Week 3: Making Agar Plates, Spore Prints Continued, Design Prototyping

Welcome back to my senior project blog! 

This week, I learned how to make agar plates at Genspace and experimented with making spore prints! (See Figures 1 & 2,). Malt extract agar (MEA) is a common nutrient medium used in microbiology laboratories for cultivating fungi, particularly filamentous fungi like molds and yeasts! By streaking a fungal sample (part of the spore print) onto the surface of agar, individual fungal colonies can be isolated and studied, or, in my case, used to eventually inoculate a spawn bag. Malt extract provides carbohydrates and nutrients for fungal growth, agar is a gelatinous substance made from red algae, used as a solidifying agent for the medium, and distilled water serves as the solvent for dissolving the malt extract and agar. To make the plates, I also got to use an autoclave, a device used to sterilize equipment, materials, and liquids, by subjecting them to high-pressure saturated steam. The primary purpose of the autoclave is to kill microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and spores, by exposing them to conditions of heat and pressure that denature their proteins and disrupt their cellular structures.

Spore prints are a method used to collect and study the spores of fungi. Fungi produce spores as part of their reproductive cycle and these spores can vary in size, shape, color, and other characteristics depending on the species. The process begins by selecting a mature mushroom that is fully developed and has not yet released its spores. To make the print, the cap of the fungus is carefully removed from the stem. The underside of the cap which contains the spore-producing structures, is then placed on foil. As the fungus continues to mature and release its spores, they fall from the cap onto the surface. Over several hours, the spores accumulate on the paper! This week, I tried making several spore prints from king oyster mushrooms (see Figure 3) and shiitake mushrooms. 

At Genspace’s Biomaterials Studio, Jessica Thiel, a designer, material researcher, and sustainability specialist gave us a presentation on design prototyping! She showed us examples of her moodboards, sketches, models, and processes for her projects (see Figure 4) and I got to make my own prototypes at the lab for the palettes, as well! 

Here is one of the final sketches I drew as a plan for the palette:

Figure 1. + Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.