Fungus Is The New Inspiration For A Natural Detoxifier

Many of the chemists are selectively developing porous materials and a team from Northwestern University seems to have found fungi as a suitable option after millions of years. The lead researcher Nathan Gianneschi primarily wanted to develop melanin similar to that formed by fungi thriving in the hostile, unusual environment such asChernobyl, spaceships, and dishwashers. This material showed high porosity, thereby enabling storage and capture of specific molecules. Melanin is compound found in many organisms on their skin, back of the eyes, and as pigments. This compound is known to save the organisms from environmental stressors and also helps many like the snake or moths change color or absorb toxins depending on the pollutants.

Researchers were thus inspired by melanin and developed thoughts of creating a biomaterial with sponge-like nature. They then found sponge-like melaninto exist in nature.Melanin is a compound that the researchers still have to research. It protects against damage caused by UV and also is a radical scavenger in the skin. Recently, researchers came across a natural source that is fungi to create the material as it will add high mechanical strength to the cells and also its porosity lets nutrients pass through.

The study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society explains the method followed by the team to create a material in the lab with range of applications. While the non-porous materials only superficially adsorb particles the materials on the surface, the porous materials absorb and store the unwanted toxins and let nontoxic substances such as air, water and nutrients pass through. The idea of using melanin comprised fungi by creating porous fungal ghosts structures which could be later used to develop materials to form a protective layer in fabrics. This fundamental goal of this study is to create breathable, protective coatings for uniforms. It is exciting to see how biological discovery can help in chemical synthesis.In the future, the new material could help designselective membranes, protective masks, face shields, and also for various applications in long distance space flight.