Meet FEMS Research and Training grantee Miroslav Caboň
30-05-22
Research and Training Grants are meant to assist early career scientists in pursuing research and training at a European host institution in another country than their own country of residence.
Miroslav Caboň: Institute of Botany, Plant Science And Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy Of Sciences
Host supervisor and host laboratory: Petr Baldrian, Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology, Czech Academy of Sciences
Dates: 1 November 2021 to 31 December 2021
FEMS Member Society Membership: Czechoslovak Society for Microbiology
I finished my PhD. with focus on evolution and speciation of ectomycorrhizal genus Russula at the Laboratory of Molecular Ecology and Mycology (MEM), Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre in 2017. I was immediately employed as a young researcher and manager of the molecular laboratory.
As a member of the MEM lab, I actively participated in several project proposals, where we extended our scope and focused not only on fungal evolution and speciation processes, but also ecological aspects of the fungal interactions. To achieve new goals, we adopted several new techniques. My contribution to implementation of new techniques and methods was facilitated by several research stays planned for this purpose.
My FEMS funded research stay at the Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology (Czech Academy of Sciences) provided me with a unique opportunity to boost my knowledge in metabarcoding. Members of the Laboratory developed several tools for processing of bioinformatic analyses such as SEED2 or GlobalFungi. Adopting skills in use of these softwares enabled me to process my amplicon data much more efficiently and also significantly improve my datasets with metadata retrieved from other metabarcoding studies. The infrastructure and personal experience of the host lab members offer an ideal environment for promoting my skills in soil analysing, e.g. I first time measured ergosterol and estimated fungal enzymatic activity.
Without a doubt, the FEMS Research and Training Grant provided me with a great opportunity to adopt new techniques and methods. I believe, it will become essential skills for my further studies and they help me in my future career.
I recognized that FEMS Research and Training grant as the most suitable for me according to positive references from my wife. My main goal was to get familiarized with bioinformatic tools developed in the host laboratory and enhanced my skills with metabarcoding analyses. From that point of view, my research stay was 100% success.
My stay in the host laboratory was excellent opportunity to get familiarized with broad range of software tools and protocols for metabaroding and advanced soil analyses. At top of that, as a FEMS grant holder I was invited as speaker in the main session on ‘Supported Research Projects and Impact of FEMS Grants on Professional Development and Outreach of Early Career Scientists’ at FEMS Belegrade conference.’’