Dr. James Kronstad will present "Fungal threats to human health".  James Kronstad received his PhD in 1984 from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Washington. In 1989, he was recruited by Dr. Michael Smith (a founder of ZymoGenetics) to join the faculty of the Biotechnology Laboratory, and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia.  He was promoted to full professor in 1999 and was Director of the Michael Smith Laboratories (previously called the Biotechnology Laboratory) from 2008 to 2017. For the past 30 years, Dr. Kronstad’s research program has focused on understanding mechanisms of pathogenesis for fungi that attack plants and animals.  Recent contributions include collaborations on the genome projects for the cereal pathogen Ustilago maydis, the fungus Malassezia globosa (associated with skin diseases) and five strains of the AIDS-associated pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Members' Night is returning after a brief hiatus in 2017. Instead of a single speaker presenting, we'll have several members giving mini-presentations on a fungal topic they're passionate about. Expect to hear about interesting projects, personal trips into the fungal unknown and maybe even some VMS history! 

Our speaker is the one and only Daniel Winkler, presenting the "Best of Mushroaming", a retrospective on his decade of mushroom hunting and explorations around the world.    When traveling in rugged High Asia (Tibet & Bhutan), his native Alps, tropical South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia & Suriname), as well as wild North America, Daniel is on the hunt for gorgeous choice edibles, potent medicinals, and all kinds of bizarre and colorful fungi from the most minute to massive fruitings. His favorite hounds are rain forests, be it tropical or temperate as well as alpine environments. His favorite fungi (besides all these tasty edibles) are strange Cordyceps, which triggered Daniel’s curiosity in medicinal mushrooms 20 years ago in Tibet. Recently this interest matured into a new field guide “Medicinal Mushrooms of North America” published in cooperation with Robert Rogers.   Daniel is the author of field guides to Edible Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest and California (both Harbour Publishing, 2011 and 2012) and Amazon Mushrooms (2014, co-authored). www.mushroaming.com   This event is free and open to everyone, as are all our regular meetings, although membership purchase is encouraged!

LECTURE DESCRIPTION Beatrix Potter was a woman of many interests and ambitions, however we often come to know only one, her children’s books. Renowned for her fabulous Peter Rabbit storybook illustrations at the turn of the Century, Potter during this period was also involved in mycology and, later in life, land conservancy efforts in Britain.  Join lecturer Spencer W. Stuart as he explores three facets of Potter’s life. Beginning with her extraordinarily successful children’s tales, of which she published twenty-three, he will delve into Potter’s lesser-known involvement with the study of fungi through scientific illustration as well as writing. Now housed in the Armitt Museum in England and Perth Museum in Scotland, these beautifully executed and famously accurate watercolours continue to serve as reference to both amateur and expert mycologists alike. Finally, he will discuss her enduring legacy to the conservation of the historic Lake District of North West England, revealing not only the familiar figure we have all come to know of imagination and fairy tale but also an enthusiastic, down-to-earth Naturalist caught up in the debates of the day. BIO Spencer Stuart holds a master’s degree in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute in London, England (recipient of […]

May 14th will be our AGM! In order to vote, you will need to be a member. You can renew or join at the meeting, or online anytime.  We will have a presenter after the AGM business is done, about 8/8:30pm.  After the AGM business Gustavo de Moura will present "Kombucha: History, SCOBY, and why you should be drinking it." Bio: Gustavo de Moura. BA in Accounting from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil; Graduate of the Brewing and Brewery Operation Diploma from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Head Brewer at Oddity Kombucha since July 2018. After deciding to move to Canada, I also moved to a new career in the brewing industry. My passion for craft beers led me to the Brewing diploma on KPU, and the love for fermented food got me started at homebrewing Kombucha. After finishing my studies at Kwantlen I got a brewer position at Faculty Brewing, a sister company of Oddity Kombucha. The head brewer position at Oddity got vacant shortly after and I took the role. Since, I’ve been constantly learning about the kombucha production process, how it ferments and how to achieve the desired flavours I want and how to constantly achieve them.      

Pine Mushrooms as World-Makers (re-scheduled from cancelled February meeting) From Michael:  "This talk will give a brief introduction to a long-term collaborative research project that follows the harvest and trade in the pine mushroom (matsutake) from several countries around the world to its destination in Japan. I will focus on how this valuable trade is shaping the lives of several indigenous groups in Southwest China, on the eastern edge of the Himalayas, such as ethnic Tibetans and Yi. I suggest that the trade itself (as well as larger political events) are influencing the livelihoods of these people, such as how they farm and raise yak and goats, but also creating less expected changes such as fostering a kind of ethnic resurgence."   Michael Hathaway is an associate professor of cultural anthropology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. He studies the intersection of indigenous politics and environmentalism in China, and more recently, has been exploring how indigeneity has emerged in the Asia-Pacific region through transnational encounters. His first book, Environmental Winds: Making the Global in Southwest China (University of California Press, 2013) explores how environmentalism was refashioned in China, not only by conservationists, but also by rural villagers and even animals themselves. […]

Our September speaker is Paul Kroeger, one of the founding members of the VMS. He will present "Genus Amanita".  Some of Paul’s many activities and accomplishments in this field include: researching the biochemistry of medicinal mushrooms at the University of British Columbia (UBC) as a long time research associate in their Department of Botany; major contributor to the mycological herbarium collections in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC; significant contributions to the DAOM Herbarium in Ottawa and DAVFP Herbarium in Victoria; frequent consultant for various agencies, including the British Columbia Drug and Poison Information Centre.