COULD the secret to creating a new style of beer, or even uncovering a life-saving medication or a way to produce food more sustainably, be growing unknown to us in the Hunter?
A trans-disciplinary team at the University of Newcastle is investigating how native wild yeast could be used to turbocharge new bio-technology industries.
The university's Wild Yeast Zoo is through to the final 12 projects in the CSIRO's ON Accelerate program, which aims to develop innovative ventures for launch into the Australian market.
"We have these incredible natural resources in Australia, because we were cut off from the rest of the world in biological terms," Wild Yeast Zoo founder and design lecturer, Dr Ben Matthews, said.
"A lot of those things are untapped and undiscovered because they're hidden from view in the form of microscopic lifeforms."
Humans have been using yeast for centuries in the baking of bread and fermentation of alcohol such as beer and wine.
However, the majority of yeast used is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, commonly known as baker's yeast.
The goal of the Wild Yeast Zoo is to discover new forms of native yeast.
"We don't have much diversity in our knowledge and use of yeast, but there's tons and tons of them out there yet to be discovered," Dr Matthews said.
"Scientists have done some study into how much of the world's microbes we've discovered and it's like .001 per cent.
"The lay person might not realise we're surrounded by them at all times, these unique and tiny organisms which could have incredible value."
Already the Wild Yeast Zoo has discovered three new forms of wild yeast through a field expedition on a private property near the Watagans National Park.
Wild yeast is present in a range of areas, but is most commonly found on fruit, particularly ones with a white bloom, such as grapes and plums.
Tree bark and saps can also be good sources of wild yeast.
On Wednesday the team from Wild Yeast Zoo is delivering a talk on their project at the Woodford Folk Festival in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
It will be followed by a field expedition to gather potential wild yeast.
While wild yeast has been explored scientifically in the past, Dr Matthews said it's been time-consuming and costly.
Dr Matthews said new technology developed at the University of Newcastle allows wild yeast's usefulness to be identified more quickly.
"There's so many things you could potentially be doing with it," he said.
"You could make soap, beer, use it to facilitate the process of pharmaceuticals like insulin or vaccines, you can create make-up, not meat, not milk, all these different things.
"The process of discovery is complex and expensive and time-consuming, so we've discovered ways to improve all of that."
Part of Wild Yeast Zoo's plan is to uncover new wild yeast strains through the help of citizen scientists.
Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to visit their website and apply for a probe kit, which is used to collect potential yeast samples.
Dr Matthews also hopes to involve Newcastle's craft breweries in the project.
Last year they brewed a sour beer with Newcastle's Rogue Scholar, dubbed Wild Scholar, using an already-known wild yeast strain.
Some breweries such as Marrickville's Wildflower are renowned for using wild yeast to ferment their beers and create unique flavour profiles.
However, using wild yeast is also unpredictable, and therefore problematic, when brewing beer for commercial consumption.
Despite this, Dr Matthews said several Newcastle brewers have expressed a keenness to be involved.
"If we find yeast that's good for making a new type of beer, then that can become part of the identity of that product," he said.
"You never know what you're gonna find, but we're sure we'll find something that is useful for the creation of beer."
