On Tribology
On Mycelium
Join Master of Public Health students, Sarah Robinson and Leah Bargnesi, as they interview Dr. Prathima Nalam, Dr. Anna Paltseva, and Jeanette Koncikowski on their joint project tackling lead contamination in urban soil. These three experts are working together to use natural resources like mycelium, the root-like structure of a fungus, to absorb lead contamination and make urban gardening and farming safe in the Buffalo community.
UB group embark upon a three-year study to get a better sense of the power of the vegetative body of fungi from which mushrooms form.
The university has teamed up with the City of Buffalo and Grassroots Gardens of WNY, as well as researchers from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Along with educating people on the potential hazards of lead-contaminated soil, the team plans on demonstrating the powerful nature of mycelium, as a ground-cleaning solution.
To address lead poisoning, former industrial cities like Buffalo — where the soil often contains lead from industrial sources, including deteriorated lead-based paint — need a wide range of lead remediation, educational and policy approaches at their disposal to complement ongoing efforts. There are also cultural implications. In Buffalo, for instance, the city’s population has increased over the past decade due primarily to an influx of refugees, many of whom, following traditions, set up home gardens, unaware of the potentially toxic conditions in the soil.
Live mycelium has shown tremendous promise as a solution to cleaning up environmental pollutants in soil, but that requires expertise in growing and maintaining mycelium and mushrooms.
The unique aspect of our work is that we’re using dried mycelium membranes, or sheets, that are pre-manufactured and therefore offer much more uniform conditions in terms of porosity, texture, strength and resilience
