⚠️⚠️⚠️ THIS MEETING WILL BE HELD AT COOK PARK RECREATION CENTER INSTEAD OF THE DENVER BOTANIC GARDENS ⚠️⚠️⚠️
⚠️⚠️⚠️ PRESENTATION WILL START AT 7:00PM INSTEAD OF 7:30PM ⚠️⚠️⚠️
When: Monday, June 8, 2026 7–9PM (6:45-7 Social Time, 7:00–9:00 Presentation and Questions)
Where: Cook Park Recreation Center
Speaker Bio
The Colorado Mycological Society is pleased to welcome Dr. Jesús F. Peña of Colorado College for our June meeting.
Fungi offer a fascinating but often underexplored perspective on evolutionary developmental biology. In contrast to plants and animals, many fungi have relatively simple body plans for much of their lifecycle, yet sexual reproduction often involves cell specialization, patterning, and differentiation.
In this presentation, Dr. Peña will explore mating and sexual development in Phycomyces blakesleeanus, a member of the early-diverging Mucoromycota. By combining staged gene expression analyses with studies of evolutionary conservation, researchers can investigate which aspects of fungal mating rely on ancient developmental toolkits and which represent evolutionary innovations unique to these remarkable organisms.
About the Speaker
Jesús F. Peña is an Assistant Professor in the Organismal Biology and Ecology Department at Colorado College, where he teaches biology of microbes, mycology, and the evolution of multicellularity. He earned his PhD in Microbiology from the University of California, Riverside, studying early-diverging fungi from an evolutionary developmental biology perspective.
Prior to his doctoral work, Dr. Peña earned both his BS and MS in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Denver and worked at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where he developed a lasting passion for science communication and education. His research focuses on fungal evolution, development, and the biology of mucoromycetes and endophytic fungi.
Join us for an evening exploring how ancient genetic pathways and evolutionary innovation have shaped the fungal kingdom.
All are welcome.
Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84113035852?pwd=yXNHTb8LKemWYNngXQITD67O0j5ByH.1