Mycotoxicology Newsletter - Dr. Angelo Visconti

April 1998 Volume IV, No. 1

COMINGS AND GOINGS

In January, 1998, the in-house management of Natural Toxins will transfer from Wiley's New York office to the company's office based in Chichester, UK. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, is actually hosting the journal (Co-Editors-in-Chief: John W. ApSimon and J. David Miller).

With the moving of J. D. Miller from Agriculture Canada, Ottawa to the Department of Chemistry of Carleton University, one the most famous research groups in the mycotoxin area is effectively dismantled. During the past 15 years the group has carried out important research in mycology, chemistry, plant pathology and breeding, animal nutrition and toxicology with particular reference to Fusarium and relevant toxins. Locks Trenholm, the actual President of the ISPP Mycotoxicology Committee, was also part of this esteemed group, leading the animal research unit from the early 1980s until March, 1997.

After a long and most productive career, Chet Mirocha (Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota) has retired, as of September 30, 1997, and is continuing many of his activities as a Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota. For several years his laboratory has been considered the "world laboratory" of mycotoxins because of the continuous turnover of students and visiting scientists from all over the world. Probably no scientist involved at a significant level in the mycotoxin area during the period 1975 to 1990 has missed paying a visit to Dr. Mirocha's laboratory for collaboration or exchange of opinions. A great deal of research on the chemistry, plant pathology, toxicology and metabolism of Fusarium mycotoxins has been carried out in his laboratory. His name has been linked to the claim of trichothecene involvement in chemical warfare in South East Asia ("yellow rain"). I'm personally grateful to Dr. Mirocha for the encouragement he gave to my professional career, during my 18-month stage in his laboratory (1983-1985), through the introduction of my research activity to the international community.