Four Thursday evening lectures on mushroom DNA sequencing. Learn the full workflow from anywhere.

Overview: A four-week lecture series covering the foundations of fungal DNA sequencing, from "what is DNA?" through the complete post-PCR identification workflow using NCBI BLAST and UNITE. Live Zoom with Q&A, all sessions recorded. For anyone outside Colorado, or anyone who wants the knowledge without the in-person lab. Taught by Natalie Hyde and Michael Heim.

What you'll learn:

• Foundations: what DNA is, what sequencing is, why it matters for mycology and for broader environmental conservation

• The full workflow, step by step

• How DNA extraction works, in concept and detail

• PCR amplification: what it does and how it works

• Post-PCR analysis: MEGAHIT, NCBI BLAST, UNITE

• How to interpret results and confirm species identification

Schedule (Thursdays 7:00 to 8:30 PM Mountain):

• Nov 5: What is DNA? What is DNA sequencing? Overview and origins

• Nov 12: DNA sequencing process + detailed extraction walkthrough

• Nov 19: Post-extraction downstream + intro to PCR

• Dec 3: Post-PCR workflow (MEGAHIT, NCBI BLAST, UNITE). Skipping Thanksgiving week.

Format:

• Live Zoom with Q&A. All sessions recorded.

• Recordings available to registered students; catch up anytime before the next session.

• No in-person labs included. If you want hands-on, book the Full Cohort.

Who it's for: Open to anyone drawn to fungi and the science behind them. Foragers wanting more precision in their IDs, citizen scientists contributing to projects like FUNDiS, growers and educators building their technical foundation, field biologists and conservation professionals, chefs, and students in the life sciences. No prerequisites. No prior lab experience required.

Enrollment:

• Cap: 25 students

• Minimum to run: 4 students

• Full payment at registration

• Deadline to register: Saturday, November 1

• If fewer than 4 enrolled by November 1: full refund + 10% off the next cohort

• If 4 or more enrolled by November 1: course runs, and rolling enrollment continues at $150 through Thursday, November 12 (one week after Zoom 1). Late enrollees receive recordings of any sessions already held.

• After November 12: enrollment permanently closed.

Instructors:

Natalie Hyde grew up in Connecticut, where her first memory of finding fungi wasn't seeing one but smelling moldy decay and wood rot in the forests of New England. She moved to Colorado in 2018 for college and quickly discovered the joy of the adult Easter egg hunt that is finding fungi in the forest! She joined CMS in 2020 and the CU Boulder Mycology lab to study fungi in extreme environments. After completing her bachelor's in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, she went on to earn an MS in Botany-Mycology at Charles University in Prague. While working at the Czech Academy of Sciences, her research focused on Arctic fungi under experimental warming in Greenland, using a combination of ITS sequencing, metatranscriptomics, and metagenomics. Natalie now works as a scientist at MycoReach, is helping DNA sequence the Sam Mitchel Fungal Herbarium at the Denver Botanic Gardens, and is reconstructing metagenome reads of an Arctic fungus (Exophiala). If you're wondering about the genetics and biology of fungi, she's your girl to ask!

Michael Heim is a forager, cultivator, educator, and guide based in Lafayette, Colorado. He founded Ensō Farm and Forage in 2015 and co-founded Mycolove Farms LLC in 2021. He holds a Certified Wild Mushroom Expert credential from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and USFS outfitter permits across multiple ranger districts. Past president of the Colorado Mycological Society (2018) and current board member of the Fungal Diversity Survey (FUNDiS).