21st century truffle production: the application of chemical biology (GANESAN_U17ICASE)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of East Anglia
Department Name: Graduate Office
Abstract
Truffles are the most expensive mushrooms, costing thousands of dollars per pound. They are the fruiting bodies of fungi of the genus Tuber and the high cost is due to the slow and complex life cycle involved. The fungus grows symbiotically on the roots of a plant host in a process that takes years for maturation.
This project will give you a unique opportunity to carry out cutting edge molecular biology and chemical biology techniques to improve our understanding of the truffle life cycle and identify methods to improve cultivation methods. This will be an interdisciplinary project combining aspects of microbiology, chemical biology and industrial biotechnology and well suited for students interested in pursuing a scientific career upon completion of the PhD. The academic supervisor Prof. Ganesan is well-known for his research in epigenetics and is co-founder of the company Karus Therapeutics. The non-academic partner is Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd, a company that is applying innovative and modern scientific techniques to truffle production. The company was the first to cultivate truffles in the UK and has research sites in 23 countries and its own laboratory on site.
This project will give you a unique opportunity to carry out cutting edge molecular biology and chemical biology techniques to improve our understanding of the truffle life cycle and identify methods to improve cultivation methods. This will be an interdisciplinary project combining aspects of microbiology, chemical biology and industrial biotechnology and well suited for students interested in pursuing a scientific career upon completion of the PhD. The academic supervisor Prof. Ganesan is well-known for his research in epigenetics and is co-founder of the company Karus Therapeutics. The non-academic partner is Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd, a company that is applying innovative and modern scientific techniques to truffle production. The company was the first to cultivate truffles in the UK and has research sites in 23 countries and its own laboratory on site.
People |
ORCID iD |
A Ganesan (Primary Supervisor) | |
Philip Schuler (Student) |
Description | We have discovered what appears to be a new species of fungus, and are working on the production and isolation of metabolites from fungal cultures. Since the last entry we have obtained several more potentially novel fungal specimens and have made attempts to characterise them and isolate cultures for use in metabolic research (ongoing). We have ongoing greenhouse experiments with a truffle cultivation system where we are testing the effects of bacteria, nutritional and chemical additives. Unfortunately the COVID pandemic prevented sampling from this experiment last year when it was planned, but the sampling and processing of these experiments has now been started and is ongoing. |
Exploitation Route | The outcomes may lead to improved methods in Truffle cultivation through the use of bacterial co-cultures, nutritional and chemical methods. The outcomes may lead to the discovery of new metabolites. |
Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
Description | CM1406 |
Amount | € 2,500 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 42524 |
Organisation | European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) |
Sector | Public |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 01/2019 |
End | 03/2019 |
Description | Departmental Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Departmental Seminar about my research project, followed by questions |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Presentation UK Medicinal Mushrooms Conference 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I gave a presentation, answered questions, and participated in a speakers panel, at the UK Medicinal Mushrooms Conference in 2018 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |