Fungal based-living materials
Fungi comprise approximately 100 000 described species to date. The real total is estimated to be in the millions. They are amazing factories, producing numerous bioactive metabolites of therapeutic interest.
The EU-funded LoopOfFun project is developing sustainable materials using fungi as part of engineered living materials (ELMs). By identifying fungi with superior material-forming abilities and applying them in synthetic biology-based programming – accomplished via a novel, automatic robotised platform using iterative design-build-test-learn cycles – project aims to develop two distinct materials with controlled mechanical and structural properties: one for sustainable furniture manufacturing and the other for pollutant degradation. The manufacturing process for materials is based on renewable and locally sourced raw materials.
Partnerships
