B.Sc., University of Bucharest, Romania
M.Sc., University of Bucharest, Romania

Simona Margaritescu has been the mycology technician in the Department of Natural History since 2004. Her position has two main facets. She manages the ROM’s Fungal Collection (TRTC Fungarium) and is responsible for the operations of the Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory.

As the TRTC manager, Simona is responsible for the maintenance, preparation and identification of the fungal collections as well as the handling of loans and exchanges with other herbaria. In addition, she has been developing and managing the electronic database associated with these collections. Simona teaches specimen preparation techniques and data entry practices to casual staff, summer students and volunteers. She also responds to general inquiries about fungi, gives lectures to amateur mycologists, and guides tours in the ROM’s Fungal Collection.

Besides her collection management responsibilities, Simona directs the day-to-day running of the Molecular Mycology Research Laboratory and assists in fungal research projects by generating and analyzing molecular data of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from various fungal species. She also teaches molecular laboratory techniques to graduate and undergraduate students as well as visiting scholars.