Medicinal Fungi

For millennia, mushrooms have been used as medicine in various cultures across the globe. Today, the medical community has shown a renewed interest in medicinal mushrooms due to their nutritional content and diverse pharmacological properties. This course provides an overview of medicinal fungi with an emphasis on Pacific Northwest species. Students will learn about the major classes of compounds responsible for the biological activities of fungi, as well as methods of preparing mushroom-based medicines. Students will explore the properties of both wild-harvested and cultivated mushrooms, fruiting body vs. mycelium and extracts vs. powdered preparations. Students will conduct library research to produce 10 medicinal mushroom monographs outlining the chemical and biological properties of each species and prepare a presentation about a medicinal mushroom of their choice. Through these program activities, students will gain practice reading and critically evaluating peer-reviewed papers relating to medicinal mushrooms.

In-person labs will provide students with hands-on experience with the following methods: sterile technique, culturing methods, molecular methods, bioinformatics for identification of fungi, bioassays for examining the biological activities of fungi, and extraction of fungal metabolites. Students will be expected to maintain a detailed laboratory notebook and prepare laboratory reports describing the results of their experiments.

This program will be taught as a hybrid-online offering. To be successful in this program, students will need access to reliable high-speed internet and a computer. Students can expect a blend of 3-6 hours a week of synchronous (scheduled) class time, including workshops and labs (in-person and on Zoom), and an additional 16-20 hours a week of asynchronous work, including completing assignments and conducting library research.

This is one of two core courses that comprise the Mycology Certificate at Evergreen. Courses can be taken in any order.