Lotus Lofgren (PI)

I’m an ecologist interested in the mechanisms structuring fungal community dynamics, including host specificity, competition, guild plasticity, trait and genome evolution, and how these concepts intersect with ecological theory. To address these questions I use two key approaches: Reverse Ecology- starting with genomes and working backwards to develop testable hypotheses, and Synthetic Ecology- using constructed communities to tractably manipulate complex consortia. This multidisciplinary strategy leverages comparative-, population- and phylo-genomics, computational bioinformatics, and laboratory experiments employing bioassays and molecular biology.

I am an incoming Asst. Professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at The University of California Berkeley (Lab opening January 2025). I completed a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota (2019) in the Kennedy Lab of Fungal Ecology, and then a two-year postdoc in fungal population genetics and evolutionary genomics in the Stajich Lab at the University of California Riverside, before joining the Vilgalys Lab at Duke University for three years as a Tri-I MMPTP (NIH T-32) postdoctoral fellow.

I’m passionate about increasing diversity in STEM, inclusive pedagogy, mentorship, science communication, and bringing attention to issues of access and accessibility across university levels. I use she/her pronouns. When I’m not at the lab I make scientific illustrations, ride bikes, garden, collect bad 90’s punk music, and (of course), hunt for mushrooms.

DOWNLOAD CV