Ep. 128: NYC Mycology, Greenwood Cemetery & DIY DNA Sequencing (feat. Sigrid Jakub)

Today on Mushroom Hour we are humble hosts to the talented Sigrid Jakob, President of the New York Mycological Society. Sigrid only discovered fungi within the last several years, but her intense passion quickly catapulted her into the forefront of citizen mycology. She has played a leading role in rebooting the North American Mycoflora project and transforming the national organization into the Fungal Diversity Survey known as FunDiS. She is an accomplished citizen science facilitator, providing resources for at-home genetic sequencing to allow those with no background in biochemistry to successfully extract and amplify DNA. In her non-mushroom life, Sigrid is a 55 year old independent brand strategist who lives in Brooklyn, is mother to a 17 year old and holds degrees in philosophy, psychology and photography. A modern Renaissance woman who shares the tools with which to examine fungal diversity for the laymen, I am excited to learn about how we all can contribute to putting together the seemingly endless tree of fungal diversity.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Growing up with Hunters, Gardeners and Woodsy Folk   
• Fungal Diversity in NYC   
• Role of Community Mycology in Mapping Biodiversity   
• Fungal Diversity Survey   
• Observational Data Fueling Conservation   
• Conservation Framework Around Fungi in the US vs Europe   
• Getting Deeper into Fungal DNA   
• Developing Fungal DNA Sequencing Protocols   
• Sourcing Tools and Reagants for At-Home Sequencing   
• Impact of Amateur Sequencing Data    
• Greenwood Cemetery Fungal Diversity Project   
• Findings and Future of the Greenwood Cemetery Project   
• Presiding over the New York Mycological Society   
• Future Plans for NY Mycological Society   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Sigrid Jakob IG: https://www.instagram.com/greenwoodzombie/   
• Sigrid's Dung Fungi IG: https://www.instagram.com/dung_fungi/   
• Fungal Diversity Survey: https://fundis.org/   
• New York Mycological Society: https://newyorkmyc.org/   
• Green-Wood Cemetery: https://www.green-wood.com/   
• Youtube Series "Fungal PCR at Home": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyaNM6lJmGo   
• NY Times Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/style/greenwood-cemetery-mushrooms.html   
• Sporormiella (Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporormiella