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SUMMARY:IMX Talks - Using a genetic approach to develop mycelial materials
DTSTART:20250716T110000
DTEND:20250716T120000
DTSTAMP:20260921T204401Z
UID:3147bcebe80577cf3ef8ae9c4f67f76a15274c69136fc7c028d789e0
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Mark R. Marten\, University of Maryland Baltimore County
  (UMBC) USA\nThe vast majority of the world’s manufactured materials are
  nonrenewable and energy-intensive to produce. Viable alternatives must be
  developed\, and “mycelial materials” made from filamentous fungi are 
 an exciting option.  When compared with traditional materials\, “myceli
 al materials” (i) have dramatically lower cost of production\, (ii) are 
 eminently sustainable\, (iii) have the potential of performing tasks not p
 ossible with most traditional materials (e.g.\, self-replication\, self-re
 gulation\, and self-healing)\, (iv) can assume a diverse range of mechanic
 al properties (e.g.\, from leather\, to foam\, to wood)\, and (v) are suit
 able for additive manufacturing. Recently\, companies manufacturing variou
 s mycelial materials (e.g.\, textiles\, food products\, packing foams\, bu
 ilding supplies) have attracted hundreds of millions in commercial investm
 ent\, and the global market is predicted to soon exceed $5 billion. While 
 this industry is on the cusp of explosive growth\, it is stuck using desig
 n practices developed thousands of years ago. For example\, the current ap
 proach to modifying material properties is typically through trial-and-err
 or\, using different fungal species\, altering nutrients used for growth\,
  or changing the growth environment. Because it’s unclear how these inpu
 ts lead to specific changes in material properties\, advances have been li
 mited.\n\nTo address this limitation\, we are leveraging modern genetic ap
 proaches to modify fungi. Our central hypothesis is that genetic means can
  be used to tune fungal morphological phenotypes\, and that these phenotyp
 es can be combined to enable the design of mycelial materials with specifi
 c sets of material properties. Initial studies have involved the model fun
 gus\, Aspergillus nidulans. We intially hypothesized that disabling the ce
 ll wall integrity (CWI) signaling pathway (responsible for wall repair\; d
 eletion of protein-kinase mpkA) would lead to weaker walled hyphae and res
 ult in weaker material. Surprisingly\, material from an mpkA deletion stra
 in (mpkA-) was significantly stronger than material generated from an isog
 enic control (mpkA+). Comprehensive phenotype testing implied increased ma
 terial strength was due to lack of fungal developmental structures. Subseq
 uent experiments\, with developmentally-disabled strains (DbrlA\, DflubA\,
  DfluG) confirmed this. We will report on these and additional findings re
 lated to mycelial materials.\n\nBio: Dr. Marten graduated from Purdue Univ
 . with his PhD in Chemical Engineering\, and completed postdoctoral work\,
  first at NC State\, then at Novozymes North America (now Novonesis). He h
 as been on the faculty at UMBC since 1996 and is currently Chair of the De
 partment of Chemical Biochemical and Environmental Engineering. In 1999 he
  won the NSF CAREER award\, in 2007 he was honored with a Maryland Regents
  Award (the state’s highest achievement for faculty)\, and in 2023 he wo
 n the ACS Braude Award for his research involving students. In 2012 he sta
 rted a biotechnology company (MycoInnovation\, LLC) to commercialize his r
 esearch findings.\n\nMarten’s research is focused on systems biology and
  cellular engineering of fungi. In addition\, he is developing cutting edg
 e proteomic analysis tools for studying gene regulatory networks. And he h
 as recently started a new research area to create sustainable materials fr
 om filamentous fungi. His work has been funded by NSF\, NIH\, the State of
  Maryland and a number of biotechnology companies and he has published 60+
  papers in peer reviewed journals.\n\nDr. Marten is an exceptionally stron
 g supporter of undergraduate research. For over 25 years\, he has consiste
 ntly hosted undergraduate researchers in his laboratory and has mentored o
 ver 100 undergraduates and high school students. Many of these have won pr
 estigious research awards\, and all have gone on to either excellent gradu
 ate programs or successful industrial careers.\n\n 
LOCATION:MXF 312 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MXF%20312
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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