Today, I got to sit in on a meeting with Courtney for the Bio-future group at Ecovative. This is just a small group of people working on projects that are not meant to be developed into products in the near future, but for further down the road. The purpose of the meeting was for a few members part of this group to share what they were working on. It was difficult to completely understand everything discussed, but as someone told me at the meeting, it only matters that I understood 10% of the material. So long as I learn something new. Among the topics included creating a new material for ice packs, something about a car engine, crystallization in the mushroom, and strength of mycelium blocks.
The project with the different oyster mushroom species didn't need any work this week. We just let the plates containing the mushrooms grow, so that we can use them to innoculate grain bags next week.
I have been researching other mushrooms to use for the antibacterial experiment I want to do. The three I will pick from are Hericium erinacus (Lion's Mane, Bearded Tooth Mushroom), Ganoderma lucidem (Lingzhi Mushroom), and Trametes versicolor (Turkey Tail). All three have really amazing healing properties.
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| The Lingzhi mushroom has been traditionally used in Chinese medicine. It has anti-tumor and immunotherapeutic (modifying an immune response--whether by making it stronger, restraining it, or instigating it--to treat a disease) properties. I think this mushroom looks disgusting, but it is healthy! http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ganoderma_lucidum_01.jpg |
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| This is the Turkey Tail mushroom. Its very fitting. This mushroom contains something called Polysaccharide K (PSK) which can boost the immune system and be used to treat cancer. PSK has shown to be beneficial in treating gastric, esophaegal, colorectal, breast and lung cancer. This too is a Chinese medicinal mushroom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stumpfungus.jpg |
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| I think this mushroom is a winner for my project. The Lion's Mane (also called the Bearded Tooth) mushroom has crazy properties! It is also a traditional Chinese medicine and has been proven to have antioxidant effects. It can also be used to treat gastric ulcers. Currently their are lots of studies going into the anti-dimentia compounds of this specific mushroom. This mushroom has been determined to stimulate animal nerve cell growth. In my research I found a paper that experimented with this on rats. Here is a link if you are interested: http://www.dl.begellhouse.com/pt/journals/708ae68d64b17c52,03ea8c440cfbb276,23c2fd3840f4e0c9.html This is also an edible mushroom. I believe I've eaten myself at some point. I've known it as the Monkey Head mushroom. Pretty yummy :) http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/photos/Hericium_erinaceus(nw-01).jpg |
I continue to be surprised by the number and variety of applications that people are investigating involving mushrooms.... When I was doing research, I found it challenging to work on projects that I already knew would take YEARS to get to any sort of actual product, but there were people who enjoyed that kind of forward thinking work.
ReplyDeleteAs for your mushroom research, I love that you've zeroed in on species that are already being used in Chinese medicine - a great connection between Eastern and Western science.
Adina, you seem to have reached a new level in your work. With your project well under way, and you wielding many advanced skills, you have come into your own at Ecovative. I am impressed with all that you have done, and what lies before you.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by all the medical applications for mushrooms. I knew of a few, but you taught me many, many more!
I agree with you about bearded-tooth - tasty!