Fabricio Rocha Vieira, visiting scientist in the department of plant pathology and environmental microbiology, collects samples for data sequencing in Penn State’s Mushroom Research Center. Mushroom caps are sliced and frozen to remove all moisture. What is left is a small sampling powder that gets loaded into a testing kit that extracts the DNA for research.
Mushroom Sampling
Mushrooms are removed from the bed, which is made up of three layers: the compost, the casing, and the mushroom. Visiting scientist, Fabricio Rocha Vieira's research looks at alternative materials for the casing layer. His main question is how do alternate materials change the microbes' interaction with the mushroom. Understanding this has implications in crop yields and also food safety.
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Mushroom Sampling 2
Mushrooms are sliced to collect samples for testing.
Mushroom Sampling 3
Mushroom slices are dropped into test tubes to be frozen in order to remove all moisture.
