Karling Lecture

The John Karling Annual Lecture is MSA’s most prestigious invited address. Selected by a committee of MSA members, the Karling lecturer is an internationally-recognized fungal researcher who is not an MSA member or frequent attender. Therefore, the Karling lecture brings speakers and ideas on topics of broad interest that MSA members might otherwise not have the opportunity to see.

List of MSA Karling lectures

2024: Expanding Networks
Nancy P. Keller, University of Wisconsin, Madison
“Secondary Metabolites: Armaments, Shields and Enigmatic Languages of Fungi” – Tuesday, June 11

2023: Elevating Mycology
Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
“Fungi and Friends: An Expanded View of Fungal-Bacterial Interactions and Biogeochemical Effects in the Mycorrhizal Hyposphere” – Tuesday, August 1

2022: Mycology in the Swamp
Christine Hawkes, North Carolina State University
“The extended phenotype: fungi mediate plant stress responses” – Tuesday, July 12

2021: Botany 2021
Anita Sil, University of California, San Francisco
“Regulation of cell shape and virulence in response to temperature in the fungal pathogen Histoplasma”  Thursday, July 22

2020: Online – Mycology from the Cloud

Gregory Jedd, National University of Singapore.

“Fungal Mycelia as Complex Microfluidic Systems.” Wednesday, July 22.

2019: Minneapolis, MN
Hanna Johannesson, Uppsala University, Sweden.
“Conflict as a motor for evolutionary change: insights from the fungal genomes.” Tuesday, August 13.

2018: San Juan, Puerto Rico (IMC 11)
Matthew Fisher, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom.
“Big Data approaches to addressing Big Fungal Problems.” Saturday, July 21.

2017: Athens, GA
Regine Kahmann. Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany.
“Core effectors in smut fungi: an amazing treasure box.” Tuesday, July 19.

2016: Berkeley, CA
Arturo Casadevall, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
“Thoughts on virulence, melanin, and the rise of mammals.” Wednesday, August 10.

2015: Edmonton, Alberta
Luis Corrochano, Department of Genetics, University of Seville, Avda, Sevilla, Spain.
“Perception in fungi: sensing light and other signals.” Monday, July 27.

2014: East Lansing, MI
Bruce McDonald, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH, Zurich.
“The dark side of fungal domestication.” Monday, June 9.

2013: Austin, TX
Barbara Howlett, Department of Botany, University of Melbourne, Australia.
“Evolution of virulence in fungal pathogens of plants.” Monday, August 12.

2012: New Haven, CT
Barbara Valent, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University.
“Stealth strategies of a cereal killer.” Tuesday, July 17.

2011: Fairbanks, AK
Joseph Heitman, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University.
“Evolution of sex in fungi.”

2010: Lexington, KY
Sally Smith, University of Adelaide, Australia.
“Fresh perspectives on the roles of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in plant nutrition and growth.”

2009: Snowbird, UT
Ken Wolfe, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
“Comparative genomics and the aftermath of ancient polyploidization.”  

2008: State College, PA
Nick Talbot, University of Exeter, UK.
“Investigating the biology of plant infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea using functional genomics.” Tuesday, August 12.

2007: Baton Rouge, LA
Patrick Keeling, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
“Microsporidium genomes: shrunken, not stirred.” Wednesday, August 8.

2006: Québec City, Québec (MSA/APS/CPS)
Franz Oberwinkler, Universitaet Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
“Phylogeny and coevolution of parasitic heterobasidiomycetous fungi.” Tuesday, August 1.

2005: Hilo, HI (MSA/MSJ)
Louise Glass, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley
“The quest for fungal identity.” Thursday, August 4.

2004: Asheville, NC (MSA/NAMA)
Bruce Birren, The Broad Institute, MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
“Early lessons from fungal genomes.” Tuesday, July 20.

2003: Asilomar, CA (MSA/BMS)
Michael Donoghue, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
“Biodiversity and the future.” Monday, July 28.

2002: Corvallis, OR
S. Blair Hedges, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
“Precambrian fungi and their possible impact on the earth and its biosphere.”

2001: Salt Lake City, UT
Leland H. Hartwell, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
“Natural genetic variation — A hidden resource.”

2000: Burlington, VT
Ira Herskowitz, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
“Using genetics and genomics to study the life of a yeast.” Tuesday, August 1.