For Mycology Research Laboratories Ltd, the history started in 1995, when William Ahern, a pharmaceutical licensing executive, approached the California based David Law, a microbiologist, and Malcolm Clark, a biologist and field mycologist, with the idea to form a partnership to clinically prove that mushroom biomass could form the basis for disease modifying therapies.
David and Malcolm founded Gourmet Mushrooms Inc., in 1977 in Sebastopol, California and from their California farm were cultivating culinary mushrooms to supply five star restaurants in the USA and Europe.
Gourmet was the first firm in the western hemisphere to establish controlled cultivation of Lentinula edodes (Shiitake) in 1978 and Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s Mane) in 1983. Both then developed the culinary market for Hericium erinaceus under the culinary trade name “Pom Pom Blanc” mushroom.
In the 1970’s, Malcolm had trained as a mycologist under Dr Tsuneto Yoshii at the Yoshii Mycological Institute in Japan. In 1987, Malcolm returned to Japan to introduce Hericium erinaceus to his mentor, Dr. Yoshii, who in turn, introduced the cultivation and culinary use of this mushroom in Japan and in China.
In 1997, Mycology Research Laboratories Ltd www.mycologyresearch.com was incorporated in Brough, United Kingdom. Under the direction of William Ahern, MRL focused on conducting preclinical and clinical research on the use of MRL mushroom biomasses in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, and Bulgaria to determine effective supplementation schedules in various health conditions.
As part of this effort, MRL has collaborated with practitioner clinics and universities that have led to the publication of over fifty (50) publications and posters on the use of mushroom nutrition with a focus on developing disease modifying therapies.
In 2005, MRL USA www.mrlusa.net was established in Grafton, California and in 2017, MRL opened a state of the art mushroom cultivation facility in Portugal.
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