Day 1
Conference Introduction and Keynote Session I
Moderator: Steve Harris
13:40 Mary Berbee, Early fungi and the dawn of life on land
34:23 Vasilis Kokkoris, Nuclear dynamics in the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis.
56:28 Nicole Revie, Exploring broad-spectrum and combination antifungal strategies to combat human fungal pathogens
Moderator: Steve Harris
13:40 Mary Berbee, Early fungi and the dawn of life on land
34:23 Vasilis Kokkoris, Nuclear dynamics in the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis.
56:28 Nicole Revie, Exploring broad-spectrum and combination antifungal strategies to combat human fungal pathogens
Session A
Environmental Sensing and Signaling
Moderator: Patricia Larkin-Thomas
00:57 Anna Carolina Borges Pereira da Costa, The Candida albicans MAPKKK Ste11 has both regulatory and enzymatic
functions in opaque cells under pheromone stimulation.
15:11 Rosa Eskandari Role of the TOR (Target of Rapamycin) Pathway in circadian rhythmicity of Neurospora crassa.
31:07 Pooja Sridhar Mechanisms underlying the chemotropism of Fusarium graminearum on the wheat head.
45:35 Brianna Ball Global phosphorylation analysis of the Protein Kinase A-regulated phosphoproteome of C. neoformans.
50:56 Yunjin (Rachel) Lee Functional genomic analysis of protein kinases in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans.
Applications and Resource Development I
Moderator: Tara Rintoul
1:16:48 Nicole Smith, Screening novel marine fungal strains for the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids, specifically
eicosapentaenoic acid and arachidonic Acid.
1:30:33 Sarah Mediouni, The impacts of gold mining on mycorrhiza in Northern Canada.
1:44:38 Keith Seifert , The international dimension of Canadian mycology.
1:59:24 Maximillian Soltysiak, Trans-Kingdom Conjugation Enables Simple and Robust DNA Delivery to Fungi.
2:06:02 Nykole Crevits, Saccharomyces, at your cerevisiae: Does brewing equipment get kidney stones, and how can we make
this the yeast of our problems?
Yeast as a Model
Moderator: Aashiq Kachroo
2:31:13 Andrey Petropavlovskiy, Yeast cytosolic J-chaperones perform distinct functions in cellular protein quality control.
2:45:55 Courtney Harris, Is the main function of the Bowen-Conradi Syndrome protein Emg1 to displace snR35?
3:02:10 James Cluff, Casein kinase 2 catalytic subunits a1/a2 of the small subunit processome’s (SSU) UTP-C sub complex regulate growth likely through ribosome biosynthesis.
Environmental Sensing and Signaling
Moderator: Patricia Larkin-Thomas
00:57 Anna Carolina Borges Pereira da Costa, The Candida albicans MAPKKK Ste11 has both regulatory and enzymatic
functions in opaque cells under pheromone stimulation.
15:11 Rosa Eskandari Role of the TOR (Target of Rapamycin) Pathway in circadian rhythmicity of Neurospora crassa.
31:07 Pooja Sridhar Mechanisms underlying the chemotropism of Fusarium graminearum on the wheat head.
45:35 Brianna Ball Global phosphorylation analysis of the Protein Kinase A-regulated phosphoproteome of C. neoformans.
50:56 Yunjin (Rachel) Lee Functional genomic analysis of protein kinases in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans.
Applications and Resource Development I
Moderator: Tara Rintoul
1:16:48 Nicole Smith, Screening novel marine fungal strains for the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids, specifically
eicosapentaenoic acid and arachidonic Acid.
1:30:33 Sarah Mediouni, The impacts of gold mining on mycorrhiza in Northern Canada.
1:44:38 Keith Seifert , The international dimension of Canadian mycology.
1:59:24 Maximillian Soltysiak, Trans-Kingdom Conjugation Enables Simple and Robust DNA Delivery to Fungi.
2:06:02 Nykole Crevits, Saccharomyces, at your cerevisiae: Does brewing equipment get kidney stones, and how can we make
this the yeast of our problems?
Yeast as a Model
Moderator: Aashiq Kachroo
2:31:13 Andrey Petropavlovskiy, Yeast cytosolic J-chaperones perform distinct functions in cellular protein quality control.
2:45:55 Courtney Harris, Is the main function of the Bowen-Conradi Syndrome protein Emg1 to displace snR35?
3:02:10 James Cluff, Casein kinase 2 catalytic subunits a1/a2 of the small subunit processome’s (SSU) UTP-C sub complex regulate growth likely through ribosome biosynthesis.
