Vera Meyer was interviewed about her work as a biotechnologist and artist as part of a www.biooekonomie.de series on bio-pioneers. “As a biotechnologist, she researches the growth and metabolic potential of fungi, while allowing their transformative power to inspire the sculptures and images she creates as an artist. Meyer’s work is driven by her vision of a world where everyday life is shaped by fungi used to produce agents, construction materials, furniture, and even clothing. Make sure not to miss her video interview as well as her appearance on the podcast where she speaks with Oliver Päßler. Both interviews can also be found on our Press page (quick access 2021).

Again, the German television channel ZDF visited our department, this time for the documentary series "planet e". For the episode "the secret power of fungi", they talked to several international research teams in order to show the historical impact as well as immense beneficial, but also endangering potential of these versatile survival specialists. German speakers may have a look here.

The television channel rbb visited our department to talk about the possibilities of constructing with fungal-based materials. The interview of moderator Sven Oswald and Vera Meyer became part of the documentary series "the truth about...". Feel free to take a look at the episode "...constructing of the future" (German only).

In June 2020, Vera Meyer was happy to answer the questions of the editors of www.bioökonomie.de. The interview is about fungi, art, citizen science and of course bioeconomy – in short: absolutely worth reading. Click here to read.

Radio France visited our department and asked Vera Meyer, Bertram Schmidt and Kushtrim Cerimi, how fungi can contribute to biobased circular economy. The interview resulted in two podcasts, which were broadcasted in June 2020. French-loving people are invited to listen to podcast 1 and podcast 2. Nous vous souhaitons beaucoup de plaisir!

The radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk took notice of the joint press release of the TU Berlin and the TU Munich concerning the 2020 white paper of the think tank Eurofung (speaker Vera Meyer). Philipp Benz (TU Munich) and Charlotte Steiniger from our department told the host Renate Ell for the magazine "IQ - Science and Research" on June 17, what we can and might do with fungi today and in future. Click here to listen (sorry, only in German).

Our holistic research concept at the department – to understand fungi as friends and foes and to use that as a driving force for biotechnologial applications – was presented on June 6 at the virtual long night of science on RadioEins. Our postdocs Charlotte Steiniger and Bertram Schmidt met the challenge and answered the  questions of the host Julia Vismann. Click here to listen (sorry, only in German).

From the press release: "How will we be able to feed 10 billion people in the not too distant future without causing widespread environmental damage? How can we meet the rising demand for leather and textiles among a growing population while significantly reducing water consumption and avoiding animal suffering? How can we stop using petroleum and still be able to manufacture chemical industry products? How can we construct climate-neutral buildings without using environmentally harmful concrete? These are just some of the questions which humankind is facing today. Potential answers to all these questions can be found in the latest developments in fungal biotechnology, which can now be read in a white paper entitled „Growing a circular economy with fungal biotechnology“."

These days, we welcomed some visitors from the German television channel ZDF in our department, who informed themselves about our project "Mind the Fungi!". Based on this, they created a nice little information movie about fungi as construction materials of the future, which was broadcasted in ZDF moma:future. Whoever understands German should absolutely watch it!

Vera Meyer was selected to become a member of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech)! See also the correspondent DECHEMA press release (sorry, German only): https://dechema.de/%C3%9Cber+DECHEMA/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/01_2020+neu+im+Vorstand-p-20143266.html

Also featuring Vera Meyer! Get to know more at: blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcblog/2019/05/23/the-greatest-scientists-are-artists-too/

Also featuring our PhD student Norman Paege! Check it out: blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-biology/2019/05/09/scientists-of-the-future-at-the-30th-fungal-genetics-conference/

Nachrichten aus der Chemie: April 2019

For more details look at the Dechema blog and www.v-meer.de

Get more info here.

The 104th episode on biotechnologie.tv, the video portal of biotechnologie.de.

"Vera Meyer will Hyphenpilze als „Biofabriken“ nutzen, um bestimmte Enzyme oder Proteine zu gewinnen." Find the article here.

Global Medical Discovery: Survival strategies of yeast and filamentous fungi against the antifungal protein AFP - paper published in 2011 in JBC by Ouedraogo et al. GMD features breaking research judged by GMD's advisory team to be of key importance in science and medicine. Papers are selected from over 20,000 published each week from most peer reviewed journals.