Born in Genoa, Italy, in 1995, Diego Dylan Bianchi (DDB) did his university studies in Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology at universities in Turin and Milan. His passion for the Kingdom of Fungi began in 2017 when he started delving into the pivotal role of ancient arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in plant evolution, dating back 400 million years to the early colonization of land by plants, which continues to be a fundamental relationship for the conservation and resilience of ecosystems in the wild as much as for the healthiness and productivity of agricultural fields nowadays.
DDB is currently based at the Molecular Lab of the Botany Department at Trinity College Dublin, where he started a position as a PhD student in January 2021. His scientific research is committed to bioprospecting novel strains of filamentous fungi isolated from wild relatives of cereals to explore symbiotic properties and enhance plant growth and resilience against pathogens in commercial crops, ultimately reducing reliance on chemical inputs like pesticides.
Throughout his doctoral research, DDB successfully isolated hundreds of fungal species with extremely diverse phenotypic traits, and over time his passion for fungi evolved from scientific applications to an artistic appreciation of their natural beauty. This shift inspired him to create a visual project showcasing the aesthetic value of filamentous fungi, detached from their technical and scientific context.
In March 2024, after years of planning and curating his personal collection of bizarre, scary and extraordinary fungi, DDB dedicated the St. Patrick’s Day weekend to his first intensive photo session in the lab, testing and bringing his creative vision to life. The final results are so transformative and shocking that he will dedicate all the months of the year that follow to re-cultivate fungi, optimize methods, shooting and editing techniques.
The project finally takes shape under the official name of Fungal Galaxies and launches in February 2025, bringing to light a pioneering work between Science and Art, a manifesto of exquisite fungal biodiversity that challenges our imagination and beliefs.
