John Frederick Peberdy FRSB MBE (8 November 1937, Skegness – 14 May 2020) was a British mycologist, specializing in the biochemistry and genetics of fungi.
He studied botany at King's College, Newcastle (then part of Durham University), where he developed a strong interest in fungi and microbiology.
He then became a graduate student at the University of Nottingham, where he received his Ph.D. supervised by Charles Chesters with a dissertation on fungal biochemistry.
[2] Throughout his career, Peberdy was interested in practical and commercial applications of mycology and biotechnology.
After receiving his Ph.D., he worked briefly in Stevenage as a Scientific Officer at a Water Pollution Research Laboratory before he was appointed to a lecturership at Hull College of Technology and then in 1966 to a lectureship in microbiology at the University of Nottingham.
[3] He did research on "genetics of fungal secondary metabolite production, antifungal agents, plant pathogens, edible mushrooms, and the biotechnology of exploitation by fungi of waste resources".