FABI PhD student Chanel Thomas recently undertook a three-week research visit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison ahead of the 33^rd Annual Fungal Genetics Conference in California.

The visit was the result of ongoing collaboration with Dr Emile Gluck-Thaler and his group, who are investigating Starships, an emerging class of transposable elements with important implications for genome evolution. In addition to working on joint publications, Chanel presented a seminar at the Fungal Biology Supergroup titled “From species boundaries to population dynamics: What can genomics reveal in a fungal pathogen?”, highlighting the application of population genomics approaches to understanding pathogen diversity and evolution. Chanel was also hosted by Prof. Anne Pringle, further reinforcing established ties between FABI and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The visit proved both highly productive and fun, strengthening both new and ongoing collaborations, and fostering long-term global partnerships in fungal genetics and biology research.