MARQUETTE, MI— A Marquette biotechnology company is studying whether fungi can break down the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.
There are upwards of a million combinations of PFAS compounds. They accumulate in the endocrine system, and that can cause different types of cancer.
Marquette-based Myconaut focuses on mycoremediation, which uses fungi to clean up pollutants from contaminated areas. Company cofounder and CEO Ryan Iacovacci says after 2.5 billion years of evolution, fungi are masters of carbon. They break apart carbon chains, which is quite difficult.
The company is partnering with the University of Minnesota. Scientists there found a species of fungi that can break one of the strongest bonds in nature—the bond between carbon and fluorine. That bond is what makes PFAS so water repellant and heat and radiation resistant.
Iacovacci says if one fungus species can break the bond, it’s likely more could be done with other species of fungi.
“Once we can figure out how, kind of the mechanisms of this work with these pollutants, then we can really start to scale up solutions for either upcycling them for use in 3-D printing with NASA, because the compounds are of value, or again, breaking them down, to rendering them nontoxic.
Myconaut recently received a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant for $275,000. Iacovacci says the money will be used to expand the company’s laboratory and secure more researchers from NMU, Michigan Tech, and the University of Minnesota.
The company also hopes the project will attract investors.
