Fungal Interactions

12 - 14 September 2023

Draft programme

Monday 11 September 

16:00  Registration begins for the Annual Scientific Meeting
19:00  Welcome buffet and networking at the Copthorne Hotel

Tuesday 12 September

09:00   Arrival, registration and refreshments

09:30   Modus operandi of an accidental fungal pathogen of humans, Elaine Bignell, University of Exeter, UK
10:00   Tony Trinci Award Lecture: Filling the gaps of the fungal tree of life in a collections-based institution, Ester Gaya, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, UK
10:30   The Candida glabrata parent strain trap, Delma Childers, University of Aberdeen, UK
10:45   Identification of novel host and fungal factors driving the interaction of Aspergillus fumigatus with the respiratory mucosa, Margherita Bertuzzi, University of Manchester, UK

11:00   Refreshments and posters

11:30   Black bloom in white Greenland – do fungi help? Nina Gunde-Cimerman, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
12:00   The impact of advances in genomics, chemical genetics and bioinformatics tools on the development of novel fungal & oomycete plant pathogen control  agents, Michael Csukai, Syngenta, UK
12:30   VEuPathDB: A free bioinformatics resource that integrates omics scale data and offers tools for exploration and analysis of host and pathogen data, Evelina Basenko, University of Liverpool, UK
12:45   Interactions between fungi, microalgae, and bacteria, and how those modulate the fate of photosynthetic carbon in aquatic systems, Isabell Klawonn, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Germany

13:00   Lunch and posters

14:00   Root-fungal interactions as drivers of ecosystem processes, David Johnson, University of Manchester, UK
14:30   Subversion of replicative ageing to prevent pathogenicity and drug resistance in Candida albicans, Alessandra da Silva Dantas, Newcastle University, UK
15:00   Bacterial-fungal warfare – intoxication by and response to the Type VI-secreted antifungal effector Tfe2, Katharina Trunk, Newcastle University, UK
15:15   Interaction of fludioxonil with two-component and HOG signalling in the fungal wheat pathogen, Zymoseptoria tritici, Zoe Gardiner, Newcastle University, UK

15:30   Refreshments and posters

16:00   The role of small signalling molecules and small-secreted proteins in the interaction of nematode-trapping fungi with C. elegans, Reinhard Fischer, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
16:30   The future of fungi: What to expect from fungal pathogens in the Anthropocene, Johanna Rhodes, Radboudumc, The Netherlands
17:00   Use of pangenome analysis to identify novel heterokaryon interaction genes influencing gene flow of azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus, Felicia Adelina Stanford, University of Nottingham, UK
17:15   Engineering functional fungal materials with bioactive nanoparticles; a natural interaction process for fabricating reusable heavy metal scavenger in waste-water purification, Juwon Samuel Afolayan, Nottingham Trent University, UK
17:30   Summary and end of day 1

18:00   Meet in the Copthorne Hotel reception to travel together to Wylam Brewery. This social event includes a tour of the brewery, followed by a 3 course dinner.

Wednesday 13 September 

09:00   Arrival, registration and refreshments

09:30   Interactions of Candida albicans with bacteria and the impact on the host, Ilse Jacobsen, Hans Knöll Institute, Germany
10:00   Host environment sensing: Drivers of fungal development and disease, Neil Brown, University of Bath, UK
10:30   Fungi-on-a-Chip: Visualising fungal-bacterial interactions and fungal-mediated water redistribution, Amelia Clark, Imperial College London, UK
10:45   Unravelling interactions between carnivorous plants and their fungal endophyte communities: Impacts of environment, plant functional traits, and host relatedness, Brandon Shaw, Loughborough University, UK

11:00   Refreshments and posters

11:30   Close encounters of the microbial kind, Nancy Keller, University of Wisconsin, USA
12:00   Microbial interactions: A world of diplomatic negotiations, Tajalli Keshavarz, University of Westminster, UK
12:30   Intraspecific variation matters: Fungal traits and interactions are down to the individual, not the species, David Hera, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
12:45   Fungal interactions during wood decomposition, Daniel Eastwood, Swanseas University, UK

13:00   Lunch and posters

14:00   Evolutionary genomics of generalist plant parasitism in Ascomycetes, Sylvain Raffaele, INRAE, France
14:30   Functional genomics in Candida glabrata, new tools to study stress, pathogenesis and drug resistance, Jane Usher, University of Exeter, UK
15:00   Phospholipid flippase-induced plasma membrane disorganisation in Candida albicans has far-reaching consequences for invasive hyphal growth, vesicular trafficking, cell wall architecture and interaction with immune receptors, Emma Agnew, MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter, UK 
15:15   Bacterial Quorum-Quenching lactonase hydrolyzes fungal mycotoxin and reduces pathogenicity of Penicillium expansum—suggesting a mechanism of bacterial-fungal interactions, Livnat Afriat-Jurnou, Migal-Galilee Research Institute, Israel

15:30   Refreshments and posters

16:00   The fungal cell wall as a therapeutic target, Carol Munro, University of Aberdeen, UK
16:30   Dissecting virulence mechanisms of the fungal cereal killer, Zymoseptoria tritici, Jason Rudd, Rothamsted Research, UK
17:00   President's Award Lecture: Fungi, a tale of variation, Jan Dijksterhuis, Westerdijk Institute, The Netherlands
17:30   Short break

18:00   Poster session and drinks reception until 19:30

19:30   Social event: 3 course dinner at the Copthorne Hotel and BMS Auction

Thursday 14 September 

09:00   Arrival, registration and refreshments

09:30   Rethinking Baker’s articulation of an ‘ideal weed’ with death caps: What defines the ‘ideal’ invasive fungus? Anne Pringle, University of Wisconsin, USA
10:00   Antifungal drug resistance: An inevitable consequence of evolution, Mike Bromley, University of Manchester, UK
10:30   Changes as small as 2°C can alter fungal community interactions and ecological outcomes in decaying wood, Michelle Jusino, United States Forest Service, USA
10:45   Non-canonical interactions of anaerobic gut fungi with bacteria from the rumen microbiome, Jolanda van Munster, Scotland's Rural College, Edinburgh, UK

11:00   Refreshments and posters

11:30   John Webster Award Lecture: Fungal interactions in trees, Lynne Boddy, Cardiff University, UK

12:00   Presentation of the Howard Eggins Early Career Mycologist Awards for best talks and best posters, summary and end of the conference