Elite-Tier Functional Mushrooms: Inside NuCelium with Riley Boudreau and Rob Swiderski

Riley Boudreau and Rob Swiderski, co-founders of NuCelium, break down full-spectrum purposeful mushroom cultivation, the science of cordycepin, and their 2025 Cordy Cup win with CordyFuel™ on Episode #214 of the PricePlow Podcast.

0:00 – Introductions

Ben kicks issues off by welcoming NuCelium’s two co-founders. Rob Swiderski opens along with his hospitality background: 25+ years operating eating places and bars throughout Canada, beginning at Cowboys in Calgary earlier than co-founding Craft Beer Market with childhood pal PJ L’Heureux. With 100+ faucets, it turned a nine-restaurant group and turned Rob into a licensed Cicerone (the beer equal of a sommelier).

Riley Boudreau previews a profession as a serial entrepreneur, together with the charity Stand with Nepal, automation and robotics work at 4AG Robotics (previously TechBrew), and an eventual pivot to purposeful mushrooms after discovering full-spectrum lion’s mane resolved years of intestine well being points.

4:00 – Riley’s Origin Story: Nepal, Automation, and Mushrooms

Riley’s path to NuCelium runs by way of some outstanding territory, and he shares the story that kicks off our introductory NuCelium article. He co-founded Stand with Nepal in 2015 whereas recovering from bilateral foot surgical procedure, in the end coordinating the rebuilding of 83 homes, three faculties, and blood donation drives throughout the nation after the earthquake. After college, he shifted into robotics at 4AG, main first-of-their-kind AI-guided automated mushroom-picking tasks in meals manufacturing.

Realizing automation was making farms extra environment friendly however not enhancing lives, he began on the lookout for a approach to develop mushrooms with actual medicinal influence. It was his personal expertise with a North American full-spectrum lion’s mane (Pure Full 360) resolving continual abdomen points that satisfied him the purposeful mushroom area was price pursuing at scale.

12:00 – Rob’s Premonition: The Imaginative and prescient That Began It All

When requested in regards to the premonition that launched NuCelium, Rob describes waking one night time throughout COVID, not totally asleep and never totally awake, to an awesome sense of unconditional love and a transparent picture of brilliant lights and racks of mushrooms. He woke his spouse to say he was promoting his restaurant shares and going to develop mushrooms. She advised him to return to sleep.

Rob adopted by way of anyway, referred to as his enterprise companion, offered his shares, and burned the boats. Initially drawn to psychedelics based mostly on PTSD analysis, his path shifted towards purposeful mushrooms after connecting with different business builders… and finally with Riley.

14:00 – Constructing for Biosecurity and Scale

Riley brings automation expertise straight into facility design, however with a counterintuitive opening transfer: NuCelium launched with minimal automation, staying agile sufficient to pivot as they realized. The purpose was proving the biology earlier than locking within the equipment.

Their founding mycology group was the vital unlock. Mike Mannion, the founding mycologist with 25+ years of expertise, contributed esoteric cultivation texts from a number of languages translated into sensible method. Evelyn Bailey, a protégé of one of many founders of Aloha Medicinals, introduced large-scale full-spectrum rising expertise. Pablo Morales, previously of Highline Mushrooms (the world’s largest natural mushroom farm), accomplished the trifecta. Collectively, 75+ years of mycology experience knowledgeable each clean-room and biosecurity resolution within the Coldstream facility.

20:00 – Mushroom Rising 101: Full Spectrum vs. Extraction

NuCelium is not counting on advertising and marketing claims. Their UPLC-verified cordyceps posted the very best cordycepin ranges ever recorded on the 2025 Cordy Cup — and each business batch is third-party examined to match.

Conventional mushroom cultivation facilities on the fruiting physique (stem and cap), the transient reproductive organ the mycelium produces below stress. As a result of wood-grown fruiting our bodies are dense and fibrous, extraction turned the sensible approach to entry their medicinal compounds — which is why the majority of what is come from China is in extracted kind.

NuCelium captures three issues collectively:

The fruiting physique
The mycelium
The extracellular compounds excreted into the substrate throughout colonization

That third element, the immune and digestive outputs the mycelium releases into the expansion medium, is misplaced fully in extraction-only strategies. Riley and Rob argue these compounds work synergistically, and stripping them for extraction means buying and selling the entire matrix for a single concentrated goal.

