Link to the project Consortium: BELSPO

Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Belgium houses the Agro-food & Environmental Fungal Collection (BCCM/MUCL), a fungi collection dedicated to agro-food and environment within the laboratory of mycology. Research is mainly focused on the areas of fungal diversity in natural and anthropological ecosystems, agro-food (food and feed transformation and spoilage) and fungal-plant interactions. Activities typically performed at BCCM/MUCL are oriented towards the identification, taxonomy and classification, the phylogenetic sequence analyses for gene and species evolution, the detection, cultivation and preservation of different fungal groups (e.g. lignocellulolytic fungi, fungi involved in food processing and spoilage, fermentative yeasts, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, fungal pathogens in tropical environments). The tasks of BCCM/MUCL within the IS MIRRI21 project will involve the Transnational Access pilot programme and Training & Education programme.