Whether walls or furniture: with her research work and the science and art collective MY-CO-X, Vera Meyer has already demonstrated on several occasions the potential of fungi – especially for the construction industry. The Berlin-based biotechnologist is receiving around £8.5 million in funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for research and development into fungus-based materials as part of a new Collaborative Research Centre (SFB).

Interdisciplinary research into fungal materials

In the new SFB ‘MY-CO BUILD: Biotechnological production, characterisation and sustainability assessment of fungus-based building materials’, a team led by the fungus expert will investigate the suitability of fungi as a building material and for furniture production in more detail from 2026 onwards. In the joint project, which will run until 2029, researchers from a wide range of disciplines will work together for the first time to investigate ‘the biological, mechanical, physical, chemical, thermal, acoustic and architectural property profiles of fungus-based materials’.

Laying the foundations for defined manufacturing processes

Based on renewable raw materials from agriculture and forestry, the aim is to develop a new class of fungus-based materials that are produced biologically and are biodegradable. ‘Our goal is to lay the scientific foundations for defined manufacturing processes and reproducible property profiles for fungus-based materials,’ explains Vera Meyer, spokesperson for the SFB and head of the Department of Applied and Molecular Microbiology at TU Berlin.

Sustainability forecasting with AI

One focus is on the development of new mathematical models that use numerical simulations to predict the properties of fungus-based materials across different size scales. ‘These models will then enable the tailored design of material properties,’ says Meyer. In addition, systematic stability and ageing tests as well as AI-based sustainability analyses will be carried out. These should contribute to the targeted development of bio-based materials and the realistic evaluation of their potential applications.

In addition to the TU Berlin, the TU Munich, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Bochum University of Applied Sciences, the Potsdam Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) and Aalborg University in Denmark are also involved in the SFB 1743 ‘MY-CO BUILD’.

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