🎉 Congratulations to the 2025 AMS Research Grant Awardees! 🎉

The Australasian Mycological Society is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2025 AMS Research Grant! This year, we’re excited to support two PhD candidates in Australasia conducting innovative fungal research - Ellie Fajer and Adam Taranto!

Check out the summaries of their research projects below!

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Ellie Fajer

PhD Candidate, University of Auckland

Project title: Investigating the potential of Fungal Endophytes to Combat Kauri Dieback

Growing up exploring the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, USA, Ellie has been a keen ecologist since childhood. She completed a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Earth Systems at Stanford University (California, USA), where she discovered her passion for mycology. She continued to complete a Master’s degree on microbial ecology and global change at Stanford, with her research focusing on how ectomycorrhizal fungal communities influence carbon sequestration in boreal forests. Ellie was awarded a Fulbright Research Fellowship in New Zealand to investigate the potential of fungal endophytes to combat kauri dieback disease. Under the co-supervision of Drs. Bruce Burns and Maj Padamsee at the University of Auckland and Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Ellie plans to expand her Fulbright research into a PhD.

The towering kauri trees (Agathis australis) of New Zealand’s North Island shape their rich, biodiverse ecosystem and hold great cultural significance to the Māori people and other residents of New Zealand. However, the limited remaining kauri are facing extinction due to the pathogen Phytophthora agathidicida causing widespread kauri dieback. Certain fungal endophytes, fungi that live within plant roots and tissues, have been shown to help inhibit the growth and spread of plant pathogens. Ellie is interested in studying how fungal endophytes from kauri roots may inhibit P. agathidicida and potentially serve as a biological control agent to prevent further kauri dieback. Using the AMS Research Grant, Ellie will investigate the prevalence, diversity, and potential antagonism of kauri fungal endophytes utilizing high-throughput sequencing of field-collected root and soil fungal communities.

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Adam Taranto

PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne

Project title: Pandora’s Transposons: Tracking mobile elements involved in the emergence of novel fungal pathogens

Recent pan-genome studies (sequencing many individuals of a species) have uncovered surprising genetic exchanges between distantly related fungal species, including genes, transposons, and occasionally whole chromosomes. This project will investigate the role of mobile genetic elements in the horizontal transmission of genes between distantly related fungal species that interact with shared host plants.

These horizontal transfers often include genes that provide selective advantages, enabling fungi to tolerate environmental toxins, consume novel energy sources, or expand their host range. Of particular interest are several complex composite transposons that have been transferred between multiple fungal pathogens, acting as a vehicle for virulence genes.

This project aims to identify the original fungal species that donated these composite transposons by sequencing genomes of fungi in which we have found examples of closely related transposon families. These fungi also share ecological niches with pathogenic species which present opportunities for horizontal transposon transfer to occur.

Funding from this grant will enable us to generate the first high-quality annotated genomes for this species as a community resource. This will enable systematic screening for horizontal gene transfer events between our target species and known pathogens.

Understanding the mechanisms and conditions necessary for mobilizing genes between species will help us to understand how novel fungal pathogens emerge and spread to new host plants. This knowledge has significant implications for predicting and managing emerging crop diseases, potentially leading to improved strategies for protecting crops that form the foundation of global food security.

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We warmly congratulate Adam and Ellie on receiving the 2025 AMS Research Grant, and look forward to seeing the discoveries their work will bring to mycological research!

We would also like to thank all applicants who submitted exciting and valuable proposals this year - it is encouraging to see such a range of thoughtful projects that reflect the diversity of fungal research happening across Australasia. Your contributions inspire us, and we are pleased to continue supporting the mycological community! ✨🍄✨