Collaboration on identifying unknown gene functions in phages

From the 14th to the 17th of November, Bas E. Dutilh, doctoral researcher Piotr Rozwalak, and guest researcher Susie Grigson visited Dr. Andrzej ZielezińskiExternal link and Assistant Prof. Jakub BarylskiExternal link, their collaborators at Adam Mickiewicz University in PoznanExternal link, Poland. During the visit, they discussed how to use the order of genes within phage genomes to infer unknown gene functions and build bioinformatic tools that can be used to annotate phage genomes. 

Piotr was previously a master's student in Poznan, working on ancient bacteriophages. Therefore, visiting Poznan was an excellent time to summarize this work and plan a future project cataloging ancient bacteriophage genomes. They also gave guest lectures in the university's expert lectures' bioinformatics course on predicting microbial protein functions and ancient DNA, which allowed the students to learn about the work done by PhD students and their journey. Bas also gave an open lecture to the Biology faculty on 'Mapping the Microverse and its Drivers', which was well-received by the department and piqued many researchers' interest in the generalists and specialists within microbial communities. 

During their visit, they also had the opportunity to visit the interactive heritage center Porta Posnania and learn about Poznan's fascinating geological history and meteors at the Museum of the Earth.

Overall, the visit was an excellent opportunity to build collaborations and network. The group expresses gratitude to their hosts for their hospitality!