Skip to main content

Courses to improve Collaboration in V4 Countries to learn about Cryptic fungi

 

Funded by Visegrad Grant 

Three institutions with strong backgrounds in taxonomy, phylogenetics, and genomics of insect-related fungi bring together researchers to share expertise with each other and students. In a series of workshops organized in three V4 countries we will tighten collaborations and stimulate knowledge exchange. A citizen science campaign and lectures open to the general public will also be organized. 

 

Project No. 22420237

Role of FSci in the project: Principal applicant

Project duration: 01 October 2024 - 31 March 2026

Total project cost: 37 878 EUR

Head of project: Danny Haelewaters, PhD

 

Previous events

Citizen science campaign, workshop, and open lecture, České Budějovice, Czechia
19th to 21st of May 2025

The workshop took place in České Budějovice as part of the project Courses to Improve Collaboration in V4 Countries to Learn About Cryptic Fungi, funded through Visegrad Grant No. 22420237 and organized by Danny Haelewaters, László Nagy, and Julia Pawłowska. It brought together participants from several countries for a public lecture, citizen science activities, and training sessions focused on insect-associated fungi and collaborative research. A brief overview of the key events and achievements is provided in the poster below.

Summary of workshop

 

Phylogenomics workshop and open lecture, Urwitałt and Warsaw, Poland
8th to 11th of December 2025

From December 8–11, 2025, a phylogenomics workshop was held in Urwitałt as part of the C4inV4 initiative, focused on strengthening collaboration among V4 countries and advancing research on cryptic fungi. The program combined inspiring open lectures by Danny Haelewaters and Anna Muszewska with intensive hands-on training led by Anna Karnkowska, supported by Beniamin Abramczyk and the organizing team. Participants also took part in field-based activities aimed at searching for and studying cryptic fungi, linking theoretical knowledge with practical biodiversity research. The workshop took place at the Mazurskie Centrum Bioróżnorodności i Edukacji “Kumak”, whose excellent facilities created an ideal environment for collaboration. The workshop brought together participants primarily from Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, as well as from other European countries including Belgium and Spain, fostering a truly international exchange of expertise. The event was made possible through the dedicated support of Julia Pawłowska, Marta Tischer, Michał Gorczak, Michał Kochanowski, Igor Siedlecki, and Dorota Wiktorowicz, and was generously funded by the Visegrad Fund.

Illustrated summary of workshop

 

FUNGAL GENOMICS
16 to 20  February 2026: Workshop on fungal genomics and open lecture, Szeged, Hungary
https://fb.me/e/7LFch4JtW 

 

FUNGAL GENOMICS  in Szeged, Hungary

From 16 to 20 February 2026, the HUN‑REN Biological Research Centre in Szeged hosted the final workshop of the C4inV4 initiative, an intensive event dedicated to comparative genomics that strengthened collaboration among Visegrad countries and advanced research on cryptic fungi. The event was hosted by Dr. László Nagy.
The programme itself combined open lectures with hands‑on bioinformatics training, allowing participants to explore the fundamentals of comparative genomics, evolutionary biology and phylogenomics while gaining practical experience with state‑of‑the‑art tools for detecting gene duplications and losses in fungal genomes. The workshop opened with a symposium on recent breakthroughs in Laboulbeniomycetes genomics, offering insights into the latest phylogenetic results, unique genomic traits of Laboulbeniales and approaches to reconstructing gene family evolution. This was followed by lectures covering key comparative genomics methods applied in fungi, including the convergent evolution of proteins involved in fruiting‑body formation, the evolutionary dynamics of transcription factors and regulatory networks, and the genomics of secondary metabolism.
Over three days of interactive training, participants worked in groups on whole‑genome analyses, focusing on the detection and interpretation of gene duplications and losses, and presented their findings during a final discussion session centred on open questions related to the Laboulbeniales project.
The workshop concluded with an open lecture by Attila Sándor from the Szeged Fungus Association (https://en.szegedigombasz.hu/), who introduced the history and current activities of the local mushroom association, creating a meaningful link between international students and regional citizen‑science initiatives.
Our comparative genomics workshop brought together 33 researchers from across Europe and beyond, an incredible turnout for an inspiring week of science!
As this was the last workshop of the series, we want to express our sincere thanks to everyone who participated, shared their enthusiasm and curiosity, and to all colleagues who helped prepare and run the event, your effort made the workshop truly exceptional! We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Visegrad Fund, thanks to which our project and this entire workshop series could take place. And of course, we are already looking forward to future events, collaborations and new adventures in fungal genomics, because good science never really stops  it just evolves, preferably with good company!
 

We are happy to announce that the workshop in Szeged will welcome participants from across Europe, with strong representation from Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The event aims to share new research findings and to foster international collaboration in the field of fungal genomics.

Read about our latest papers:

 

Polish partner (Julia Pawłowska):

University webpage: https://en.uw.edu.pl/
Faculty of Biology webpage: https://www.biol.uw.edu.pl/en/home-page/
Institute webpage: https://ibe.biol.uw.edu.pl/en/835-2/

 

Hungarian partner (László Nagy):

Institute webpage: https://www.brc.hu/en 
Lab webpage: http://group.szbk.u-szeged.hu/sysbiol/nagy-laszlo-lab-index.html

 

Sources

de Groot MD, Christou M, Pan JY, Adriaens T, Maes D, Martinou AF, Roy HE, Verbeken A, Haelewaters D. Beetlehangers.org: harmonizing host–parasite records of Harmonia axyridis and Hesperomyces harmoniae. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 18(4): 665-679. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-023-10037-2

Haelewaters D, Matthews TJ, Wayman JP, Cazabonne J, Heyman F, Quandt CA, Martin TE. 2024. Laboulbeniomycetes as a case study for biodiversity shortfalls in poorly studied groups. Journal of Biogeography 51(1): 29-39. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14725

Haelewaters D, Okrasińska A, Gorczak M, Pfister DH. 2020. Draft genome sequence of the globally distributed cockroach-infecting fungus Herpomyces periplanetae strain D. Haelew. 1187d. Microbiology Resource Announcements 9(6): e01458-19. https://doi.org/10.1128/MRA.01458-19

 

Fruiting bodies of Hesperomyces harmoniae (Laboulbeniales) on the integument of the invasive alien ladybird Harmonia axyridis Coccinellidae)

 

https://www.visegradfund.org/

Visegrad Fund logo

 

  

Stay in touch
social media

© 2026 University of South Bohemia
Cookies

1

0