Design a shape in software, run the machine you built, and watch Mucor grow your exact pattern on an agar plate — in just 1–2 days, on any warm shelf at home.
Real images from the research — the fungus, the laser, the pattern. Everything in the kit comes from this work.
Built on peer-reviewed research from SIGGRAPH Asia 2024 — the kit turns a frontier of bio-art into a hands-on experience: design a shape in software, run a machine you built, and grow living fungus into that exact shape.
Four years from a question in the lab to a kit on your desk.
Can a neural network learn to grow a living organism into a designed shape? The project starts in the lab — laser, agar, fungus, and a new question.
"Exploring Fungal Morphology Simulation and Dynamic Light Containment from a Graphics Generation Perspective" — accepted and presented at SIGGRAPH Asia Art Papers.
The research becomes a product. A DIY laser printer, Mucor culture, agar medium, and complete control software — designed for the next generation of bio-artists and makers.
From peer-reviewed publication to artist conversations — the research that became Mycelian Micro has traveled.
Presented "Exploring Fungal Morphology Simulation and Dynamic Light Containment" at SIGGRAPH Asia Art Papers — one of the world's premier computer graphics venues.
Read the science →
Presented inside MIT's Arts, Culture & Technology Cube. Gediminas Urbonas, ACT co-director and renowned artist, engaged directly in discussion.
Invited to present Mycelian Micro at BioFabricate — the world's leading bio-innovation summit. Sat down with BioFabricate's Founder & CEO for an in-depth discussion on living materials, biodesign, and the future of bio-art.
See BioFabricate post ↗Assemble a working low-power laser printer from its components. Understand motors, optics, and control electronics by putting them together with your own hands. Swap in a different wavelength laser module to repurpose it as a desktop laser cutter or engraver — the same hardware, new creative possibilities for maker projects.
Cultivate Mucor — a fast-growing, safe, edible fungus — on agar plates. Observe how it spreads, branches, and responds to light as a living material. At the end of its lifecycle, the fungal artwork fully composts: no waste, no synthetic materials left behind — just soil.
Design any pattern in the control software. The system generates a laser path and sends it to your machine — fungus grows where light doesn't reach, completing your design.
The kit traces a complete creative loop — from a digital sketch to a machine you assembled to a petri dish of living art.
Build your low-power DIY laser printer from the kit components — motors, frame, optics, controller board. No experience required; guided step by step.
Inoculate an agar plate with Mucor spores. The agar provides nutrients; the fungus begins to spread across the surface.
Open the control software, draw or import any shape. The software converts it into a laser path and sends the print job to your machine.
The laser scans the plate, inhibiting growth only where it hits. Over hours, Mucor fills in the unlit areas — your design, drawn by a living organism.
Everything you need for the full design–build–grow loop. No extra tools required.
Low-power laser module, frame, stepper motors, controller board, and all fasteners — a full working machine you assemble from scratch.
Food-safe, fast-growing edible fungus spores. White branching growth visible within 24–48 hours.
Pre-measured nutrient agar powder. Mix, pour, and set — the canvas your fungus grows on.
Draw freehand, import SVG/images, or choose from templates. Any shape becomes a printable fungal pattern.
Automatically converts your design into precise G-code laser instructions for the printer.
Preview how Mucor will fill in your pattern before committing to a print — based on the neural cellular automaton from our research.
Every step of the design–build–grow loop teaches something transferable — not as a simulation, but as a real act with real consequences.
A science-fair project that's genuinely cutting-edge: build a laser machine, grow bio-art, and have research-backed results to present.
An interdisciplinary unit covering engineering, biology, and computational design — with a concrete, shareable outcome every student makes.
Undergrads, biohackers, and makers exploring living computation, bio-art, and the frontier of organism-as-medium.
Reserve a Mycelian Micro kit from our debut production run. Early backers get founder pricing, the full digital curriculum, and lifetime software updates.
Reserve your kit →
1–2 day grow cycle
18–26 °C · any warm room
Edible fungus · from fermented food
