Joining forces to exploit the mycobiota of Asia, Africa and Europe for beneficial metabolites and potential biocontrol agents, using -OMICS techniques

The proposed project embarks on a previous collaboration in the framework of H2020-MSCA-RISE “GoMyTRi” that has successfully laid the groundwork for an international collaboration involving three worldwide leading research infrastructures from Germany, the Netherlands, and Thailand.

The common research interest of the partners is basic and applied mycology, and they joined forces to explore the beneficial secondary metabolites for development of antibiotics, and to find potential candidates for development of environmentally friendly fungal biocontrol agents.

The interdisciplinary training conducted in the course of “GoMyTri” has already resulted in several joint scientific publications, and some of the PhD candidates involved have graduated with excellent grades, while some of the postdoctoral researchers involved have gained valuable experience in project management.

During the past years, the collaboration has been consolidated and the partners have also been changing the scope of their respective research agendas.

The new proposal aims to expand the collaboration by adding further, carefully selected partners from Austria, the Czech Republic, Kenya and South Africa, which have an excellent scientific track record and bring in additional know-how and expertise.

The new objectives have been expanded to the implementation of –OMICS technologies and studies on the interaction of fungal organisms in order to discover newbioactive molecules. Furthermore, the project aims at characterization of the mycobiota of important agricultural plants.

The scientists involved in the training program will thus be working in an interdisciplinary scenario that is intended to tackle several important global challenges at once and be given the opportunity to learn many important methods and techniques that are essential for studies of beneficial as well as detrimental fungal organisms.

In addition, several dissemination events are planned.