1. Student Spaceflight Experiment Program: Group U Will microgravity affect the growth of Pleurotus ostreatus? Co-Principal Investigators Komalpreet Kahlon Kugenthini Tharmakulasekaram Undergraduate - Medical Physics Highschool - Grade 11 Francis Buguis Modlin Orange Undergraduate - Biomedical Science Highschool - Grade 11 Gemma Mancuso Undergraduate - Biomedical Science Collaborators Dr. Joseph McPhee Assistant Professor Murad Jabarov Undergraduate - Chemistry

2. Introduction Pleurotus ostreatus - Pearl Oyster Mushroom -Globally grown and highly nutritious fungus -Saprotrophic fungus: -Feeds off cellulose from living trees. -Capacity for growth using numerous substrates

3. Motivation -All previous research solely carried out on Earth -Growth of different species of fungi were observed on the retired Mir Space Station What about fungus that is edible? http://goo.gl/6TMISR

4. Question: Will microgravity affect the growth of Pleurotus ostreatus? Hypothesis: Microgravity will affect the growth of Pleurotus ostreatus -Mycelia is the network of hyphae, roots are to plants as mycelia are to fungi -Mycelia grows along the substrate as it extracts nutrients from it -Note: tube too small for the growth of mushrooms caps

5. Type 3 FME Volume 1 Pleurotus ostreatus spores Volume 2 Growth Substrate (pulverized rice straw) Water storage crystals Volume 3 Formalin Solution http://goo.gl/wjQIXX http://goo.gl/jxRjLL http://goo.gl/Q81lZy https://goo.gl/bI7AmU

6. The Experiment Before Flight Un-clamp Clamp 1 Un-clamp Clamp 2 No growth occurs Spores mix with growth material, growth begins Formalin stops growth and preserves fungus http://goo.gl/QG9GP7

7. After the Flight -Mycelial Content will be quantified - Glucosamine assay -Glucosamine will be extracted from the mycelia of the fungus, differences in quantity of glucosamine indicates differences in growth -The mycelia will also be studied for physical differences (colour, branching, etc.)

8. Acknowledgments: Dr. Bryan Koivisto Dr. Emily Agard Lindsay Jackson Graham Pearson Thank you to our sponsors: