Filaments of the Future
Over the next three years, Cultivarium will weave fungi and archaea into the fabric of a healthier, cleaner, and more resilient world.
At Cultivarium, we are on a mission to open the microbial universe to exploration at scale. A significant part of that universe is comprised of fungi and archaea, whose superpowers have only begun to be understood and harnessed by researchers worldwide.
Fungi and archaea represent some of the most fascinating yet understudied branches of the tree of life. Fungi can transform into different morphologies depending on their environment, produce an astonishing array of bioactive compounds, and break down almost anything, from plastics to pollutants. Archaea, the ancient microbes that thrive in extreme environments where nothing else survives, hold genetic secrets that could revolutionize biotechnology and our understanding of evolution. These organisms have been quietly shaping our planet for billions of years, yet we've only been able to study a few of them in the lab. There’s little doubt that we’ve barely scratched the surface of their capabilities.
We believe that dramatically increasing the breadth of research about fungi will produce breakthroughs with profound benefits to society in areas like:
Human health and medicine - developing novel antifungal treatments to combat the global surge affecting over 300 million people annually, and new compounds for chronic diseases
Sustainable agriculture - creating resilient crops and natural pesticides to protect against worms and insects
Environmental remediation - harnessing their metabolism to degrade biomass, pollutants, and even radioactive waste
Industrial biotechnology - leveraging them as production chassis for food, drugs, materials, and other chemicals for a circular bioeconomy
Climate change mitigation - sequestering carbon underground in symbiosis with plants
Cultivarium is an engineering firm that helps biotech innovators harness the latent power of the microbial universe in record time. We are unique in that we purposefully explore the whole tree of life, not just the few well-known bacteria or yeasts. We are developing tools and technologies to efficiently investigate hundreds of non-model microbes.
Our ultimate goal is a flourishing bioeconomy that heals our people and planet. To achieve this, we need to develop accessible tools for genetic engineering, establish standardized protocols for growth and manipulation, and foster vibrant research communities that can collaborate effectively across disciplines.
Despite their growing scientific importance, however, research progress on fungi and archaea has been severely hampered by two things: 1) the limited number of model species, and 2) insufficient foundational research tools available to scientists working in the field.
We're enormously proud to receive support from Wellcome to build out our tools and resources for the fungal research community. Wellcome has a longstanding commitment to the ecosystem as a champion and convener. They are leaders in tackling global health challenges, funding vital scientific research, and building bridges between communities to tackle ambitious challenges.
Wellcome is committing more than £50 million to help biologists explore the crucial roles of fungi in human health and climate solutions. Our three-year project will dramatically reduce the time and expertise required to work with non-model fungi and archaea, democratize access to tools, and accelerate research along four main fronts:
Community engagement and data science
Creating advisory committees from industry, academia, and public health
Building digital tools for community knowledge sharing
Digital atlas of fungal growth
Developing a programmable biosphere to study fungi’s diverse lifecycle programs
Sharing this hardware with our global network to accelerate data collection
High-throughput DNA delivery methods
Building custom hardware for multiple DNA delivery modalities
Sharing this infrastructure with our global network for genetic manipulation
Molecular toolboxes for functional genomics
Assembling genetic libraries that are robust for diverse species
Sharing these assets with our global network for application development
I believe that in a few years, we'll look back on today's announcement as a catalyst for a Cambrian explosion of compelling biotechnologies.
What makes this support particularly special is the community we're building together. The fungal and archaea research communities are filled with passionate, innovative scientists who have made remarkable discoveries despite the comparatively fewer resources and tools they’ve had access to historically. By creating enabling technology and shared infrastructure, we're cultivating a collaborative ecosystem where knowledge flows freely, enabling everyone to advance together. This approach empowers the collective talent across the globe, from established institutions to emerging labs, with the same powerful tools and datasets.
Oh, and one more thing: if you're reading this and want to explore possibilities beyond E. coli and S. cerevisiae, you can think of us as your capable and experienced partner. We'd love to hear about what you're working on to see if we can help.
We're proud that our partners get to answers dramatically faster than doing this work from scratch themselves. We can tell you which strain, plasmid, and protocols are worth your time, and save you years of work, even if what we tell you is what doesn’t work. We want to increase the momentum from an exciting newly discovered microbe to a powerful technology for society. If it can be done, Cultivarium will show you how. Our goal is always to provide an evidence-based plan that you can be confident in pursuing.