Sophia van Mourik

This interdisciplinary project aims to develop a sustainable solution for hydroponic agriculture growth media made from polyurethane foam by combining plant biology, microbiology, metabolomics, and polymer chemistry knowledge. To ensure the food safety of the newly proposed synthetic soil, mass-spectrometry metabolomics methods are being used to characterize the synthetic soil microbiome that develops and any potential foam degradation and leaching from the substrate into the crop. The ultimate goal is to create a biocompatible, bio-derived, and biodegradable synthetic soil grow media that can be fully utilized by soil microorganisms and converted back into starting materials or processed further to provide fertilizer for the next generation of crops, achieving a circular life cycle.