Feedback by BORIS JAKUSCHKIN

I am very grateful to EVOLTREE for the travel grant, which allowed me to attend the IUFRO Tree Biotechnology Conference “Forests: the importance to the planet and society” in Florence from 8th to 12th June. Walking the streets of Florence, which have seen the great Renaissance men was very inspiring. Even more inspiring was it to see many great scientists of our time doing timely research on forest trees.

The EVOLTREE workshop "Metagenomics of the tree microbiome" was especially interesting to me. The development of high-throughput sequencing technologies unveiled the enormous diversity of microorganisms associated with forest trees - the tree microbiome. Christopher Schadt presented the assembly mechanisms of populus microbiome and its implications for plant ecosystem functions. And Anna-Maria Pirtillä presented the tripartite interaction of mountain birch-moth-microbiome and spoke about moth mediated effects on the microbiome.

The number of posters presented at this conference was overwhelming and the conference booklet was indispensable aid to navigate during the poster sessions. Overall it was a great conference in a great venue and I am looking forward to the next IUFRO Tree Biotechnology Conference.