At the age of 68, Professor Vikineswary Sabaratnam, the country’s leading mushroom expert is not showing any signs of slowing down. Whether it is conducting research, supervising post graduate students, teaching, helping farmers to grow mushrooms, or simply creating awareness on the benefits of mushrooms to the general public, Vikineswary tells The Petri Dish Editor-in-Chief, MAHALETCHUMY ARUJANAN, there is much more to be done in this field.
“I wish I am 20 years younger because there is simply so much you can do in this field. It is still an untapped area with so much of potential,” says the professor with her eyes beaming.
Vikineswary is involved in mycology – the study about fungi and mushrooms. During her 28 years of involvement in research and academia, she has weathered much storm but looks at the future with optimism. She is probably one scientist who can crown herself as a top author globally when it comes to publications on medicinal mushrooms. She has more than 110 papers under her belt on many varied aspects of mushrooms. This has made University of Malaya (UM) a key centre of excellence for research on mushrooms. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]
Vikineswary was instrumental in establishing the Mushroom Research Centre in UM and successfully got the Faculties of Medicine and Science as partners where collaborative research are being carried out between Departments of Anatomy and Molecular Medicine and the Institute of Biological Sciences. This centre now boasts 12 principle researchers and ten associate members. All of them are PhD holders.
“With mushrooms, you can solve global problems using local resources. Be it bioremediation, waste management, preventive medicine, treatment for diseases, enzymes to replace chemicals, or food for the future, mushrooms have the answer,” says Vikineswary.
“You just need to look deeper. What scientists like me aim for is continuous funding with long-term research goals, so we can bring our research to fruition for public good,” Vikineswary continues.
Mushrooms Miracles
According to Vikineswary, mushrooms are incredible sources of enzymes for industrial uses. Laccase, lignin peroxidase, glucosidase, and xylanase are some of the enzymes that have huge industrial potential. Lignin peroxidase, for example is capable of degrading lignin. They can be extracted from spent mushrooms (the biomass left after mushrooms are harvested) which comes as a cheap source. A number of these enzymes are capable of breaking down aromatic hydrocarbon compounds and other industrial waste.These enzymes could also be used to breakdown oil palm biomass to produce animal feed.
“Basically, we can turn problems into opportunities. Biomass from our agriculture sector is now an environment menace but with enzymes from mushrooms, they can be a good source of wealth,” enthused Vikineswary.
When asked if she is looking at developing drugs, Vikineswary says she prefers working on preventive medicines to taking the drug route. She is more interested in doing something that will have direct benefits to the public as a whole.
She is now researching on the effect of mushrooms in our diet.
“Mushrooms produce a lot of large polysaccharides and they are known to have huge impact on brain activities, cardiovascular system and diabetes management.
“But what we don’t understand is how the polysaccharides cross the blood-intestine barrier or the blood-brain barrier to reach the target organs,” says Vikineswary hoping her collaboration with medical scientists will shed some light on these areas.
There is large number of literature pointing to glucans (a type of polysaccharides) in mushrooms as capable of protecting nerve cells. However, their metabolic pathways are still vague and their functionality after being broken down needs to be studied.
Another key compounds in mushrooms that is of interest to this scientist are the fatty acids. Her own research has shown that they are neuroprotective and have anti-inflammation activities in the brain. This can lead to prevention and treatment of Alzheimers.
To put all the missing puzzles together, mushroom research has to be intensified with collaboration between various experts.
“Studying gut microbiome and pathogens, studies on cell lines, conducting animal trials, and data interpretations are all essential. That is why I wish I am at my early career stage where I can do all this,” says Vikineswary with a sigh.
A People’s Scientist
Vikineswary is not a typical scientist who sits at her bench and churns out journal papers. She believes in being a “people’s scientist” who can translate her knowledge into tangible benefits for ordinary people.
She is a well-known figure among mushroom growers in Malaysia and has helped many farmers to start their mushroom farms and business. In 1999, she founded the Malaysian Mushroom Research Association. Contrary to the name, the association has members from all walks of life – researchers, farmers, mushroom hobbyists, agriculture officers, and students among others.
“We need all stakeholders to come together if we want a robust mushroom industry in Malaysia and this association plays a pivotal role,” says Vikineswary.
She is often in the field, teaching farmers the growing techniques, solving their problems, devising new growing methods or coming out with alternative substrate and growing materials that can cut their operational costs. Vikineswary is also known for her efforts to introduce mushrooms in everyday diet as an alternative or as a functional food. She joins the farmers in promoting mushrooms-derived foods at farmers’ events and agriculture fairs.
Journey into the World of Mushroom
It was an unexpected twist in her career that led her to take up mushroom research as her professional field. Vikineswary’s first degree was in Botany and Zoology and her Masters was in Medical Microbiology. She then graduated with her PhD in industrial mycology in 1989, long before the world envisaged that industrial biotechnology will be the next revolution.
In spite of her PhD in mycology, she started working on actinomycetes and phototropic bacteria to develop biocontrol against plant pathogens and for bioremediation.
It was in 1990, her research took a different route after meeting Professor Murray Moo-Young from University of Waterloo, Canada at a conference in Hong Kong, where she presented her research on how microbes could be used to turn agricultural residues into animal feed.
Prof Moo-Young asked her why isn’t she working on edible fungi and the rest is history.
As a budding scientist, she ventured into mushroom and fungi research and built her own forte by recruiting post-graduate students, where she started working on marine mycology, mushroom biodiversity, enzymes from mushrooms and bioremediation that has led her to medicinal mushrooms today.
Her Mentor
“Prof Dr Deen Kuthubutheen, my PhD supervisor is the first person who comes to my mind,” says Vikineswary when asked who was her mentor.
“He gave me the space to explore, taught me the true meaning of research and research culture. He gives his students the freedom but is always there when we meet the dead end.
Not an easy supervisor but we need teachers like him to be excellent in our areas,” says Vikineswary with so much of gratitude.
Vikineswary also sees all her post-graduates students as a great source of information and inspiration.
“I learnt so much from them and together we explored new areas,” recalls Vikineswary.
Her Dreams
In Vikineswary’s wish list is to see the mushroom industry and research thrive in Malaysia. She says we are far away from that now. Mushrooms are so diverse and they have potential in every aspects from medical, agriculture, waste management, food industry and industrial biotechnology.
Vikineswary feels more needs to be done and awareness is still low on its potential.
She says a strong research team from various fields must collaborate.
“As for now, there is little collaboration and a lot of duplication and reinventing of the wheel which is a waste of time and resources.
“For example, a literature in 1996 shows that there is very little laccase in spent mushroom but there are still research efforts to extract this enzymes,” says Vikineswary.
Vikineswary is a strong proponent of introducing mushrooms as part of people’s diet for healthy living and she says this requires a lot of public awareness programmes.
She also hopes to get into the crux of understanding the metabolism of mushroom compounds in human body. For this she is already working on a succession plan so that her research will continue. She is currently grooming young researchers under her wing and is hopeful that one of them will carry the torch.
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