Nutraceutical ingredients,
manufactured via pharmaceutical standard.

Launched in 2026, Highland operates from a 60,000 square foot cGMP-certified production facility that grows, dries, extracts, and packages standardized, lab-verified nutraceutical ingredients for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical customers. We are built on more than 90 years of combined leadership in design, production, and business. Every lot is analyzed and tracked. Every batch is validated to pharmaceutical specifications.

U.S.A. Grown
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Highland analytical laboratory — three technicians in white cleanroom suits operating UHPLC System 1 and UHPLC System 2 under sterile cleanroom lighting

Produced with the highest quality standards.

A · FOCUS

Cognicine™Lion's Mane

Hericium erinaceus is Highland's primary cultivar — the species the sterile facility is purpose-built around. Grown on-site using enhanced, trade secret, and patented processes from authenticated dikaryotic culture on double-autoclaved substrate, then extracted in the same facility to a standardized nutraceutical-grade specification.

B · EXTRACTION

Sterile drying, UHPLC-verified

Sterile air-drying preserves heat-sensitive compounds in the finished extract. Material is standardized to compound concentration via UHPLC — not weight. Polysaccharides, erinacines, and beta-glucans are quantified on every lot.

C · FORMAT

Bulk powder

Highland's air-dried full-spectrum extract is supplied as Cognicine™, our wholesale Lion's Mane ingredient, in the form of a free-flowing bulk powder. The material is produced to pharmaceutical-grade specifications. Custom particle size, moisture, and mesh targets are supported on request. Pallet quantities are available for commercial sales and markets; samples are available for evaluation.

Highland cultivation hall — rows of substrate bags on stainless steel rolling racks under cleanroom lighting, polished epoxy floor extending the length of the facility

How we think about quality.

Cognicine™ is a product of a sterile environment. We maintain full traceability from raw substrate to finished powder. Material that does not meet our internal standard does not leave the building — regardless of what it costs us to discard it.

The same procedures performed the same way, day after day, by people who care that they are done correctly. That is the standard we hold ourselves to, and it is the one our customers feel in the consistency of the material we send them.

Highland Mushrooms cleanroom — two technicians in white tyvek suits, hoods, and blue nitrile gloves working at a stainless-steel processing station in the sterile production area

Built by people who have done this for decades.

Dan Hodges and Dr. John Holliday in silhouette at the open bay door of the Highland facility, looking out at the Marion, NC property

Highland is led by Dan Hodges and Dr. John Holliday — combining commercial cultivation operations with more than 90 years of combined business. The Marion, NC facility launched in 2026 as the largest cGMP nutraceutical mushroom grower on the East Coast.

  • Dr. John Holliday Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer. Ph.D., mycology. Author of over fifty peer-reviewed papers on medicinal mushroom cultivation, extraction, and compound standardization. Forty years in commercial mycological R&D.
  • Dan Hodges Co-founder & Chief Executive. Founder of Medusa Scientific and TM Technologies. Holds multiple U.S. patents in radar, communications, and intelligence systems. Retired senior officer — Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air National Guard — twenty-six years of service, eighteen as senior flight instructor.

Four standards. Above standard.

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USDA Organic
Certified by Quality Assurance International. Audit ID 2024-QAI-NC-1188
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cGMP Certified
Dietary supplement cGMP per 21 CFR Part 111. Annual third-party audit
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UHPLC Verified
On-site analytical lab. Compound assay on every lot. COA provided with shipment
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Kosher & Halal
Star-K certification. Plant-based throughout the production pipeline
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Latest research.

The literature on Hericium erinaceus continues to expand. We follow it closely. A small selection of recent peer-reviewed work, for anyone interested in where the research currently stands.

2025 · Frontiers in Nutrition
Acute effects of a standardised extract of Hericium erinaceus on cognition and mood in healthy younger adults: a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled study
G. Surendran, J. Saye, S. Binti Mohd Jalil, et al.
Front. Nutr. 12:1405796
Read paper →
2024 · Journal of Functional Foods
Effect of erinacine A-enriched Hericium erinaceus supplementation on cognition: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study
M. Černelič Bizjak, Z. Jenko Pražnikar, S. Kenig, et al.
J. Funct. Foods 115:106120
Read paper →
2023 · Nutrients
The acute and chronic effects of Lion's Mane mushroom supplementation on cognitive function, stress and mood in young adults: a double-blind, parallel groups, pilot study
S. Docherty, F. L. Doughty, E. F. Smith
Nutrients 15(22):4842
Read paper →

Independent and unaffiliated peer-reviewed work by researchers not affiliated with Highland. Linked here as a reading list.

Ready to evaluate the extract?

Sample requests and tech sheets are no-cost for qualifying formulators and manufacturers.

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