I Chilean Mycology Meeting 2019 in IMA Fungus magazine

To end a year 2019 full of multiple emotions and successes as an NGO, we want to share with our followers the joy of appearing in the Myconews section of the IMA Fungus Magazine (flagship magazine of the International Association of Mycology) with a note on the I Chilean Meeting of Mycology held in September 2019.

The I Chilean Mycology Meeting was held on September 5 and 6, 2019 in the María Ghilardi Auditorium of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Chile in the Metropolitan Region. The event attracted more than 200 participants and consisted of five symposia, two talks, 20 oral presentations, and 31 panels. Most of the attendees came from different parts of Chile, but some researchers from Brazil and Mexico also joined this historic event. The meeting addressed various topics, such as: fungal biodiversity, ecology, biogeography and conservation; Mycorrhizae: from the fundamentals to the applications; Uses and applications of fungi: ethnomicology, biotechnology, chemistry and medical mycology; and taxonomy of fungi, lichens and myxomycetes. The initiative to organize this event came from Viviana Salazar-Vidal and Sandra Troncoso, both biologists from the University of Concepción; who since 2015 dreamed of holding a scientific meeting to bring together Chilean mycologists and share knowledge, create collaborative networks and reach the community. NGO Micófilos, a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to research, conservation, environmental education and scientific dissemination on fungi and organisms similar to fungi in Chile decided to carry out this initiative. Micófilos was also founded by Viviana Salazar-Vidal, formalizing itself as an NGO in 2018 with the support of several mycologists and professionals. The valuable support of various people and entities helped to bring about this event, highlighting the participation of Prof, Waldo Lazo (author of the first Mycological Atlas of Chile) and several universities and other Chilean organizations, such as NGO Madre Micelio, who helped us with the organization.

Official photograph of the I Encuentro Chileno de Micología 2019 (Fuente: ONG Madre Micelio)

To read the full article published in the IMA Fungus magazine, you can visit the following link: https://imafungus.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s43008-019-0024-4#Sec7