Endophyte Diversity Workshop with NCSSM students

On March 23rd (Sat.), the Duke University EnDoBiodiversity team led another workshop on fungal endophytes for interested NCSSM students. Six students and two teachers attended the three and a half hour workshop held on Duke campus. 

After an introduction to fungal systematics, students collected pine needles from seedlings and adults of loblolly pines growing on the Duke campus. Students learned surface-sterilization and aseptic techniques in laminar flow hoods. They took home ten 2 mm sections from seedling and adult pine needles each (for a total of 20 petri dishes). We'll be observing endophyte growth from these sections for Part II to be held in April. We will test how the fungal communities in these two tissue types are different with culture-based methods. 

See the syllabus for Workshops I & II.