SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME
keynote speakers
Satinder Kaur Brar
Prof. Satinder Kaur Brar is the James and Joanne Love Chair in Environmental Engineering and Director of One WATER Institute at York University. Her research is in the two converging fields of value-addition of wastes and decontamination. Many national and international awards have been bestowed on her that prove her research mettle. Recent ones being, in 2019, Eddy Principles/Processes Wastewater Medal from Water Environment Federation; 2017 Grand Prize in University Research for Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. She was recently inducted into the European Academy of Sciences in 2021 and has been a member of the College of New Scholars, Scientist and Artists of the Royal Society of Canada, since 2014. At York, she has spearheaded two important initiatives on One WATER and cluster on emerging contaminants and their interactions in water, and has been honored with the President’s Research Excellence Award. She has published more than 400 articles, edited 11 books and at least 52 invited talks to her credit.
Dietmar Schlosser
Dietmar Schlosser is heading the Working Group Environmental Mycology of the Department of Applied Microbial Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany. His main research interests include the physiology, biochemistry and enzymology of fungi of diverse habitats and lifestyles with respect to biotransformation and degradation of xenobiotic (synthetic polymers – plastics – and their additives, micro-pollutants, and “classical” mass pollutants) and natural organic compounds, and the exploitation of fungi in environmental biotechnology. He has participated in >10 projects in the field of fungal biotechnology, and co-authored >60 publications in indexed journals and 15 chapters in books/book series with peer review.
Félix-Antoine Bérubé Simard
Félix-Antoine Bérubé-Simard is director of the mycotechnology R&D department, as well as co-director of innovation and technology transfer, at Biopterre. His main research interest consists in an approach combining fungal bioprospecting in hostile environments and functional genomics, to develop different mycotechnological solutions to problems in different industrial sectors (agro-environmental, food, pharmaceuticals, etc.). His team carries out around 30 projects a year, nearly a third of which involve mycoremediation.
schedule
Monday, May 5th - 2025
Preworshop Course
"Fungi and their enzymatic systems : from fundamental to applications"
| 8:00 – 9:00 | Accreditation |
| 9:00 – 9:45 | Fungi: morphology, reproduction, nutrition, habitat, and phylogenetic classification |
| 9:45 – 10:30 | The enzymatic system in fungi: extracellular, intracellular and advanced oxidation systems |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | COFFEE BREAK |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Extremophilic fungi in mycoremediation |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Agriculturally and industrially important fungi |
| 12:00 – 13:30 | LUNCH BREAK |
| 13:30 – 14:30 | Fungal enzyme production and immobilization |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Enzymatic bioreactor design |
| 15:00 – 16:00 | Application of fungal enzymes for bioremediation, and food additives/biofuels production |
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Mycomaterials |
Tuesday, May 6th - 2025
Opening Session
| 8:00 – 8:45 | Accreditation Pavillon Marie-Victorin (Bâtiment D7 / D7 Building) |
| 8:45 – 9:00 | Opening Ceremony Bienvenue / Welcome to Université de Sherbrooke Accueil / Opening Remarks |
| 9:00 – 10:00 | Conférencière principale / Keynote Speaker Phenols, pharmaceuticals, plastics and a kingdom supporting us to cope with man-made environmental pollution Dietmar Schlosser, Helmholtz -Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany Président/Chair: Hubert Cabana |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | PAUSE / BREAK PRÉSENTATIONS PAR AFFICHES / POSTER SESSION |
Session 1 - Environmental Stewarship using fungi
Président / Chair: À déterminer / To be determined