26:45 – The Extract Debate: Ratio vs. Standardized

Not all extracts are equal, and Rob attracts a transparent line. A ratio extract (like “10:1”) tells you quantity was concentrated, however typically tells you nothing about what it is concentrated to, by which case it explains nothing about what’s truly within the completed product. A standardized extract gives analytical knowledge for particular bioactive concentrations. For anybody evaluating high quality, ratio extracts are largely advertising and marketing, however standardized extracts present actual numbers.

NuCelium’s place goes additional: why extract in any respect should you can develop cordyceps potent sufficient to beat extraction whereas preserving the total bioactive matrix intact? Riley notes many extracts are spray-dried onto maltodextrin at roughly 50% ratios, that means the patron will get an remoted compound on an ultra-processed sugar service. The complete-spectrum method avoids that trade-off fully, and that is the philosophical basis behind CordyFuel™.

31:45 – Practical and Psychedelic Mushrooms: The place They Intersect

Most cordyceps elements cannot ship clinically related cordycepin doses. CordyFuel by NuCelium ensures 3mg/g, examined each batch.

Ben raises a query the business typically sidesteps: will purposeful mushrooms and psilocybin finally converge? Paul Stamets’ well-known stack of lion’s mane, niacin, and psilocybin is one knowledge level, and the entourage impact idea runs parallel to the hashish dialog the place THC-only focus has given approach to broader appreciation for the total cannabinoid profile.

Riley provides that CordyFuel paired with a psilocybin microdose seems to supply endurance results that greater than double what both compound achieves alone. Rob shares a private Good Friday account of finishing the Murph exercise (a one-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and one other mile below 20 kilos of weight in below 47 minutes on that mixture. Each body these as private observations, not suggestions, and be aware the documentary Dante explores comparable territory by way of the story of an ex-MMA fighter operating 500 miles on psilocybin.

36:00 – Studying from Failure: How Efficiency Will get Unlocked

One of the crucial revealing findings in NuCelium’s early improvement: visually stunning cordyceps with wealthy orange coloring examined among the many worst for precise bioactive compounds! Aesthetically-ideal fruiting our bodies weren’t the identical as biochemically potent ones.

Digging in, the group discovered that many key cordyceps bioactives are immune protection responses produced through the mycelial section below stress. Protecting the cordyceps in that mycelial section longer, with deliberate stress utilized, is what unlocked the excessive cordycepin ranges in CordyFuel. The lesson Riley attracts: what a mycologist calls an important mushroom is not essentially what science says is greatest for human profit. This realization introduced them to Paul Eftang of Nootropics Depot / Omnient Labs, whose analytical science group gave NuCelium the horsepower to validate slightly than guess.

44:30 – The Cordy Cup: 14.83 mg/g and Competitors File

The Cordy Cup is a world cordyceps competitors organized by William Padilla-Brown (featured in Incredible Fungi) and Mycosymbiotics, drawing each hobbyist and business growers worldwide for unbiased third-party testing. NuCelium entered CordyFuel on the urging of group member Jenna Erickson, who stored the founders centered on submitting amid the calls for of launching the enterprise.

Riley Boudreau, CEO and Co-Founding father of NuCelium

The consequence: 14.83 mg/g cordycepin, the very best in competitors historical past, on unprocessed baseline materials with no extraction utilized. NuCelium has since produced inside batches over 20 mg/g, however their business CordyFuel™ stays standardized at >3 mg/g. That is roughly 30x the business commonplace, and it displays the group’s under-promise, over-deliver philosophy that runs by way of each dialogue of standardization and consistency.

47:30 – Past Cordycepin: Adenosine, Uridine, and Longevity Bioactives

Cordycepin will get the eye, however Riley flags different compounds price watching. Adenosine seems alongside cordycepin in analytical work and should perform as a precursor, changing into the extra steady cordycepin kind the physique can make the most of. Uridine additionally reveals up in various concentrations.

Extra broadly, two compounds seem persistently throughout a number of mushrooms NuCelium grows: ergothioneine, a longevity-associated antioxidant, and ergosterol, a vitamin D2 precursor. Rob quotes Paul Stamets to border the bigger image: these mushrooms are “mini pharmaceutical factories”, and the science remains to be mapping what’s inside them. As Riley notes, while you maximize cordycepin, different helpful metabolites are inclined to rise alongside it. Nevertheless, adenosine might go down as cordycepin will increase, hinting at a precursor relationship.

