Research collaboration marks 20 years

18 August 2025 - More than 20 years ago Prof Yihuai Gao was working to extract the reishi mushroom’s active ingredients for immunity and cardiovascular health.  

Now the founder of a multi-million-dollar nutraceutical company, Prof Gao was honoured by Massey University for his 20-year research partnership with the Riddet Institute in Palmerston North last month. A research partnership of such longevity is rare.

Prof Gao is a globally recognised expert in fungi research, establishing the Alpha-Massey Natural Nutraceutical Research Centre with Massey University after discovering and proving the powerful health benefits of reishi mushroom medicinal extracts more than two decades ago. Also known as lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum), and revered in China for more than 2000 years, the nutritional benefits from reishi mushroom extracts include immune support and regulation of blood pressure and cholesterol.

Prof Gao established the Alpha Group in 1998. As well as a head office and biotech manufacturing facility in Auckland, the Alpha Group has a production centre in China, with a vast global health supplement distribution network.

The Alpha Group visit comprised a tour of the Riddet Institute’s newly equipped food bioprocessing laboratories, lunch at the historic Turitea House, and the presentation of a framed letter to Prof Yihuai Gao to acknowledge his two-decade research collaboration by Massey University Provost Giselle Brynes.

Speaking at the lunch, Prof Gao recounted his initial research collaboration with Massey University’s Distinguished Professors Paul Moughan, and Harjinder Singh, began with a friendship with the two men, which is still treasured. Dist. Profs Moughan and Singh went on to found the Riddet Institute, a government Centre of Research Excellence hosted by Massey University in Palmerston North focusing on advanced food research.

Back in the early 2000s, Prof Gao was researching kiwifruit and finding the fruit’s skin and seeds had beneficial ingredients that could be used in nutrition. He then worked on fermentation of medicinal fungi, the field he is now renowned for, establishing himself as a global expert in fungi bioactives.

Massey University to me is an important part of my science and life,” Prof Gao said. “I thank Massey University through providing the help of Paul Moughan and Harjinder Singh all those years ago.”

Chinese born, Prof Gao said New Zealand’s bountiful natural food and plant resources were a rich source of special ingredients that can make a difference and enhance human health. 

“My research collaboration began with friendship, but finding the practical application for the research has been paramount.”

Dist. Prof Paul Moughan said he met Prof Gao in 1997 at Massey University and the friendship and research partnership had endured since.

“In that time, not only has the Alpha Group supported us, but we have watched it grow from very small beginnings to a multi-million-dollar operation,” Dist. Prof Moughan said. “It has grown from nothing to be this really substantial New Zealand company, very much leveraging New Zealand science to bridge the gap with China.”

Massey University Provost Giselle Brynes said the university deeply valued the longstanding, genuine research collaboration the Riddet Institute had formed with the Alpha Group.

“We see a strong values alignment between the Alpha Group and Massey University in this food, nutrition and nutraceutical research that aims to make a difference to people’s health and wellbeing. 

“The length of this partnership is a testimony to Dist. Professors Moughan and Singh and the deep relationship they have built with Prof Gao and the Alpha Group.”

Prof Byrnes said through high-quality scientific research the collaboration has unlocked the power of specific ingredients for health benefits, while also opening up a global audience through Prof Gao’s connections with a customer base in China and wider Asia.

The collaboration is now embarking on a new biotech research project with the Riddet Institute focusing on Shiitake mushrooms.