Session B
Drug and Stress Resistance
Moderator: Elizabeth Brauer
4:03 Kali Iyer, Understanding Candida auris: Exploiting chemical matter to uncover cell biology and characterize resistance
mechanisms in this emerging fungal pathogen.
19:59 Matthew Berg, Tra1 is required for antifungal drug resistance in yeast.
35:10 Ola Salama, A comparative study of boric acid and fluconazole drug responses in C. albicans planktonic and biofilm
cells.
51:34 Emily Puumala, Identification of novel bioactives to combat the emerging fungal pathogen Candida auris.
56:27 Christopher Lee, Role of phosphatidylcholine on Cryptococcal capsule formation.
Fungal Virulence
Moderator: Jennifer Geddes-McAlister
1:20:20 Jennifer Geddes-McAlister, Combatting fungal infections through the discovery and elucidation of novel anti-virulence
strategies.
1:35:08 Michael Hallett, Candida albicans exhibits a cytoprotective response to anti-fungal drugs that facilitates the evolution
of drug resistance.
1:52:55 Gunjan Gupta, Integrating high-throughput screening of antifungal microbial interactions and system biology-based
approaches to study complex gene-microbe interactions.
1:59:03 Jessie MacAlpine, Dissecting the mechanisms governing inter-kingdom interactions between Candida albicans and
Lactobacillus species.
Insights in Metabolism
Moderator: Linda Harris
2:35:48 Sean McCotter, Characterization of the roles of the monothiol glutaredoxin, Grx4, in the cell biology and virulence of
Ustilago maydis.
2:50:02 Barret Foster, Enhanced stress tolerance in Norwegian kveik results in increased fermentation efficiencies at extreme
temperatures.
3:18:55 Caitlyn Horsch, How arbuscular mycorrhizal life history traits influence soil carbon cycling.
3:25:20 Abdullahi Jamiu, Anti-biofilm activity of unsaturated fatty acids with fluconazole.
3:35:00 W.G. Duleeka I. Gunawardana, Environmental factors and polyketide synthase gene expression in an usnic acid
producing lichen-fungus.
Drug and Stress Resistance
Moderator: Elizabeth Brauer
4:03 Kali Iyer, Understanding Candida auris: Exploiting chemical matter to uncover cell biology and characterize resistance
mechanisms in this emerging fungal pathogen.
19:59 Matthew Berg, Tra1 is required for antifungal drug resistance in yeast.
35:10 Ola Salama, A comparative study of boric acid and fluconazole drug responses in C. albicans planktonic and biofilm
cells.
51:34 Emily Puumala, Identification of novel bioactives to combat the emerging fungal pathogen Candida auris.
56:27 Christopher Lee, Role of phosphatidylcholine on Cryptococcal capsule formation.
Fungal Virulence
Moderator: Jennifer Geddes-McAlister
1:20:20 Jennifer Geddes-McAlister, Combatting fungal infections through the discovery and elucidation of novel anti-virulence
strategies.
1:35:08 Michael Hallett, Candida albicans exhibits a cytoprotective response to anti-fungal drugs that facilitates the evolution
of drug resistance.
1:52:55 Gunjan Gupta, Integrating high-throughput screening of antifungal microbial interactions and system biology-based
approaches to study complex gene-microbe interactions.
1:59:03 Jessie MacAlpine, Dissecting the mechanisms governing inter-kingdom interactions between Candida albicans and
Lactobacillus species.
Insights in Metabolism
Moderator: Linda Harris
2:35:48 Sean McCotter, Characterization of the roles of the monothiol glutaredoxin, Grx4, in the cell biology and virulence of
Ustilago maydis.
2:50:02 Barret Foster, Enhanced stress tolerance in Norwegian kveik results in increased fermentation efficiencies at extreme
temperatures.
3:18:55 Caitlyn Horsch, How arbuscular mycorrhizal life history traits influence soil carbon cycling.
3:25:20 Abdullahi Jamiu, Anti-biofilm activity of unsaturated fatty acids with fluconazole.
3:35:00 W.G. Duleeka I. Gunawardana, Environmental factors and polyketide synthase gene expression in an usnic acid
producing lichen-fungus.
Day 2
Keynote Session II
Moderator: Emile Gluck-Thaler
5:15 Aaron Vogan, The Enterprise: A massive transposon carrying Spok meiotic drive genes.
29:13 Kristina Shostak, Characterization of TRI6, a global regulator of secondary metabolism.
53:38 Cameron Semper , Genome mining Aspergillus niger for discovery of antimicrobial compounds.
