One of the aims of AMS is to make Mycological Research more accessible and to amplify the efforts of mycologists in Australasia and around the world. Join us for some of the latest and most exciting mycology-focused seminars, in the comfort of your home or office! You'll be able to learn from experts in medical mycology, biotechnology, environmental microbiology, plant and animal pathology, taxonomy and systematics, and phylogenetics. Seminars normally occur on the last Thursday of each month at 12:00pm (Sydney time), 2:00pm (New Zealand time) with any exceptions highlighted. Talks are 30 minutes long and are followed by 15 minutes of questions from the audience. Zoom links are provided prior to the date where you can register to attend.
Seminars are free for AMS members and the public, but we encourage non-members to make a donation (suggested $5) to our society via PayPal. You can do that by clicking on the PayPal button:
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If you are interested in presenting your mycological research, please get in touch with the AMS council.
Upcoming AMS Virtual Seminar
27 January 2025 (Thursday) 12 pm AEDT / 2 pm NZDT
Dr. Alistair McTaggart
Co-founder of Psymbiotika Lab
The pathway to designer magic mushrooms
Summary: Fungi produce secondary metabolites to increase their chances of survival, whether through deterrence of fungivory, attraction, or control. Through a stroke of evolutionary good fortune, psilocybin, the psychoactive metabolite in magic mushrooms, causes profound and life-changing experiences in humans. Come join Alistair to learn how two magic mushrooms diversified in Australia, how there are more waiting to be found, and how we will innovate diversity in the genes that produce psilocybin to produce designer shrooms and innovate psilocybin beyond mental health.
Talk details to be confirmed for the following speakers:
March 2025: Dr Alistair Mctaggart, University of Queensland, Psymbiotika Lab
April 2025: Dr Tarquin Netherway, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
May 2025: Aviya Nacarella, PhD student at Deakin University
Past AMS Virtual Seminar
Want more interesting fungi story? Join us now to get access to the latest video links!
2025
February: Dr Nirodha Weeraratne, Join us now to get access
Gulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga
What’s bugging the beetles with benefits? - Entomopathogenic fungi & associated microbiomes of introduced dung beetles in Australia.
January: Rita Tam Join us now to get access
PhD student at the Australian National University
Long-read genomics reveal extensive nuclear-specific evolution and allele-specific expression in dikaryotic wheat stripe rust fungus
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October: Ryan P. O’Donnell Join us now to get access
PhD student at the Australian National University
Discordance Down Under: Combining phylogenomics & fungal symbioses to detangle difficult nodes in a diverse tribe of Australian terrestrial orchids
June: Dr Mahajabeen Padamsee Join us now to get access
New Zealand Fungarium, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research
Myrtle rust is the latest in a series of invaders expanding New Zealand’s rust fungal species list
May: Dr Meghann Thai Join us now to get access
The University of Sydney
Bacterial-fungal interactions in Agaricus bisporus compost
April: Dr Adam Frew Join us now to get access
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
Shared host, divided interests: Interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and insect herbivory
March: Dr Eric C Pereira Join us now to get access
Australian National University
A Hidden Interplay between Plants and Microorganisms
February: Dr Marc Freestone Join us now to get access
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Australian National University
Understanding orchid mycorrhizal fungi to save threatened orchids from extinction
January: Dr Romina Gazis Join us now to get access
Plant Diagnostic Clinic, University of Florida, USA
Tropical Plant Pathology: A Challenging but Rewarding Field!
