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.