49:15 – Advantages by Mushroom Species

Rob walks by way of how NuCelium positions every mushroom by major use case. Cordyceps militaris (the “vitality mushroom”) helps VO2 max and sustained vitality by way of cordycepin’s position as a precursor to ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in mitochondria, with out the sharp jolt of stimulants. Lion’s mane targets cognitive perform through NGF (Nerve Progress Issue) and BDNF (Mind-Derived Neurotrophic Issue), supporting neuron well being related to neurodegeneration analysis. Reishi covers hormone stability and rest, usually taken within the night.

Turkey tail, wealthy in PSK and PSP (protein-bound beta-glucans), is extensively studied as a complementary method throughout therapy for immune assist. Chaga, shiitake, maitake, and the agaricus-style mushrooms spherical out the portfolio, typically related to cardiovascular and blood well being. Ergothioneine and ergosterol seem throughout the broader catalog as longevity-oriented supporting compounds.

55:00 – Eight Mushrooms, One Facility

Rob Swiderski, Co-Founder and Chief Income Officer at NuCelium

NuCelium presently grows eight species: cordyceps, lion’s mane, reishi, chaga, turkey tail, shiitake, maitake, Agaricus blazei (Almond Mushroom), and King Trumpet. Every is being optimized one species at a time for full-spectrum efficiency, and cordyceps was first.

Chaga is subsequent in business improvement. Riley says the outcomes they’ve achieved with full-spectrum chaga “break the present scientific literature” on what’s potential with this rising technique (an announcement is coming). Tiger’s Milk (Lignosus rhinocerus), a species gaining consideration for nerve well being (in Episode #206, Paul Eftang shared an anecdote about it restoring feeling in his mothers’ hand when paired with lion’s mane), can also be slated for business launch this 12 months.

58:45 – Intestine Well being and the Prebiotic Fiber Matrix

Riley traces his first significant mushroom expertise on to intestine well being: the full-spectrum North American lion’s mane (Pure Full 360) resolved abdomen points he’d had for years. Chaga and turkey tail each have documented connections to intestine and immune well being, however Rob’s framing goes deeper.

NuCelium’s substrate begins as sorghum, a nutrient-dense superfood, and does not exit the method as inert grain filler. After the mycelium colonizes and ferments it, the substrate turns into a metabolically reworked prebiotic fiber matrix which will assist the intestine microbiome in methods analogous to GLP-1-related mechanisms. The complete-spectrum product delivers bioactive mushroom compounds plus a prebiotic fiber system that helps with their absorption.

1:01:00 – Might the Substrate Turn into Its Personal Ingredient?

Subsequent comes a pointy query: given what NuCelium is aware of about their fermented substrate’s prebiotic worth, might that matrix be separated and offered as a standalone ingredient? Rob confirms it is theoretically potential: if NuCelium ever created an extract and generated a waste stream, that fiber element would have actual business worth by itself.

Mike attracts a parallel to InfiniFiber, the 11-ingredient fiber product from Nootropics Depot. The mushroom fiber market hasn’t been explored the way in which standard fibers like psyllium husk have, and NuCelium’s substrate might provide one thing the present fiber class does not. The corporate is presently partnering with Dr. Genelle Lunken of UBC Vancouver on intestine microbiome analysis to grasp precisely what occurs within the abdomen when their product arrives.

1:04:30 – Play Formulator: Dream Merchandise from NuCelium Elements

Requested to play formulator, Rob and Riley do not maintain again. Rob, seeking to the close to time period, says he’d pair CordyFuel with psilocybin the second legalization permits it, citing his private Murph outcomes as a preview of what that mixture might do for endurance product design.

Riley heads in a special route: a cleansing mix centered on high-potency chaga, designed to deal with the rising environmental chemical load from artificial materials, agricultural chemical substances, and pesticides that are actually detectable in air and water worldwide. He additionally flags a turkey tail plus high-cordycepin mix for folks involved about well being conditions as a product the business hasn’t adequately addressed, although he is cautious to notice NuCelium cannot make formal claims on labels.

