The congress took place on 14th September 2022 and was held virtually (i.e. not in person) through GatherTown and Big Blue Button.
Recordings of all keynote talks can now be found in the AFN members-only section of this homepage. The password to this part of the homepage was sent out via email on Friday, 16th September 2022.
AFN membership is free of charge! Anyone interested can become an AFN member either by using the contact form or sending an email to anaerobicfunginetwork@gmail.com. AFN members benefit from weekly update emails, as well as participation in events like the IAFC2022 or the AFN webinar series.
Jongsoo Chang
‘Proteomics and Anaerobic Fungi‘ – September 14th at 4 a.m. UTC.
Dr Jongsoo Chang received his BSc and MSc degree in Animal Science from Seoul National University, and his PhD in Animal Sciences from Washington State University in 1998. The main research topic of his PhD was isolation and identification of natural compounds which promote or inhibit the growth of rumen anaerobic fungi. Dr Chang has served as a faculty member of the Korea National Open University (KNOU) since 2004. His research at KNOU to date has focused on anaerobic fungi and the rumenome using proteome, transcriptome and metabolome analysis techniques. Currently, Dr Chang is working on the isolation and identification of novel anaerobic fungi from animals in Korea and is profiling their functional genes.
Igor Grigoriev
‘Genomics Resources for Anaerobic Fungi‘ – September 14th at 7 p.m. UTC.
After earning his degrees in Biophysics and Molecular Biology followed by postdoctoral training in Structural Genomics at UC Berkeley, Dr Igor Grigoriev worked in the pharmaceutical industry before joining the Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in 2003. His initial work at JGI involved participating in the Human Genome Project and lead annotation of diverse eukaryotic genomes from protists to plants. Since 2009, he is leading the JGI Fungal and Algal Genomics Program to scale up sequencing and analysis of diverse fungi and algae for DOE science and applications. Dr Grigoriev has organized numerous genomics workshops and engaged thousands of researchers around the world in genomics and multi-omics projects.
Mike Theodorou
‘The Anaerobic Fungi: A Most Enjoyable Collaboration‘ – September 14th at 11 a.m. UTC.
Mike Theodorou is the Emeritus Professor of Anaerobic Digestion and Fermentation Technology at Harper Adams University and a Guest Professor at Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU). Prof Theodorou is a world-leading specialist in anaerobic microbiology, with an international reputation for his work on the rumen ecosystem and anaerobic fungal biology. With a publication record spanning four decades, many of his publications (including recent co-authored articles in Nature and Science) investigate the role of anaerobic fungi in the digestive tract ecosystem and opportunities for their biotechnological exploitation. Prof Theodorou’s work has contributed much to anaerobic fungal biology including mentoring of the formation of two internationally recognized research groups in the USA (Prof Michelle O’Malley’s group at University California Santa Barbara) and China (Prof Wei Yun Zhu’s group at NAU). Research leaders in both laboratories learnt their skills under Prof Theodorou’s tutelage. Although now semi-retired, he continues to actively support both laboratories. Prof Theodorou is also assisting Dr Matt Reilly’s research program at York University and the work of Dr Etelka Kovács at the University of Szeged in Hungary.