Reginald Haskins
Reginald H. Haskins was a Canadian mycologist. Born in North Bay, Ontario, Haskins trained as a botanist, specializing in mycology, receiving his master's degree from the University of Western Ontario and his doctorate degree from Harvard University in 1949. He lived with his wife and three children in Saskatoon, Canada.
Scientific career
Haskins was appointed in 1948 as one of the first research scientists at the Prairie Regional Laboratory of the National Research Council Canada, Saskatoon, and was a Section Head in the institute starting in 1950. In 1952, he started a fungal culture collection, mostly of industrially relevant fungi, which eventually included > 1200 strains. These cultures were eventually transferred to the Canadian Collection of Fungal Cultures, with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ottawa.Research in mycology
Haskins discovered a new genus and new species of yeast-like fungi that he named Trichosporonoides oedocephalis, which was isolated from brood cells of honey bees. The morphology and biochemistry of the fungus were remarkable. Cultures had four different kinds of asexual sporulation and produced large quantities of erythritol. Other mycologists found additional species associated with different kinds of bees, or from low water activity substrates. Several of them also produced polyols and culturing parameters were optimized and the strains mutated to maximize production, resulting in several patents. Recently,Trichosporonoides was synonymized with Moniliella.Haskins also studied antibiotic and pigment metabolites produced in a 23-litre liquid fermenter by corn smut and the ergot fungus.
Haskins represented Canada on the council of the Mycological Society of America from 1965 to 1967.