2023
November: Allison Mertin, 2022 AMS research grant awardee. Watch on YouTube
The University of Melbourne
Diversity, biology and biogeography of native Australian grass seed fungi for improving restoration outcomes
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Edith Cowan University
Impacts on atmospheric fungal populations
August: Dr Felipe Albornoz Watch on YouTube
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Differential effects of different types of ecosystem degradation on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in temperate eucalypt woodlands
July: Dr Hagai Shemesh Watch on YouTube
Tel-Hai College, Israel
The effect of ectomycorrhizal fungi on ecological processes at varying temporal and spatial scales
June: Dr César Marín Watch on YouTube
Universidad Santo Tomás, Chile
Southern and global mycorrhizal collectives
May: Dr Anna Hopkins Watch on YouTube
Edith Cowan University
The impact of disturbance on soil fungal communities: drought, fire and digging mammals
April: Prof Bernard Slippers Watch on YouTube
Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria
Ecology and evolution of the Sirex noctilio – Amylostereum areolatum symbiosis, and its relevance to biological control
March: Prof Ian Dickie Watch on YouTube
University of Canterbury
Ripples in the net: Vegetation change and fungal networks
February: Dr Kylie Ireland Watch on YouTube
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia
Polyphagous shot-hole borer in Western Australia: host range, distribution and response activities
January: Dr Carlos Aguilar Watch on YouTube
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Australia
Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Functional groups shape the size and function of spores across the Fungal Kingdom
2022
October: Assistant Prof Jessie Uehling Watch on YouTube
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University
Bacterial endosymbionts in the Mucoromycota fungi, lessons from comparative genomics
September: Professor Roger Shivas (This talk was not recorded)
University of Southern Queensland
Saving planet Earth - re-evaluating taxonomic best practices
August: Dr Anthony Young Watch on YouTube
University of Queensland
A Streak Through History: Cracking the Sugarcane Chlorotic Streak Disease Riddle
July: Drs Krista Plett and Sophia Callaghan Watch on YouTube
NSW Department of Primary Industries, Biosecurity and Food Safety
Biosecurity Behind the Scenes
June: Dr Camille Truong Watch on YouTube
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Australia.
Ectomycorrhizal fungi and the nitrogen economy of Nothofagus
May: Dr Kar-Chun Tan (KC) Watch on YouTube
The Centre for Crop Disease Management at Curtin University
Untangling the ‘Gordian knot’ – How to unravel a complex fungal disease of wheat by understanding its game of effector hide-and-seek
April: Dr Alistair McTaggart Watch on YouTube
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland
Sex and Drugs
March: Dr Peri Tobias Watch on YouTube
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney
A chromosome-level genome sheds new light on the mating strategy for Austropuccinia psidii (myrtle rust)
February: Wayne Boatwright Watch an Extended Version on YouTube
President of the Queensland Mycological Society
Collecting and Describing Fungi - Citizen Science in Action
January: Dr Jonathan Plett Watch on YouTube
Senior lecturer in plant-microbe interactions at Western Sydney University
Ecological Mergers: exploring how ectomycorrhizal fungi use secreted signals to negotiate host colonization
2021
January 2021: Dr Stephanie Watts-Fawkes, Watch on YouTube
Research Officer, Crop Nutrition, NSW Department of Primary Industries
Identifying and characterising a zinc transporter involved in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis
February 2021: Matthias Johannes Salomon, Watch on YouTube
PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide
Global analysis of microbial inoculants containing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: 84% of the tested products contained no active propagules
March 2021: A/Prof Amanda Black
Bioprotection Research Centre, Lincoln University
Genomes to Giants: kauri die back and the fight to save these ancient trees
April 2021: Professor Ana Traven
Infection and Immunity Research Program at the Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University
Metabolic drives of host-pathogen interactions in fungal infections
May 2021: Dr Sarah Sapsford, Watch on YouTube
Fungal and Disease Ecology, University of Canterbury
How fungi can change ecosystems
June 2021: Professor Treena Burgess, Watch on YouTube
Research and Innovation, Murdoch University
Urban forests; bridge-heads and sentinels for Phytophthora introductions
July 2021: A/Prof Jeff Powell, Watch on YouTube
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
Switching partners - the roles and relationships of dual mycorrhizal systems for eucalypts
August 2021: Dr Kentaro Hosaka, Watch on YouTube
National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan
Natural history of blue entolomas, from Japan and the world
September 2021: Dr Yu Pei Tan
Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
Looking in the cupboard: the hidden diversity of microfungi in Australia.
October 2021: Prof. Levente Kiss, Watch on YouTube
University of Southern Queensland
Mycoparasitic fungi in action
December 2021: AMS Research Grant Awardees, Watch on YouTube
Dr Elaine Davison, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University; Research Associate of the Western Australian Herbarium
Relationships in Amanita, with particular reference to local species
AND
Rebecca Jane Webb, PhD candidate, James Cook University
Glutathione biosynthesis in the amphibian chytrid fungus