Creating a new medicine is a team effort involving scientist and medical professionals from a wide variety of fields. In 2010, researchers with the University of Oklahoma’s Natural Products Discovery Group redefined the notion of what “team” meant when they launched their popular Citizen Science Soil Collection Program. Through this program, volunteers from across the United States have helped by donating soil samples from their own backyards, which OU investigators are using to obtain fungi that make special compounds known as natural products. Natural products are the source of many lifesaving drugs that are used today by doctors around the world.
Make learning at home fun! Whether as a homeschool lesson or just a fun project, visit https://whatsinyourbackyard.org/homeschool/ to view FREE curriculum materials. Additionally join us on our Facebook page at http://facebook.com/OUCSSC for LIVE Fungi Fridays!