{"id":56976,"date":"2026-06-12T11:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/?p=56976"},"modified":"2026-06-12T11:18:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:18:21","slug":"white-rot-to-the-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/inquiring-minds\/white-rot-to-the-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"White Rot to the Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antidepressants and other\u00a0psychoactive drugs are\u00a0designed to affect the\u00a0human brain. But after they\u00a0enter the water system\u00a0in excrement or unused\u00a0drugs flushed down the\u00a0drain, traces of these\u00a0compounds can enter the\u00a0environment in biosolids\u2014the nutrient-rich material\u00a0left over after wastewater\u00a0treatment that is used as\u00a0fertilizer. New research\u00a0suggests an unexpected\u00a0mitigation strategy: using\u00a0wood-rotting fungi that can\u00a0break down these chemicals\u00a0before they reach\u00a0soil, crops, and people.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-2270279409-copy-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Close up of Turkey tail mushrooms\" class=\"wp-image-56988\" srcset=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-2270279409-copy-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-2270279409-copy-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-2270279409-copy-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-2270279409-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-2270279409-copy-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conventional wastewater&nbsp;treatment methods are effective&nbsp;at killing pathogens&nbsp;and reducing metals, but&nbsp;they are far less successful&nbsp;at neutralizing complex&nbsp;organic chemicals. This&nbsp;limitation prompted the&nbsp;research team to explore&nbsp;new, low-cost, and sustainable&nbsp;approaches to reducing&nbsp;pharmaceutical contamination&nbsp;before biosolids&nbsp;are applied to croplands.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEven small&nbsp;concentrations of these&nbsp;compounds can have&nbsp;psychological effects&nbsp;when consumed, which&nbsp;is why they have become&nbsp;contaminants of concern.\u201d&nbsp;\u2014 Kate Burgener<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers in the Johns&nbsp;Hopkins <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.jhu.edu\/departments\/environmental-health-and-engineering\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Department of Environmental&nbsp;Health and Engineering<\/a>,&nbsp;which spans the&nbsp;Bloomberg School of Public&nbsp;Health and the Whiting&nbsp;School of Engineering, have&nbsp;shown that two species of&nbsp;white-rot fungi\u2014oyster&nbsp;and turkey tail mushrooms\u2014can degrade a&nbsp;wide range of psychoactive&nbsp;pharmaceuticals commonly&nbsp;found in biosolids.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The findings&nbsp;were published in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-03-white-fungi-pharmaceutical-residues-biosolids.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ACS&nbsp;Environmental Au<\/a><\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-847601548-copy-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Brown bracket fungus with concentric bands on a white background.\" class=\"wp-image-56985\" srcset=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-847601548-copy-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-847601548-copy-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-847601548-copy-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-847601548-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/iStock-847601548-copy-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Biosolids are widely used&nbsp;across the United States&nbsp;as fertilizers and soil&nbsp;conditioners because&nbsp;they are rich in nitrogen,&nbsp;phosphorus, and organic&nbsp;matter. While some&nbsp;studies have shown that&nbsp;pharmaceuticals can be&nbsp;absorbed by plants grown&nbsp;in biosolids-amended soils&nbsp;or irrigated with wastewater,&nbsp;there is no conclusive&nbsp;evidence that these&nbsp;chemicals reach people&nbsp;who consume those crops.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nonetheless, \u201cEven small&nbsp;concentrations of these&nbsp;compounds can have&nbsp;psychological effects&nbsp;when consumed, which&nbsp;is why they have become&nbsp;contaminants of concern,\u201d&nbsp;says Kate Burgener, a&nbsp;PhD candidate and lead&nbsp;author of the study.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JHU1803-sm-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-57048\" srcset=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JHU1803-sm-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JHU1803-sm-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JHU1803-sm-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JHU1803-sm-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JHU1803-sm.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The researchers focused on&nbsp;white-rot fungi, a group of&nbsp;fungi known for their ability&nbsp;to decompose lignin\u2014the&nbsp;tough polymer that gives&nbsp;wood its rigidity. The two&nbsp;species\u2014Pleurotus ostreatus&nbsp;(oyster mushroom)&nbsp;and Trametes versicolor&nbsp;(turkey tail)\u2014are among&nbsp;the most studied and most&nbsp;widely available mushroom&nbsp;species. Biosolids from&nbsp;a municipal wastewater&nbsp;treatment plant were&nbsp;spiked with nine psychoactive&nbsp;drugs, including&nbsp;commonly used antidepressants&nbsp;such as citalopram&nbsp;and trazodone. The&nbsp;fungi were then allowed&nbsp;to grow directly on the&nbsp;biosolids for up to 60 days.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both fungal species proved&nbsp;highly effective. Each&nbsp;degraded eight of the nine&nbsp;pharmaceuticals tested,&nbsp;with removal rates ranging&nbsp;from approximately&nbsp;50% to nearly complete&nbsp;elimination after two&nbsp;months. Chemical analyses&nbsp;showed that the fungi&nbsp;were not simply trapping&nbsp;the drugs but chemically&nbsp;transforming them, often&nbsp;into less toxic products.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The study was co-authored&nbsp;by <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/faculty\/carsten-prasse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Carsten Prasse<\/a>,&nbsp;associate professor in the&nbsp;Department of Environmental&nbsp;Health and Engineering,&nbsp;and supported&nbsp;by a U.S. Environmental&nbsp;Protection Agency National&nbsp;Priorities grant and Johns&nbsp;Hopkins University.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014 DANIELLE UNDERFERTH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oyster\u00a0and turkey tail mushrooms can degrade a\u00a0wide range of psychoactive\u00a0pharmaceuticals commonly\u00a0found in biosolids.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":56982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"issue":[105],"class_list":["post-56976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inquiring-minds","issue-spring-2026"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - 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