Large-scale production of fungal melanin for novel radiation shielding/harvesting applications

Melanin-based biomaterials present novel solutions to radiation shielding/countermeasures, camouflage, and insulation, among others. A scalable and sustainable production process for natural melanins is needed to support the R&D and commercialization of melanin-based technologies. MelaTech proposes to develop a fermentation system that involves a novel, rapid melanin isolation process to yield gram quantities of natural melanin from fungi. This process was originally developed by the Casadevall group at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The Casadevall group and collaborators have additionally demonstrated that fungal melanin is effective in shielding against ionizing radiation and capture heat from the entire solar irradiance. MelaTech will collaborate with JHU-Bloomberg to 1) optimize a fungal melanin production process for scalability, and 2) systematically characterize melanin’s ability to shield and/or absorb X-rays, Ultraviolet, Visible, Infrared, and Microwave radiation frequencies. The characterization will include irradiating different melanin formulations/sources and detecting heat energy-transfer processes using thermography. Our approach for the Microwave shielding experiments will involve the use of a melanin-based biocomposite which will also serve as proof-of-concept validation and application testing for Phase II. The proposed fungal melanin fermentation system is versatile as it can accommodate large commercial needs and may be adapted to other microbial species.