PROJECTS + EVENTS

UPCOMING+

ONGOING+

MycoStack Micro Challenge

A Collaborative Program of Biodesign Challenge and
Open Fung

August 1 - September 30, 2026

Learn more and apply at biodesignchallenge.org

Read more on openfung.org

Biodesign Challenge (BDC) and Open Fung are pleased to announce MycoStack Micro Challenge, the first in a planned series of summer micro competitions and hackathons dedicated to advancing practical biomaterials education. This collaborative program reflects a shared commitment to democratizing biotechnology by developing, collecting, and centralizing high-quality, open-access learning resources for students, educators, and makers working with mycelium-based materials.

Read more on openfung.org

ANNOUNCING OPEN FUNG’S ARTIST IN RESEARCH PROGRAM

November 2025

Open Fung is thrilled to announce the launch of our Artist-in-Research program, a new core element of our Art Program created to further our ongoing commitment to directly support artists working at the intersections of art and science.

Learn about the Artist in Research Program

ICONOLOGIES
October 2024

Open Fung’s infographic series on how we’re working to open fungal utility.

Iconologies

AQUAFUNG

2024 - Ongoing

AquaFung exlores the ways that fungi and water come together, exploring and investigating ecology and nature as well as the material possibilities of fungi.

Aquafung Projects

Past+

MycoStack Micro Challenge
Webinar

Growing the Field: A Conversation on the Future of Mycelium Education

A conversation with
Dr. Callie Rodgers Chappell
Antoni Gandía
Denise Middleton

Facilitated by Open Fung

Tuesday, August 25, 2026
11 am PT / 2 pm ET
via Zoom

A Collaborative Program of Biodesign Challenge and
Open Fung

RECORDING OF CONVERSATION ON YOUTUBE

PARTICPANT BIOS
Trained as an ecologist, Dr. Callie Rodgers Chappell (they/them) is a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University. Callie’s work focuses on the environmental and social implications of bioengineered systems that live outside the lab, such as genetically engineered microbes. Callie collaborates with local communities and policymakers to promote environmental and social justice with synthetic biology. Callie’s art practice engages scientists inside and outside the academy—from youth, elders, artists, and activists--in the production of art and research. In particular, Callie focuses on community biology labs (“LABraries”) as sites for community-led biodesign innovation. Callie completed their master’s degree from the University of Michigan in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and PhD from Stanford University in Biology.

Antoni Gandía is a Catalan biotechnologist and research scientist specializing in fungal biotechnology, biofabrication, and sustainable material development. His work focuses on leveraging fungi to create eco-friendly alternatives to conventional materials, contributing significantly to advancements in sustainable manufacturing and environmental science.

As part of the MycoStack Micro Challenge, Open Fung and Biodesign Challenge invite you to a free, open webinar exploring how we teach and grow the field of mycelium research and materials.

We'll start with an introduction tracing the cultural roots of working with fungi, then bring together educators and practitioners for a candid dialog on what's needed to move the field forward - how to teach it, how to bring people in, and who's still being left out.

A live audience Q&A follows, and the conversation continues afterward in a running open document. All levels of experience are welcome!

(BIOS CONTINUED)
Denise Middleton (formerly King) currently holds the position of Director of Exhibit Development at the Exploratorium. In her role, she promotes curiosity, humility, and rigor in exhibit development by leveraging her strengths in concept development, prototyping, and interface design. Denise has been an exhibit developer at the Exploratorium since 2001. Before joining the Exploratorium, she worked as a field biologist. An interesting fact about Denise is that she once captured footage of desert kangaroo rats while on location in the Mojave Desert with David Attenborough, which inspired the Muad'Dib from Dune.

MycoStack Micro Challenge
Webinar

Design, Grow, Compute with Mycelium
Presented by Okran Telhan

Thursday, August 13, 2026
10 am PT / 1 pm ET
via Zoom

A Collaborative Program of Biodesign Challenge and
Open Fung

Mycelium materials are often discussed through the objects they can become: packaging, food, textiles, composites, and, more recently, computational substrates. This webinar instead asks what forms of design become possible when making is inseparable from cultivation.

Drawing on work across design research, biotechnology, farming, and industrial production, Orkan Telhan will discuss how mycelium products emerge through relationships among organisms, environmental conditions, manufacturing systems, algorithms, and human judgment. Rather than treating biology as a material to control, the talk explores how design becomes a process of negotiation between biological variability and technical precision.

Through projects spanning mycelium packaging, food, engineered materials, and non-living mycelium chips for physical reservoir computing, the webinar introduces concepts including relational intelligence, morphological engineering, and the design–grow–compute paradigm. Together, these projects suggest that cultivation is not simply a manufacturing step, but an integral part of the design process itself.

Intended for students and professionals, the session offers a thoughtful perspective on designing with fungi across material, agricultural, and computational scales.

Bio:Orkan Telhan is Associate Professor of Art + Design at Northeastern University, President of the Biodesign Challenge, and former Chief Information and Data Officer at Ecovative, where he led AI, data systems, and computational infrastructure for industrial mycelium manufacturing.

Open Fung Presentation at the Local Contexts Biocultural and Sciences Working Group Meeting

Thursday, July 16, 2026
12 Noon, PT

For this meeting, Local Contexts hosts a discussion around Open Fung‘s work with the NSF-funded UC ExFAB Biofoundry. Open Fung shares about our work in mycology, and poses questions for the group to discern best practices around research ethics in the field.