Moderator: Emile Gluck-Thaler
5:15 Aaron Vogan, The Enterprise: A massive transposon carrying Spok meiotic drive genes.
29:13 Kristina Shostak, Characterization of TRI6, a global regulator of secondary metabolism.
53:38 Cameron Semper , Genome mining Aspergillus niger for discovery of antimicrobial compounds.
Session A
Species Interactions
Moderator: Alexandra Dallaire
1:07 Ghazaleh Nourparvar, Analysis of incompatibility in het-6 locus in Neurospora crassa.
12:19 Alexandra Dallaire, Small non-coding RNAs and the development of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi.
30:05 Nicola Case, Global Analysis of circuitry governing Candida albicans morphogenesis within host immune cells.
46:30 Kendra Sampson, Investigating the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizae on Crocanthemum canadense (L.) Britt. (Cistaceae)
propagated in tissue culture.
52:03 Jenna Dale, Effects of an Epichloë endophyte on foliar fungal communities in tall fescue grass (Schedonorus
arundinaceus).
Applications and Resource Development II
Moderator: Alfredo Justo
1:15:15 Alfredo Justo, The mycoflora of New Brunswick: First steps on a long road ahead.
1:30:42 Michelle Thompson, The first report of a culturable microbiome from pollinated style tissue.
1:44:40 Veronique Chartier-FitzGerald, Biological control potential of ectomycorrhizal fungi against F. circinatum on Pinus
patula seedlings.
1:59:50 Jordan Hofstra, Addressing Barriers of Ontario Cider Production.
2:06:45 Evelina Basenko, FungiDB: integrating genomic data for pathogens and model organisms and providing advanced
search capabilities and large-scale data analysis.
Genes to Proteins
Moderator: Nicolas Corradi
2:29:55 Jordan Willis, VID28 and VID30 Regulate Glucose Repression and Derepression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
2:46:22 Manjari Shrivastava, Modulation of the complex regulatory network for methionine biosynthesis in fungi.
3:00:22 Philippe Després, Systematic perturbation of yeast essential genes using base editing.
3:16:23 Tanya Sharma, Transcriptomic profiling suggests a role for an ABA biosynthetic gene in Fusarium graminearum during
its early infection of Wheat.
3:21:15 Ana Priscilla Montenegro Alonso, UhAVR1, an avirulence effector of Ustilago hordei, suppresses a conserved target(s) of plant immunity during the initial stages of fungal infection.
Species Interactions
Moderator: Alexandra Dallaire
1:07 Ghazaleh Nourparvar, Analysis of incompatibility in het-6 locus in Neurospora crassa.
12:19 Alexandra Dallaire, Small non-coding RNAs and the development of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi.
30:05 Nicola Case, Global Analysis of circuitry governing Candida albicans morphogenesis within host immune cells.
46:30 Kendra Sampson, Investigating the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizae on Crocanthemum canadense (L.) Britt. (Cistaceae)
propagated in tissue culture.
52:03 Jenna Dale, Effects of an Epichloë endophyte on foliar fungal communities in tall fescue grass (Schedonorus
arundinaceus).
Applications and Resource Development II
Moderator: Alfredo Justo
1:15:15 Alfredo Justo, The mycoflora of New Brunswick: First steps on a long road ahead.
1:30:42 Michelle Thompson, The first report of a culturable microbiome from pollinated style tissue.
1:44:40 Veronique Chartier-FitzGerald, Biological control potential of ectomycorrhizal fungi against F. circinatum on Pinus
patula seedlings.
1:59:50 Jordan Hofstra, Addressing Barriers of Ontario Cider Production.
2:06:45 Evelina Basenko, FungiDB: integrating genomic data for pathogens and model organisms and providing advanced
search capabilities and large-scale data analysis.
Genes to Proteins
Moderator: Nicolas Corradi
2:29:55 Jordan Willis, VID28 and VID30 Regulate Glucose Repression and Derepression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
2:46:22 Manjari Shrivastava, Modulation of the complex regulatory network for methionine biosynthesis in fungi.
3:00:22 Philippe Després, Systematic perturbation of yeast essential genes using base editing.
3:16:23 Tanya Sharma, Transcriptomic profiling suggests a role for an ABA biosynthetic gene in Fusarium graminearum during
its early infection of Wheat.
3:21:15 Ana Priscilla Montenegro Alonso, UhAVR1, an avirulence effector of Ustilago hordei, suppresses a conserved target(s) of plant immunity during the initial stages of fungal infection.
Session B
Fungal Diversity
Moderator: Allison Walker
00:53 Emile Gluck-Thaler, Differences in genome content underlie standing genetic variation in an asexual eukaryote.
