Dr. Nora Dunkirk

Nora Dunkirk was research technician for the lab from 2014 – 2016. As a research technician, she focused on the molecular biology project Dimensions Of Biodiversity to assess fungal and bacterial community composition across Pine ecosystems of North America. Additionally, she isolated fungi from Tule Elk dung samples and used Next Generation Sequencing to assess the rapid community turnover of the ephemeral substrate as compared to historical morphological descriptions of the highly consistent succession of fungal species. Nora left the Peay lab to pursue a PhD in Fungal Biology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She completed her PhD in 2023 studying fungal physiology in response to nitrogen pollution and invasive Amanitas.