My research interests are centered on the evolution of fungal-plant symbioses using an interdisciplinary study of lichens as a model system. Research currently funded in my lab ranges from Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life (AFToL), systematic biology (Peltigera and Teloschistales), genomics of fungal-algal interactions (lichen-forming fungusCladonia grayi and its green algal partnerAsterochloris sp.), lichen microbiome bacterial diversity and communities, and macroevolution of endophytic and endolichenic fungi. In 1987 I obtained my B.S. in Agronomy at Université Laval, followed by my M.Sc. in Biology at the University of Ottawa (1990), and my Ph.D. in Botany/Genetics at Duke University (1995). I joined the Department of Botany at the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) in 1997 and moved my lab to the Department of Biology at Duke University in 2001. See http://www.lutzonilab.net for more information.