Dr Irina Druzhinina

I obtained my master (1998) and doctoral (2001) degrees in botany and classical mycology at the University of Vienna, Austria. Shortly after, I joined the Vienna University of Technology (Austria), where I defended my Habilitation Thesis on Microbiology (2011) and later obtained a tenured position of Associate Professor at the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Biological Engineering (ICEBE). Since 2002 my Research Group, "Microbiology and Fungal Genomics," studied taxonomy, molecular evolution, ecophysiology, and ecological genomics of industrially relevant fungi, particularly from the order Hypocreales and the genus Trichoderma.

In 2018, I was appointed a Full Professor at the Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China. In this school, I continued researching ecological genomics of fungi, fungal–fungal interactions, mycoparasitism, and the role of surface-active proteins in fungal physiology and development. 

In the RBG Kew, I aim to fuse my experience in applied microbiology and biotechnology with knowledge in fungal systematics and evolution for the acceleration of our understanding of fungal biology and the prediction of valuable and potentially hazardous traits of common and rare fungi around and the improved conservation of fungal diversity and ecosystems. 

Positions

• Senior Research Leader – Fungal Diversity & Systematics, Royal Botanical Gardens Kew

• Editor in Chief (with Jan Dijksterhuis) of Fungal Biology Reviews Journal (British Mycological Society, Elsevier)

• Editor of Applied and Environmental Microbiology (American Society for Microbiology)

• Editor of IMA Fungus, International Mycological Association

• Editor of Micology (Institute of Microbiology Chinese Academy of Sciences)

• Editor Associate, Mycoasia
• Editorial Board Member, Fungal Biology and Biotechnology, BMC
• Editorial Board Member, iMeta, Wiley
• Head of the International Committee of Trichoderma Taxonomy www.trichoderma.info (ICTT)
• Head of TrichoCosm, the Trichoderma whole genus genomics project, JGI DOE, Berkeley, USA

Previous positions

• Professor (Full), Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

• Associate Professor (Laufbahnstelle), Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Vienna, Austria

Qualifications

• 2011, Habilitation in microbiology (Priv. Doz.), Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Austria

• 2001, Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in botany, University of Vienna, Austria 

• 1998, Master degree (Mag. rer. nat.) in mycology and algology, University of Vienna, Austria

A full CV is available on the www.fungig.org.