1:09:30 – Biosecurity: Why It’s All the pieces in Mushroom Farming

Biosecurity in mushroom farming is not an afterthought, it is existential. An errant spore from a international or toxic fungal species can contaminate a develop and alter what’s being produced. Extra harmful: mushrooms are bioaccumulators. If the substrate or enter water carries heavy metals, pesticides, or chemical contamination, the mushrooms take up it. What seems to be a healthful lion’s mane can turn into dangerous if grown in a contaminated atmosphere.

For Cordyceps sinensis particularly, Riley notes it operates on a razor-thin threshold: improper genetics or development situations can push it towards being actively detrimental to people. NuCelium’s concentrate on the safer and extra steady Cordyceps militaris, sealed HEPA-filtered develop chambers, and examined inputs from substrate to water provide is what permits them to persistently produce a clear, potent product at business scale.

1:13:00 – Pressure Genetics: Catching and Using the Wave

Relatively than shopping for spawn from exterior suppliers (a apply that removes management over batch-to-batch genetic consistency), NuCelium has spent years gathering a whole lot of strains from world wide and domesticating every to their technique and substrate. Genetics are NuCelium’s IP.

NuCelium’s overview of Cordyceps militaris highlights 4 researched profit areas overlaying vitality, immune assist, inflammatory response, and antioxidant exercise.

They describe the method of sustaining steady genetics as browsing: you watch petri dishes for the suitable genetic expression, catch it when it seems, then propagate that tissue slice with out ever going to the spore section (which introduces a lot greater genetic variance). As a result of mushrooms like lion’s mane drift considerably from petri dish to petri dish, studying these dishes and choosing the suitable tissue to hold ahead is itself a aggressive moat that took years of diligence to construct.

1:18:45 – Business Consistency: Below-Promise, Over-Ship

With current business batches hitting 10 mg/g and a contamination/loss price below 3%, NuCelium has the steadiness to maneuver standardization expectations ahead fastidiously. Their philosophy: solely declare what you possibly can reliably hit throughout a number of batches and a number of genetic generations, then exceed it quietly. After they persistently see greater standardization throughout a number of generations, they will transfer the printed quantity up.

Riley contrasts this with complement business norms of marketing-first claims with no analytical backing. The rigor is strengthened by third-party UPLC (Extremely-Efficiency Liquid Chromatography) verification and the analytical science group at Omnient Labs, which constructed verification infrastructure particularly to catch the type of overpromising that has eroded belief within the mushroom class.

1:22:00 – Analysis Roadmap: From Cell Tradition to Human Trials

NuCelium is actively constructing towards scientific proof. Present work consists of security research with Nootropics Depots’ human cell tradition lab, an upcoming partnership with Genelle Lunken on intestine microbiome outcomes, and mushroom provides to clients already operating their very own research. Riley extends an open invitation to tutorial researchers: NuCelium will provide standardized, North American-grown purposeful mushrooms free of charge to credible research.

NuCelium contrasts outdated beta-glucan testing in opposition to UPLC precision, and invitations manufacturers to check competing cordyceps merchandise at Omnient Labs without charge.

The longer-term purpose is in vivo human trials. Mike attracts a parallel to how Creapure constructed its analysis profile: persistently provide the highest-standardization ingredient within the class, and unbiased lecturers have a tendency to decide on you naturally. That dynamic reduces the price of constructing an proof base and creates a virtuous cycle of quality-driven discovery.

1:26:15 – What’s Subsequent: Chaga, Tiger’s Milk, and the Substrate Examine

NuCelium has three near-term milestones.

First, the chaga launch: Riley says outcomes on full-spectrum chaga break the present literature on efficiency, with an announcement coming quickly.
Second, Tiger’s Milk is slated for business launch this 12 months, pushed by early outcomes with lion’s mane pairings for nerve well being.
Third, a substrate-versus-mycelium fungal conversion examine utilizing weekly UPLC evaluation is wrapping up round year-end.A 3rd-party science group reviewing the four-week interim knowledge confirmed they might not establish the sorghum as sorghum… it had been metabolically reworked into one thing completely different. That is the analytical basis NuCelium is constructing to counter the “grain filler” narrative.

On solubility: the powder works properly in ready-to-mix packs, although prolonged canning might trigger some settling over time. And on business collaboration: Riley closes with a shout-out to Aloha Medicinals, Monterey Mushrooms, and different rivals working alongside NuCelium on GRAS (Usually Acknowledged as Protected) certification for purposeful mushrooms.

Their philosophy: “All boats rise with the tide.”