Understanding Fungal Function and Diversity: Complex Communities, Pathogenicity and Bioresources

The 2022 Gordon Research Conference on Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology will focus on the incredible diversity of fungal lifestyles and the mechanisms through which they interact with the complex environments they occupy. Fungal diversity reflects the evolutionary pressures and environmental challenges faced by all living organisms as they compete for resources and they present rich opportunities to discover and characterize divergent mechanistic solutions for survival, thereby, advancing our understanding of biology as a whole. These solutions include symbiotic and pathogenic lifestyles, which we need to understand in order to safeguard the environment and combat diseases that threaten food crops, wildlife, livestock and human welfare. These solutions are enabled by deeper knowledge of the cell biology of fungi and the mechanisms they use to both support and extinguish other life-forms. This will allow us to devise interventions and to exploit fungal diversity in the development of therapeutics and biotechnology applications. The conference will bring together researchers from across the globe and spanning all career stages to present and discuss the latest exciting findings on fungal biology in evolution, development, growth, complex communities and pathogenicity. We will explore environmental sensing, signaling, morphology and emerging concepts in eukaryotic cell biology, as well as the synthetic design and commercial exploitation of fungal systems. Morning and evening sessions will be interspersed with poster sessions and unstructured time to maximize informal interactions and the exchange of ideas. The Holderness School provides a tranquil and undisturbed New England setting that fosters a highly interactive conference. Our collaborative and supportive fungal community will provide a fantastic forum for young scientists attending. This includes our second Gordon Research Seminar which provides opportunity for interactions with established group leaders and establish a strong network for future career-building.