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Plant tissue culture can be an easy way to produce large numbers of disease-free clones much faster than more conventional propagation techniques.

It’s also a starting point for further plant molecular and metabolic studies, mutation breeding, and it can be a critical technique for conservation projects.

This workshop will offer demonstrations to guide you through preparing plant tissue culture media and working with your sterile air box or laminar flow cabinet to initiate sterile seed cultures of Australian Acacia for further replication.

Many local Acacia species are an ideal ( and forgiving ) starting point for beginners to understand the basics of plant micropropagation.

We'll cover the equipment you need, outline the theory and walk you through good sterile technique and discuss choosing between potential variables for further investigation.

Previous sterile tek/ mycological experience is an advantage- but not a requirement. The best things you can bring to the workshop are good close observational and record-keeping skills.

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Darklight has been working with aseptic medicinal and endangered plant species propagation for over 20 years. Moving into fungal propagation was a natural progression ( or unfortunate side-effect, you choose 😉 . Right now, Darklight is working on long-term archiving of local NNSW fungal species for future remediation and revegetation work- the culture library consists of a fair range of local macrofungi whose ultimate purposes have yet to be revealed to us. But they're here for a reason, and so are we.

What fascinates Darklight is the progression of fungal lab technology towards being more accessible to citizen scientists. Kitchen mycology is easy, safe and productive these days. The teks keep getting better and the outputs more diverse and rewarding.

Our workshop welcomes people at all skills levels. Learn and share.

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