17:20 Miao Liu, Sympatric divergence of ergot fungi populations in Canada and Midwestern USA.
32:33 Caryn Leigh Cooper, Survey of culturable fungal endosymbionts in Nova Scotia intertidal and subtidal macroalgae.
42:18 Cole Vail, Vertical distribution of some crustose littoral zone lichens in the Bay of Fundy.
47:40 Domenica De Luca, Four genomic clades of Candida auris identified in Canada, 2012-2019.
51:58 Jacob Steenwyk, Pathogenic allodiploid hybrids of Aspergillus Fungi.
56:18 Jonathan Mack, Microfungi diversity from the bark of Acer saccharum.
Stress Response
Moderator: Aleeza Gerstein
1:16:07 Johannes Westman, Regulation of phagosomal size and integrity during fungal infection.
1:32:30 Linda Horianopoulos, J domain co-chaperones contribute to host adaptation in Cryptococcus neoformans
pathogenesis.
1:46:35 Saif Hossain, The proteasome governs fungal morphogenesis via functional connections with Hsp90 and cAMP-PKA
signaling.
2:02:57 Kamaldeep Chhoker, Effect of melanin loss on Exophiala dermatitidis morphology and its ability to adapt to different
stresses.
2:07:37 Viola Halder, Using a CRISPR-Cas9-based gene drive to target stress response genes in Candida albicans.
New Approaches
Moderator: Yan Wang
2:32:07 Sean Formby, A haplotype-aware de novo assembly approach for the pathogenic dikaryotic fungus, Puccinia triticina.
2:49:03 Ivan Liachko, Chromosome-scale genome assembly, dikaryon phasing, and centromere mapping using Hi-C.
3:03:35 Van Bettauer, A deep learning approach to detect fungi in different morphologies from microscopy-based image
analysis.
3:07:36 Sierra Rosiana, The role of fungal adhesins in mediating morphogenesis and virulence in Candida albicans.
3:12:26 Minuka Hewapathirana, Identification of novel NHEJ DNA repair genes using machine learning algorithms.
3:16:29 Jehoshua Sharma, Expanding the genetic toolbox for Candida albicans: the development of novel CRISPR interference
and CRISPR base editing technologies.
Fungal Diversity
Moderator: Allison Walker
00:53 Emile Gluck-Thaler, Differences in genome content underlie standing genetic variation in an asexual eukaryote.
17:20 Miao Liu, Sympatric divergence of ergot fungi populations in Canada and Midwestern USA.
32:33 Caryn Leigh Cooper, Survey of culturable fungal endosymbionts in Nova Scotia intertidal and subtidal macroalgae.
42:18 Cole Vail, Vertical distribution of some crustose littoral zone lichens in the Bay of Fundy.
47:40 Domenica De Luca, Four genomic clades of Candida auris identified in Canada, 2012-2019.
51:58 Jacob Steenwyk, Pathogenic allodiploid hybrids of Aspergillus Fungi.
56:18 Jonathan Mack, Microfungi diversity from the bark of Acer saccharum.
Stress Response
Moderator: Aleeza Gerstein
1:16:07 Johannes Westman, Regulation of phagosomal size and integrity during fungal infection.
1:32:30 Linda Horianopoulos, J domain co-chaperones contribute to host adaptation in Cryptococcus neoformans
pathogenesis.
1:46:35 Saif Hossain, The proteasome governs fungal morphogenesis via functional connections with Hsp90 and cAMP-PKA
signaling.
2:02:57 Kamaldeep Chhoker, Effect of melanin loss on Exophiala dermatitidis morphology and its ability to adapt to different
stresses.
2:07:37 Viola Halder, Using a CRISPR-Cas9-based gene drive to target stress response genes in Candida albicans.
New Approaches
Moderator: Yan Wang
2:32:07 Sean Formby, A haplotype-aware de novo assembly approach for the pathogenic dikaryotic fungus, Puccinia triticina.
2:49:03 Ivan Liachko, Chromosome-scale genome assembly, dikaryon phasing, and centromere mapping using Hi-C.
3:03:35 Van Bettauer, A deep learning approach to detect fungi in different morphologies from microscopy-based image
analysis.
3:07:36 Sierra Rosiana, The role of fungal adhesins in mediating morphogenesis and virulence in Candida albicans.
3:12:26 Minuka Hewapathirana, Identification of novel NHEJ DNA repair genes using machine learning algorithms.
3:16:29 Jehoshua Sharma, Expanding the genetic toolbox for Candida albicans: the development of novel CRISPR interference
and CRISPR base editing technologies.