 I'm Han Weuste. I'm from the Netherlands Utrecht University. I have a chair in microbiology and we perform research in fungal growth and development. So I want to start by asking you a few questions about the session that we're due to see. You're talking about the use of fungi to convert plant material into high quality food. I mean, the title is very interesting. Can you tell us if he would perhaps summarize what you will talk about in this lecture? So in 2050 it's expected that we need to have 70% more food. But 10% gain in arable land will be possible. So we need to be more efficient in food production or we have to change food production. And one way is to reduce meat production. And to change to more food-based foods. And food-based foods is excellent, of course. But we aim to improve the nutritional value but also the structure and taste of such foods. And we think that fungi can really be instrumental to obtain such novel foods. Because I know that fungi have been really ancient creatures. So they have been living with us most of the time. They're non-pathogenic. People think sometimes they're really bad things about fungi mushrooms. But they are living creatures along with us. So it's just really nice that you're using this to solve a very critical problem that we have in the current days. Absolutely. So most people associate fungi with infections and with a spoilage of food, etc. But many fungi can actually be used to create food. Think of mushrooms that are also... And that will be also one of my main topics during my presentation. Because you start with a real waste stream, straw or sawdust, that is not a non-food for humans. And we upscale that to a high-quality food. And so fungi can really make a difference in producing the novel foods. And the nice thing is that the high-fave of fungi they have a structure very similar to the fibers in meat. So many people get a meat experience when they consume fungi. So that also helps in making it an acceptable food. Yeah. And do you think that production, in this case mushrooms, is sufficient to cover this food crisis problem? Yeah, that's an interesting question. But we have to realize that in the Netherlands, for instance, we already grow like 300 million kilos of mushrooms every year. And this is done by 150 growers. You can use low-quality soils for that because you do it indoors. So you can do it at places where there is no normal agriculture, let's say. And you can do it at a very, very large scale. That means that indeed making, creating such foods is possible. It's a kind of farming system, actually. And then more on the application side, you mentioned meat. You could use it in meat alternative. Are there more wider uses as well of this? Well, by growing fungi in solid substrates, as we call it, these fungi also produce all kinds of enzymes, but also antibiotics that may be produced in such systems and may be not in a bioreactor as is performed by the industry at the moment. And so during our studies, we may find novel products that are of interest for the food industry or for the pharmaceutical industry. So these kinds of systems may also help to create novel compounds that can be used in a sustainable society, let's say. Yeah. And one last question about your research. So where are you looking to go to take your research into in the future? To make mushroom production very predictable and that you can highly control it. And initially we thought, oh, it's just plug and play. We just over-express one gene and then we have full control over our mushroom production. And that is not the case because mushroom production is a very, very complex system. It needs a lot of different high-fave within the substrate. It needs a lot of different tissues within the mushroom. And that makes it also exciting that we fully understand the differentiation of a fungal mycelium because many people consider fungi, but also bacteria, as very simple systems with no heterogeneity, with every cell being the same. But as microbiologists, we know that these are highly, highly evolved communities. And that is my aim to really resolve it. I still have 12 years to go before I retire, so now time is running. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. And to end this interview, I know that you haven't given your talk yet, but how has it been your overall experience in this conference? Yeah, it's really nice because this is a conference where you see both people, experts in bacteria, in fungi, and also in processing. So what you see is that if I go to a fungal conference, you only have people that are experts in your own field. And this is more interdisciplinary and you get new ideas, actually. Yeah, yeah, that's good. Thanks so much. I mean, thank you for your time and I wish you all the good luck in your research and future directions. Yeah, okay, thank you very much.