SFB 1743:  MY-CO BUILD: Biomanufacturing, characterisation and sustainability assessment of fungal-based building materials

• Subject Area: Thermal Engineering/Process Engineering ; Construction Engineering and Architecture ; Materials Science and Engineering ; Medicine
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 548244816

The vision of the Collaborative Research Centre MY-CO BUILD is to develop a new class of biologically produced and biodegradable fungal-based materials from renewable and residual agricultural and forestry resources through pioneering research. The potential of fungal biotechnology will be used to understand and develop these materials, and to establish the scientific basis for defined production processes and reproducible properties of fungal-based materials. This includes systematically establishing a process chain that considers all biological and technological aspects of the manufacturing process from the nano- to the macroscale, thus allowing conclusions for targeted material design. For the first time, MY-CO BUILD will bring together different disciplines in an inter- and transdisciplinary network to investigate the biological, mechanical, physical, chemical, thermal, acoustic, and architectural properties of fungal-based materials. Our proposed network will enable unprecedented fundamental and applied breakthroughs with immediate, real-world impacts: precise control of the genetic make-up of the fungal production organism, detailed understanding of optimal agricultural and forestry substrates, and stream-lined manufacturing and processing methods. To describe, understand, and predict multiscale interactions, mathematical models accompanied by numerical simulations will be developed to enable tailoring of material properties. In addition to this fundamental understanding of the relationships between the hierarchical structural elements and the material properties, stability, ageing, and biodegradability testing will be carried out during the development of these materials, including whole life-cycle analyses and sustainability assessments. With the processes and methods developed here, MY-CO BUILD aims to break new inter- and transdisciplinary ground for the development and establishment of sustainable biomaterials that are not possible yet with current approaches. The CRC is structured into three project areas: Project Area A - (Bio-)technology of manufacturing and processing expands our fundamental understanding of fungal growth on plant substrates, develops innovative bioreactor systems and additive manufacturing concepts for the reproducible production of fungal-based materials. Project Area B - Multiscale characterisation and modification focusses on the investigation and prediction of the properties of fungal-based materials using experimental and model-based approaches. Project Area C - Building material characterisation and architectural design analyses and modifies fungal-based materials from a building materials engineering perspective to develop new sustainable architectural and building applications.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Current projects

• A01 - Molecular and systems biology methods for establishing Fomes fomentarius as a cell factory for the production of fungal composites (Project Heads Birke, Anna Sofia ;  Meyer, Vera )
• A02 - Diversifying material properties of fungal composites by harnessing intra-species heterogeneity of Fomes fomentarius on different forestry substrates (Project Heads Benz, Philipp ;  Cheng, Tian )
• A03 - Developing and utilising synthetic biology tools for Fomes fomentarius (Project Head Freidank-Pohl, Carsten )
• A04 - Additive manufacturing for the production of fungal composites (Project Head Simon, Ulla )
• A05 - Pretreatment and stabilisation of lignocellulosic biomasses as substrates for fungal composites (Project Head Gusovius, Hans-Jörg )
• A06 - Experimentally supported derivation and initial application of predictive models for substrate comminution (Project Head Kruggel-Emden, Harald )
• A07 - Interactions between growth of Fomes fomentarius and substrate hydrolysis in continuous plug flow-based bioreactor cultivations (Project Heads Junne, Stefan ;  Neubauer, Peter )
• A08 - Mathematical modelling, soft sensors, and control for the production of fungal composites (Project Head Knorn, Steffi )
• A09 - AI-based resource availability assessment model for the growth of raw materials for fungal composites (Project Head Rudolph, Annette )
• B01 - Multiscale characterisation of the mechanical stability and failure mechanisms of fungal composites (Project Head Fleck, Claudia )
• B02 - Fungal composites with nanoparticles: Functionalisation and multiscale characterisation of physicochemical properties and thermal stability (Project Head Gurlo, Aleksander )
• B03 - Three-dimensional structural characterisation and multiscale modelling of end-use properties of fungal composites (Project Head Briesen, Heiko )
• C01 - Building physics characterisation of the thermal, moisture, and fire protection behaviour of fungal composites (Project Head Dehn, Frank )
• C02 - Research on the interfacial interaction between Fomes fomentarius and classical building materials to formulate durable composite materials (Project Head Stephan, Dietmar )
• C03 - Architectural applications and planning methods for fungal composites (Project Head Pfeiffer, Sven )
• MGKiRTG - Integrated Research Training Group (Project Heads Benz, Philipp ;  Rudolph, Annette )
• S - Service Project ‘Manufactory’ (Project Heads Kruggel-Emden, Harald ;  Meyer, Vera )
• SCWIKO - Science Communication Project (Project Heads Dienel, Hans-Liudger ;  Langen, Nina )
• Z - Central Administrative Project (Project Head Meyer, Vera )

• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Berlin
• Participating University: Aalborg Universitet; Hochschule Bochum; Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Participating Institution: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie; Leibniz-Institut für Agrartechnik und Bioökonomie e.V. (ATB)
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Vera Meyer