Graduate Program in Biology of Fungi

Leonor Costa Maia & Norma Buarque de Gusmão

The Graduate Program in Biology of Fungi is offered by the Department of Mycology at the Centre of Biological Sciences of UFPE and has as its main objective the formation of human resources in the several areas of Mycology. It has been authorized by MEC and was graded level 5 by CAPES.

The course was founded by the Departments of Mycology and Botany in 1980, and then named Master Degree in Cryptogams with three concentration areas: Mycology, Phycology and Bryology/Pteridology. In 1997, the course structure was modified following advice by CAPES . The area of Mycology was kept and the course was then named Master Degree in Biology of Fungi. The other areas were transferred to the Graduate Program in Plant Biology at the same university.

Research Lines

When the course was restructured, two areas of concentration were created. The first one, Basic Mycology, has the following research lines: (i) Taxonomy and Ecology of Fungi; (ii) Biochemistry and Physiology of Fungi; (iii) Genetics and Cytology of Fungi. The second one, Applied Mycology, has the following research lines: (i) Fungi of Farming Interest; (ii) Fungi of Industrial Interest and, (iii) Fungi of Medical Interest. With the increasing demand for professionals in the area, the Doctorate degree in Mycology was created in 2000 (list of researchers).

Master degree students are required to take 14 mandatory and 10 elective courses (24 credits) in the period of 12-24 months whereas doctorate students are required to take seven mandatory and 17 elective courses (24 credits) within 24-48 months. They must also carry out research work and have a thesis or dissertation approved in the area of concentration chosen.

Infrastructure

The program provides proper facilities for the development of thesis and dissertations. Besides several specialized laboratories (Medical Mycology, Phytopathology, Biological Control, Mycorrhizas, Molecular Genetics, Taxonomy and others), the Department also has a herbarium (URM) with over 74 thousand specimens and a Collection (Micoteca URM) with over 7,000 cultures of fungi. Students also have access to specific literature in the area at the specialized library of the Center of Biological Sciences which holds a large collection of publications in Mycology.

Graduates

The Program has formed professionals who work in several regions of country, particularly in the North and Northeast. There are masters and doctors graduated in our courses working in institutions of the following States: Bahia ( UEFS), Ceará (URCA, UVA), Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) Paraíba (UFPB) Piauí (CEFET, UFPI), Alagoas (UFAL), Pernambuco (MAPA, SEDUC, FAFIRE, FUNESO, FABEJA, IBAMA, UPE, UFRPE, UFPE, UNICAP), Pará (UFPA, Emílio Goeldi Museum), Rondônia (UFRR), Amazonas (UFAM, Cathedral University), Goiás (UFG, UEG) and Rio Grande do Sul (UNISC).

So far, 130 masters and 10 doctors in Mycology have graduated by Program. Considering the increase on the number of professors and the demand for vacancies, enrollment has increased, which will allow the formation of a larger number of mycologists in the next years.

Numbers of enrollment between 2000 and 2005.

Most of the theses/dissertations defended deal with Genetics/Biotechnology, Taxonomy and Medical Mycology among all lines of the program. This tendency is still noticeable since most students enrolled today focus their attention in the same research lines.

M.Sc./Ph.D. theses concluded per research lines.

Many finished and ongoing researches are related to the Brazilian Semi-arid (see a list of selected thesis), increasing knowledge of fungi in the area which will allow better use of these organisms as well as provide support for politics of environmental conservation.

Among the goals of the Program, it is worth mentioning the intensification of national and international interchange; reinforcement on the formation of taxonomists; increase and incentive of activities related to the scientific collections, including the digitization of collections, and increasing interaction of undergraduate and graduate students. We hope we can continue contributing significantly to the formation of human resources specialized in mycology, an area which has great potential due to the importance fungi have in several human activities and in the preservation of the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (see Chapters 4 and 14).