Speaker Biography

John Taylor

John W. Taylor is Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology and Curator of the University Herbarium, both at the University of California at Berkeley. His research focuses on the evolution of fungi, including fungal phylogenetic relationships, the timing of deep fungal divergences, species recognition, speciation, species maintenance, selection, and accounting for intraspecific variation. His current focus is on comparative genomics of two groups of fungi, the model fungi in the genus Neurospora, and disease causing fungi in the genus Coccidioides. Publications from his laboratory number more than 160; one has 5,000 citations. Taylor has served as President of the Mycological Society of America and as an associate editor or member of the editorial board of Mycologia, Mycological Research, Fungal Genetics and Biology and the Annual Review of Microbiology. He has received awards for excellence in teaching from the Mycological Society of America and the College of Natural Resources at Berkeley. He is a fellow of the California Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology.

Abstract: The Poetry of Mycological Accomplishment and Challenge

John W. Taylor, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Given the proud tradition of Scottish poetry, and that of other nations, an attempt will be made to integrate it with an analysis of advances in our knowledge of fungi, and of important gaps that remain. It has been said that research on fungi, at least in some disciplines, has had little impact beyond the kingdom. Even Robert Burns, in his oft quoted poem, To A Mouse, expressed a dismal view of human past and future;

Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee;
But Och! I backward cast my e'e
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fiar!

Burn’s pessimism may suit our times, but not the fungi. In each of the five areas highlighted at the congress, prospects have been anything but dreary over the first decade of the millennium. As for the future, fear not, the challenges are as clear as they are exciting.