The purpose of this travel sponsorship was to attend and present the researchers findings at the 6th Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS Federation of European Microbiological Societies), Maastricht, the Netherlands. This conference is one of the leading meetings of its kind and brings together approximately 3000 microbiologists from around the world. As part of the researchers communication strategy this congress provided the perfect opportunity to disseminate the research to the wider scientific community and it was a privilege to present PhD findings at such a renowned congress. It is a biennial conference.

The congress had a number of sessions, which covered current topics and issues relating to microorganisms. It provided new concepts and ideas that have contributed to the research being conducted in my project. Topics ranged from microbial genetics, hyphal structure and growth, to interactions in soil microbiomes and biofilms and ecosystem resilience. Of particular interest were a number of presentations, one on chitinase production by fungi, a discussion of the genomic flexibility of Verticillium dahliae, one on siderophores and trace element availability, a presentation on fungal highways and bacterial movement.

The plant-fungal pathogens plenary lecture included discussions on the production of chitinases by fungal root pathogens and discussed the control and induction of chitinase production. This presentation provided valuable information that assisted in the development of a medium that induces the production of chitinases by the Trichoderma isolates in my project.

Another valuable aspect of the conference was some of the research being done on the same microorganisms that involved current work with, Verticillium dahliae, Aspergillus fumigatus or in the same genera as with Fusarium solani. In these projects they often applied different techniques and used different fields of science to investigate these microorganisms. Alternatively, they applied different approaches to similar questions, this provided a different, wider perspective and a way of thinking about and analysing these microbes. An example of this was the work being done in the project entitled ‘Plant-microbiome interactions in the heavy metal polluted environments’. The mobilization of trace elements, in particular, the work on the mechanisms of siderophore production and other secondary metabolites is genetic based (mine involves plate assays). What they are doing could easily be used for to assist or enhance and maybe a better way to do it in the future. Another study ‘Pathogenomics of Verticillium wilt diseases’ introduced genomic flexibility a characteristic of Verticillium dahliae that enables it to escape host immunity whilst maintaining its aggressiveness. The researcher believes this was a really interesting study and something that should definitely be addressed when looking at disease control for this pathogen.

The concept of ‘fungal highways’ was discussed by a number of presenters; this is where bacteria use fungal hyphae as a way to move around the soil and plant roots. This may be something to consider when bacterial bio-inoculations are being applied to soil. It provides a mechanism for a non-motile bacterial inoculant to disperse in the soil. It could be that when some of the bacterial agents identified in my study are used they need a mechanism to disperse through the soil in order to work more effectively. Fungal highways may be the biologically sustainable way to achieve this.