Philip C Lyons (University of Houston-Downtown, USA)

Speaker: Prof. Philip C Lyons (University of Houston-Downtown, USA)

Talk: Diversity in the composition and function of fungal communities of native and farmed prairie soils

Time: Friday, 5th of September 2014, 16:45

Venue: Biotechnology Summer School 2014, OW Syrenka, Stegna

Category: Invited lecture during Biotechnology Summer School

Philip C Lyons, biographical note

Phil Lyons earned his PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of Georgia and MS in Plant Pathology from Texas A & M University.  He was Post-doctoral Associate in the Departments of Plant Pathology and Biology at Purdue University, and is now Associate Professor of Biology and Microbiology in the Department of Natural Sciences at UHD where he teaches courses on Biology of Fungi, Plant Biology, Microbial Biotechnology, and on Methods in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.  He also teaches General and Introductory Biology for science majors and non-majors.  Lyons’ current research concerns diversity and ecology of tallgrass prairie soil fungi, including effects of farming and restoration.  A related project involves the occurrence and variation in substrate specificities of laccases and other oxidoreductases produced by prairie soil fungi.  He recently began a project on the diversity and geographical distribution of truffles (Tuber spp.) associated with pecans (Carya illinoiensis) and other hardwoods throughout different vegetation zones of Texas (USA)  Prior research involved plant-fungal interactions, including both pathogenic relationships in corn and sorghum and endophytic symbioses in tall fescue grass.