Fungateria : Enlisting synthetic fungal-bacterial consortia to produce multi-cellular mycelium-based ELMs with computational capability

Fungateria addresses a development gap in mycelium-based ELMs by developing a portfolio of ELMs that are composed of a
synthetic co-cultivation consortium of a filamentous fungus and a bacterial strain. Sensing and adaptive growth of the fungal hyphae
are exploited to develop an autonomous bottom-up and scalable manufacturing technology called Growth Composing (GC) that
enables an engineered morphogenesis of mycelium materials using robotically controlled spray nozzles that generate local air, gas or
aerosol flows steering hyphal growth. In addition, bioprinting is used to deposit inocula of the engineered bacterial strain in specific
patterns and at specific times throughout the production process. Various ELM products are developed, ranging from consumer
goods to applications in the environmental and construction sector, which become active through environmental cues of light,
temperature and chemical attractants. To this end, synthetic biology engineering will be implemented to use the bacterial strain as a
chassis for sensor-containing genetic circuits that render advanced functionalities to the ELM throughout its life cycle, either through
direct activity or by influencing growth and morphology of the fungal partner..