KNVM Autumn Meeting section Mycology

Save the date! On Friday 29th of November, the autumn meeting of the section Mycology will be held at the Westerdijk Institute in Utrecht starting at 10.00.

The meeting is entitled: “Fungal communication”

Fungi are superb communicators as they co-develop with lichens, form mycorrhizas with the majority of land plants, have their own bacterial population and exchange information with their environment. We would like to highlight fungal communication in different aspects. Aaron Vogan (Uppsala University) will highlight the possible exchange of mobile DNA elements, called starships, between fungi during their evolution. Uta Paszkowski will talk about the formation and functioning of mycorrhizas in maize and rice, research which could lead to improved sustainable agriculture. Ákos Kovács (Leiden University) will highlight cross-kingdom interaction including fungi and Viviane Cordovez (NIOO, Wageningen) will address communication via the plant microbiome.

We will have several short presentations of Ph.D students and Postdocs in the afternoon.

We are currently organizing an online panel discussion about the Wood-Wide Web. A panel of four people will address the way scientists communicate with society and the way separate stories can develop from that the science that may gradually diverge from what the scientist had in mind. We will address Facts and Fantasies of the way fungi communicate with trees in a forest. We have a scientist, an investor, a communication specialist and a scientist/artist.

Lunch will be free (including a hot item)! Registration helps us to estimate how many lunches we need to order. To register, send an email to j.dijksterhuis@wi.knaw.nl.

The more detailed program of the meeting will be flashed to you soon!

Regards, the section mycology team (Arthur, Charissa, Duur, George, Jan, Vasilis)