| 10:30-11:00 | Reducing the Impact of Tire Wear Particles: Fungal Biodegradation, Mycelium Composites, and Toxicological assessments Paridhi Singh, Ratul Kumar Das, Satinder Kaur Brar, Raymond Kwong |
| 11:00-11:30 | Towards the myco-remediation of halogenated organic compounds: genomic insights of the genus Cladosporium Giampiero De Simone, Simona Di Gregorio, David Levin, Laurence Fraissinet-Tachet, Thibault Le Gratiet |
| 11:30-12:00 | Integrating Phytoremediation and Mycoremediation: The Role of Riparian Forests and Ectomycorrhizal Fungi in Heavy Metal Mitigation in Southern California David Banuelas, Natalie Rubio, Jocelyn Sanchez, Daniel Talamantes, Samuel Brown |
| 12:00-13:00 | DINER / LUNCH BREAK PRÉSENTATIONS PAR AFFICHES / POSTER SSSION |
| 13:00 – 14:00 | Conférencière principale / Keynote Speaker MyCosmos: Enzyme Factory Satinder K. Brar, York University, Toronto, Canada, Sherbrooke, Canada Président/Chair: Ramon A. Batista-Garcia |
Session 2 - Environmental Stewarship using fungi
Président / Chair: À déterminer / To be determined
| 14:00-14:30 | Wild Metal-Accumulating Mushrooms: A Path to Decontamination? Kawina Robichaud |
| 14:30- 15:00 | Exploring the Impact of Micro-Aeration on the Hydrolytic Stage of Anaerobic Digestion for the Removal of Emerging Contaminants by Native Fungal Communities Ángeles Trujillo-Reyes, Antonio Serrano, Cristina Postigo, Elisabet Aranda and Tatiana Robledo-Mahón |
| 15:00- 15:30 | PAUSE / BREAK PRÉSENTATIONS PAR AFFICHES / POSTER SESSION |
| 15:30- 16:00 | Innovative Biochar Strategies for Removing Long-Chain Perfluorocarboxylic Acids from Wastewater Sepideh Nasrollahpour, Satinder Kaur Brar |
| 16:00-16:30 | Bioprospective screening of fungal isolates from polluted environments towards microplastics and related compounds degradation Gabriela Angeles de Paz, María del Mar López-Rodríguez, Antonio Blanco, Luna Guirado-Mendoza, Concepción Calvo, Tatiana Robledo-Mahón, Elisabet Aranda |
| 16:30-17:00 | Organophosphate flame retardants degradation by White Rot Fungi Diana Losantos, Montserrat Sarrà, Gloria Caminal |
Wednesday, May 7th - 2025
| 9:00 – 10:00 | Conférencière principale / Keynote Speaker Bioprospecting in Hostile Environments for innovative mycotechnology applications: the St. Lawrence River Case Study Félix-Antoine B Simard, Biopterre, La Pocatière, Canada Président/Chair: Hubert Cabana |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | PAUSE / BREAK PRÉSENTATIONS PAR AFFICHES / POSTER SESSION |
Session 3 - Environmental Stewarship using enzymes
Président / Chair: À déterminer / To be determined
| 10:30-11:00 | Development of a fungal enzyme-based multifunctional biocatalytic system for biodegradation of organic pollutants Muhammad Bilal, Grzegorz Boczkaj |
| 11:00-11:30 | Comparison of In-Situ and Ex-Situ Laccase Immobilization Techniques in Terms of Sustainability and Durability Gulten Yuksek, Hubert Cabana |
| 11:30-12:00 | Presence of Organic Contaminants in Hospital Wastewater and Their Continuous Treatment in a Laccase-Based Packed-Bed Reactor Komla Alokpa, Sabrina Saibi, Lounès Haroune, Hubert Cabana |
| 12:00-12:30 | Utilization of fungal laccase derivated from Trametes hirsuta strain for the remediation of diclofenac in wastewater treatment plant effluent Younès el Yagoubi, Pedro Segura, Hubert Cabana |
| 12:30– 13:30 | DINER/ LUNCH BREAK PRÉSENTATIONS PAR AFFICHES / POSTER SESSION |
Session 4 - Mycotreatments
| 13:30-14:00 | Efficient Gluconic Acid Production via Aspergillus niger Vasanth Kumar Vaithyanathan, Devi Sri, Vinoth Kumar Vaidyanathan, Hubert Cabana |
| 14:00-14:30 | Therapeutic Potential of V-shaped Lactobacillus planarum and its bioactives against mould pathogens Satish Kumar Rajasekharan, Vinoth Kumar V |
| 15:00-15:30 | PAUSE / BREAK PRÉSENTATIONS PAR AFFICHES / POSTER SESSION |
| 15:30-16:00 | Sustainable Production of Chitinase from Crab Shells and Its Application in Phytopathogen Control Devi Sri Rajendran, Priyadharshini Bharathi, Vinoth Kumar Vaidyanathan |
| 16:00-16:30 | Sustainable Phytase Enzyme Production from Mucor indicus MTCC 6333 Using Agro-Waste for Improved Feed Utilization in Poultry Swethaa Venkataraman, Naveen Krishna, Vinoth Kumar Vaidyanathan |
Closing Session
| 16:30-17.00 | CONCLUDING REMARKS (Organizing Committee) |