The Local Contexts Biocultural and Sciences Working Group (BSWG) brings together group members who work within biocultural research and related science fields around the world who are interested in or are already using the Local Contexts system of Biocultural and Traditional Knowledge Labels and Notices.

Open Fung presenation at the Mycological Society of America (MSA)
2026 Conference

Wednesday, July 15, 2026
5:15 - 5:30 PM

Catch Open Fung Co-Founder Philip Ross at the 2026 Mycological Society of America (MSA) Conference.

Phil will be presenting on our Ganofornia project - developing an "open-source" California Ganoderma strain for biomaterials, built alongside a framework for ethical collection and use. If you're attending, we'd love to connect!

This Parallel Session is focused on Fungi and Global Change, chaired by Deborah Louisa Narh, Ph.D

CRYPTIC LINEAGES: COAXING THE SIGNAL
An online public conversation with Laura Splan and Open Fung

Hosted by Open Fung

Wednesday, May 20, 2026
1:00 – 2:15 PM PT / 4:00 – 5:15 PM ET

RECORDING OF TALK ON YOUTUBE

Artist Laura Splan spent eight months inside Open Fung's research world — following fungal inks, speculative computing, and questions that are still opening up. Now she's ready to talk about where it took her.

Cryptic Lineages: Coaxing the Signal — a free online conversation with Laura Splan and Open Fung co-founders.

Go to the event page to learn more and register.

MEET LAURA SPLAN, OPEN FUNG’S INAUGURAL RESEARCH RESIDENT

September 2025 - April 2026

Open Fung is excited to welcome Laura Splan as its inaugural Artist in Research Resident from September 2025 to April 2026. A New York City-based artist, Splan works at the intersections of science, technology, and culture, developing multimedia exhibitions and interdisciplinary collaborations. During her residency, she will research with Open Fung's scientific team, Rachel Linzer and Rolando Perez, to explore fungi not only as a subject but as a framework for thinking across art, science, and ecology. Her work, grounded in what she calls the "tactical tactile," will foster intuitive comprehension of the interconnectedness of cultural and biological systems.

Learn more about Laura

PLANT SALE LA
Sunday May 16, 2026
11 AM - 4 PM
@MOCA Geffen, Los Angeles

Open Fung joins the PLANT SALE LA in 2026!

Organized by artist Alika Cooper, this traveling collaborative event gathers artists and growers from across the Los Angeles basin to celebrate and sell plants and related goods.

Open Fung will be at Plant Sale LA sharing fungal knowledge and information about our programs; from scientific research to artist collaborations and a growing global network of researchers, citizen scientists, and creative practitioners working at the intersection of fungi and regenerative materials. We’ll also be sharing Ganofornia, our initiative developing fungal cultigens for biomaterials, starting with local California Ganoderma, and grounded in Indigenous bio-sovereignty and ethical frameworks for working with living systems.

Come by, say hi, and get into the mycelial future with us. 

Open Fung to present about the Ganofornia Project at 2026 SOMA Camp

Saturday, January 17, 2026
11 AM - 12 Noon

Open Fung shares our research and ongoing work on Ganofornia, an open-source project focused on California’s Ganoderma species. The project explores ethical practices for domesticating this wild fungi and how Open Fung is developing a fungal utility for biomaterials.

Learn more about SOMA Camp 2026

Open Fung in the Community:
Mycopreneur Live Round Table Discussion

Listen to the archived Discussion here

DATE: Friday, September 26, 2025, 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET
LOCATION: Zoom
Archived Discussion

Mycopreneur is hosting Open Fung & Fungaria for a live round table discussion on fungi conservation, ethics, genetics, and sustainable use in a global context.

Please get in touch via email or DM for a Zoom link!

Open Fung in the Community:
Maker Faire Bay Area

“Lots o’ Rots! Making materials from fungi for fashion, packaging and building on Earth and beyond”
with Rachel Linzer and Rolando Perez

DATE: Saturday, September 27, 2025, 1:00 - 1:30 PM
LOCATION: Mare Island Naval Shipyard: 560 Nimitz Ave, Vallejo, CA 94592.
LIVE STAGE

There is a wave of interest in using fungi to grow materials for building, textiles, packaging, and remediation to address some of our most pressing global challenges. Fungal materials are easy to create at home, unlike many other contemporary biotechnologies. Rolando Perez and Rachel Linzer from Open Fung – a scientist- and artist-led nonprofit building accessible tools for applied mycology – will talk about the possibilities of fungal materials on Earth and beyond, and how you might begin making mycomaterials of your own.

Open Fung in the Community:
BioFab UK

DATE: September 16, 2025
LOCATION: London

The Biofab Fair is a visionary celebration and call-to-action for the global design community, hosted by Biofabricate during the London Design Festival, to explore a future built with biology.

AquaFung Workshop, Los Angeles

DATE: April 12, 2025, 10:30 AM - 2:00 PM
LOCATION: OXY ARTS, Los Angeles, CA

AquaFung Workshop, Oakland

DATE: February 1, 2025, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
LOCATION: Port Labs, Oakland, CA

OPEN FUNG

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