KU’s living library of fungi, key to restoration and sustainability, threatened by shrinking federal funds

Person standing next to computer screen gesturing
Liz Koziol, assistant research professor at KU and associate curator of the International Collection of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (INVAM), describes a picture of a plant root during a Jan. 7, 2026 interview. The root has been stained to make it easier to spot fungal structures, which are the darker blue clusters. Koziol said this root has been "extensively colonized" by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, the type of microbe that is collected in the INVAM library. (Molly Adams / The Lawrence Times)

Thu, 01/08/2026

author

Wulfe Wulfemeyer

For a team of researchers at the University of Kansas, fungal doomsday looks less like parasitic mushrooms transforming people into zombies, and more like the loss of a fungi collection that serves as a major global resource for sustainability and restoration.

The International Collection of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, or INVAM, is tucked away in the Kansas Biological Survey buildings on KU’s campus. It’s a singular resource for studying and cataloguing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, or AMF.

Terra K. Lubin, an associate researcher at KU and associate curator of INVAM, said that AMF support about 92% of terrestrial plants, which in turn sustain countless creatures.

The curators of INVAM fear that this “living library” will be the next casualty in the current administration’s campaign to defund scientific research, which puts people like Jim Bever in the hot seat.

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Read the full story at The Lawrence Times.

Thu, 01/08/2026

author

Wulfe Wulfemeyer