Estonian biotech company Äio received €1.2 million from the national innovation agency to scale production of microbial fats derived from industrial byproducts

Corteva Agriscience has formed a joint venture with pharmaceutical company Hexagon Bio to develop natural crop protection products using fungal compounds

Researchers have created the first large-scale dataset for training AI to analyse mycelium growth patterns, comprising over 20,000 high-resolution images of four fungal species.

Penicillium has been named Microbe of the Year 2026, recognising its role in producing antibiotics that have saved millions of lives since 1928. Industrial strains now produce hundreds of thousands of times more penicillin than the original discovery, with global production reaching 50,000 tonnes annually

Too long to read? Go for the highlights below. Refugee-led initiatives in Uganda and Kenya are training thousands in low-cost mushroom cultivation, creating revenue streams through products ranging from oyster mushroom coffee to medicinal skincare African mushroom entrepreneurs challenge persistent misconceptions that fungi cannot be cultivated, demonstrating that mushroom farming offers faster income generation and better climate resilience than traditional crops With 1.5 bi