trousdale Ventures, and AiiM Partners also participated. Mycelium […]
In Colorado, a study conducted by scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) shows for the first time that white-rot fungi are able to use carbon captured from lignin as a carbon source, which could be further exploited to simultaneously convert the biopolymer into value-added compounds. The research confirms a hypothesis from Davinia Salvachúa […]
Biotalys is transforming food protection with unique protein-based biocontrol solutions, tackling two birds with one stone – reducing food waste and driving the sustainability of food production. But how? And why should we care? In today’s Digest, how Biotalys is creating nature-based protein products that protect food, ensure a safe, sustainable food supply, and reduce […]
In the UK, University of Leeds researchers have joined forces with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to conduct research into the plants and fungi that could be used as a source of energy as well as assessing the species with the potential to be scaled-up with innovative technologies. This research forms part of a joint […]
In Austria, material chemists at the University of Vienna have evaluated the viability of vegan leather made from fungi. In a review article published in Nature Sustainability, Alexander Bismarck and Mitchell Jones discuss the use of agricultural and forestry byproducts to grow fungal mycelium into leather-like materials through physical and chemical treatments. “As a result, […]
In California, as a proof of concept, researchers developed an algorithm that “taught” a computer how to classify 101 representative genomes of Dothideomycetes, the largest class of fungi, by lifestyles. The machine “learned” to identify data generated in part through the 1000 Fungal Genomes Project, including 55 newly sequenced species. The class Dothideomycetes includes fungi […]
In Denmark, Syngenta and Novozymes are entering the commercialization phase of Taegro, a microbial foliar fungicide with broad spectrum potential. The two companies originally joined forces in 2012 to develop and market the product, and have now received the first wave of product approvals in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Netherlands, […]
In Germany, mushroom genetics research, conducted by Ruhr-Universität Bochum researchers and others, could help biofuel production. Some species of trichosporonales fungi can store large amounts of lipids in their cells, and are so-called oil-accumulating fungi, which have therefore been increasingly analyzed in recent years as potential producers of biofuels. Trichosporonales fungi are widespread in the […]
In Michigan, new research from Michigan State University, and published in the journal eLife, presents evidence that algae could have piggybacked on fungi to leave the water and to colonize the land, over 500 million years ago. Researchers selected a strain of soil fungus and marine alga from old lineages, respectively Mortierella elongata and Nannochloropsis […]
In Washington state, fungi, algae, and cyanobacteria might not complain about jet lag. But like humans, their physiologies adhere to a roughly 24-hour cycle of behavioral patterns in the absence of external cues. Organisms that experience recurring day and night cycles have evolved a biochemical oscillator or circadian clock. This clock determines which activities, from […]
