“To students here gathered who are thinking about a career in biology… I recommend mycology. Think of becoming a mycologist.”
E.O. Wilson, Prather Lectures in Biology
The University of Wisconsin-Madison houses an unusual concentration of fungal biologists based in at least five schools: Letters & Science (the liberal arts college), the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (CALS), the School of Veterinary Medicine, the School of Medicine and Public Health, and the College of Engineering. We also maintain strong ties with the Forest Service and National Wildlife Heath Center. To the best of our knowledge, the expertise found in Madison exists nowhere else in the world.
Madison is where penicillin was first engineered for mass production, where the earliest fossils of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were discovered, and where Koch’s postulates were formally used to prove Pseudogymnoascus destructans as the cause of White Nose Syndrome of bats. We house one of the world’s largest collections of microfungi, including pathogens collected by George Washington Carver. Our scientists actively work to discover new pharmaceuticals and combat fungal diseases, but are also involved in brewing North America’s first beer fermented from wild yeasts. We aim to be a leader in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research with fungi.
Faculty members
Jean-Michel Ané
Credentials: Bacteriology and Agronomy Departments
Position title: Symbiotic associations between plants and microbes
Email:
jeanmichel.ane
Ken Cameron
Credentials: Botany Department
Position title: Systematics & evolution of Orchidaceae with a focus on interactions with mycorrhizal fungi
Email:
kmcameron
Cameron Currie
Credentials: Bacteriology Department
Position title: Symbiotic associations between animals and fungi
Email:
currie
Charles Czuprynski
Credentials: Pathobiological Sciences Department
Position title: Mechanisms of resistance to infection
Email:
charles.czuprynski
David Eide
Credentials: Nutritional Sciences Department
Position title: Nutritional genomics and molecular responses to changes in nutrient status.
Email:
eide
Zachary Freedman
Credentials: Department of Soil Science
Position title: Soil microbial communities
Email:
zfreedman
Audrey Gasch
Credentials: Genetics Department
Position title: Elucidating the role, regulation, and evolution of eukaryotic stress responses
Email:
agasch
Amanda Gevens
Credentials: Plant Pathology Department
Position title: The ecology of fungus and fungus-like plant pathogens for enhanced and integrated disease management.
Email:
gevens
Tony Goldberg
Credentials: Pathobiological Sciences Department
Position title: Ecology, epidemiology and evolution of infectious disease
Email:
tony.goldberg
Linda Graham
Credentials: Botany Department
Position title: Evolutionary origin of land plants, de novo genomic sequencing and metagenomics-based microbiomes of algae and plants
Email:
lkgraham
Dennis Halterman
Credentials: USDA/ARS Vegetable Crops Research Unit
Position title: Plant fungal diseases
Email:
dennis.halterman
Chris Hittinger
Credentials: Genetics Department
Position title: Evolution of carbon-responsive gene networks, yeast biodiversity, industrial brewing and biofuel applications
Email:
cthittinger
Christina Hull
Credentials: Biomolecular Chemistry and Medical Microbiology & Immunology Departments
Position title: Germination and pathogenesis of infectious fungal spores
Email:
cmhull
Thomas Jeffries
Credentials: Bacteriology Department
Position title: Metabolic engineering of novel yeasts for the production of fuels (ethanol) from cellulosic and hemicellulosic sugars.
Email:
twjeffri
Mehdi Kabbage
Credentials: Plant Pathology Department
Position title: Plant fungal interactions; stress tolerance, programmed cell death
Email:
kabbage
Lindsay Kalan
Credentials: Medical Microbiology and Immunology Department
Position title: Symbiosis, Pathogenesis
Email:
lkalan
Nancy Keller
Credentials: Bacteriology and Medical Microbiology and Immunology Departments
Position title: Exploring genetic regulation of virulence and natural product synthesis by fungi
Email:
npkeller
Bruce Klein
Credentials: Pediatrics Department
Position title: Molecular medical mycology with two broad areas of focus: fungal pathogenesis and immunology.
Email:
bsklein
Paul Koch
Credentials: Plant Pathology Department
Position title: Impacts of pesticides on microbial communities in urban and suburban landscapes; Rust diseases; Snow Molds
Email:
plkoch
Rick Lankau
Credentials: Plant Pathology and Botany Departments
Position title: Plant-associated microbial community ecology
Email:
lankau
Dan Lindner
Credentials: US Forest Service
Position title: Biological and Environmental Influences on Forest Health and Productivity, Genetics, Biological Control, and Management of Invasive Species
Jeffrey Lorch
Credentials: National Wildlife Health Center and Pathobiological Department
Position title: Investigating and diagnosing wildlife mortality events and studying emerging wildlife diseases
Email:
jlorch
Megan McClean
Credentials: Biomedical Engineering Department
Position title: Understanding and engineering biological signal processing
Email:
mmcclean
Jeniel Nett
Credentials: Medicine & Medical Microbiology and Immunology Departments
Position title: Biofilm immunology
Email:
jenett
Anne Pringle
Credentials: Botany and Bacteriology Departments
Position title: Ecology & evolution and fungi
Email:
apringle2
Douglas Rouse
Credentials: Plant Pathology Department
Position title: Epidemiology and ecology of fungal plant diseases
Email:
dir
Damon Smith
Credentials: Plant Pathology Department
Position title: The biology, epidemiology, and management of field crop diseases
Email:
damon.smith
Thea Whitman
Credentials: Soil Science Department
Position title: Soil ecology, soil microbiology, terrestrial carbon biogeochemistry, climate change
Email:
twhitman
Jae-Hyuk Yu
Credentials: Bacteriology and Genetics Departments
Position title: Fungi and Mycotoxins
Email:
jyu1