At this month’s ERGA Plenary meeting, Stefan Prost will present a talk titled “From Genomes to Conservation Policy.”Focusing on endangered cheetahs in Asia and Africa, he will share concrete examples of how genetic information is used to inform conservation and policy decisions, and how to generate meaningful, policy-focused genetic data. Abstract The generation of genomes has become easier over the last years. This has resulted in the publication of a large number of genomes, including those for endangered species. However, a single genome has limited conservation value, but can be the start of conservation focused research. In this presentation I will outline how we go from the generation of a reference genome to conservation policy. My talk will focus on endangered cheetahs in Asia and Africa, and provide concrete examples what genetic information can be and is used for policy and conservation management decision and how to generate meaningful, policy focussed genetic data. Speaker Stefan Prost is a tenure track Assistant Professor at the Ecology and Genetics Research Unit at the University of Oulu, Finland. His research group focuses on conservation and environmental genomics, biodiversity monitoring (in situ and environmental DNA) and wildlife forensics, with a special focus on conservation applications. He is a member of the IUCN working group to reassess the felid taxonomy, an observer member for the University of the Arctic in the Arctic Council Biodiversity Working Group (CAFF) and a scientific advisor for the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). In his research he applies trans- and interdisciplinary research methods to enable evidence-based conservation and to democratize genetic biodiversity monitoring. 🔔 To receive the Zoom link and join this and our upcoming plenary meetings, register as an ERGA member. ▶️ You can watch all previous ERGA Plenary talks here. If you would like to suggest a speaker or topic for a future plenary session, please contact us at training@erga-biodiversity.eu. Your input is very welcome!

This month's ERGA BioGenome Analysis & Applications Seminar will feature two talks that showcase how museum specimens are revealing a roughly 25% decline in the genetic diversity of the moss carder bumblebee over the past century, and how the new Poll-A-Gen project is scaling this approach up to 16 UK bee, wasp and hoverfly species, covering both sampling design and bioinformatic pipelines. This month's speakers are Professor Ian Barnes, Inez Januszczak and Dr. Yacine Ben Chehida. Monday, October 26th 2026 - 12:00 CET Livestream: https://youtube.com/live/zEfbvzScpnU?feature=share Abstract Talk 1: Using museum specimens to understand recent population history in the moss carder bee (Bombus muscorum) Talk 2: The Poll-A-Gen project; sampling Britain’s pollinators for population genomics research Insect pollinators are believed to be in decline across the UK, but we have little genetic baseline information against which to measure how far these declines have eroded their resilience to future change. In the first talk, we present whole-genome data from 101 museum specimens of the moss carder bumblebee (Bombus muscorum), collected between 1894 and 2019. These show that the species’ genetic diversity has fallen by about a quarter over the past century, and they also reveal that many historical specimens had been misidentified. We then introduce Poll-A-Gen, a NERC-funded project that is scaling this approach up to 16 bee, wasp and hoverfly species from the United Kingdom by pairing historical museum specimens with new material collected by recorders across the country. The second talk covers how this modern and historical sampling was designed and carried out, and the third covers the bioinformatic pipelines used to produce comparable genomic data from degraded and fresh samples. Speakers Professor Ian Barnes Merit Researcher, Science Group, Natural History Museum, UK. Professor Ian Barnes is a molecular evolutionary biologist who uses ancient DNA to understand how organisms respond to environmental change. He trained in archaeological science and molecular ecology, and held research posts at UCL and Oxford before taking up a faculty post at Royal Holloway. Having worked extensively on studies of Ice Age megafauna, such as woolly mammoths and sabretooth cats, as well as the extinct mammal fauna of the Caribbean, Barnes moved to the NHM in 2013. Subsequent work includes conducting genomic research on Britain’s ancient populations, including Cheddar Man. More recently, he has been working on reference genome generation as part of the Darwin Tree of Life project, and focusing his ancient DNA interests on historical entomological material, in particular insect pollinators. Inez Januszczak Project Coordinator, Science Group, Natural History Museum, UK. Inez Januszczak is a Biologist and Project Manager specializing in coordinating sample acquisition and genomic data generation for both modern and historical material, working across a wide range of eukaryotic species—including terrestrial and marine invertebrates, mammals, birds, reptiles, bryophytes, and algae. Since 2021, she has been based at the Natural History Museum, where she is the Project Coordinator for the Darwin Tree of Life Project and the Poll-A-Gen project. With a background in animal pathology and epidemiology, her experience spans over 10 years working with global institutions, including the Zoological Society of London and the Oceanogràfic Aquarium in Valencia. Inez holds a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford and a Master’s in Wild Animal Biology from the Royal Veterinary College. Dr Yacine Ben Chehida Bioinformatician, Science Group, Natural History Museum, UK. Yacine Ben Chehida is an evolutionary biologist and bioinformatician specializing in population genomics and the analysis of modern and historical DNA. His research explores the genomic basis of adaptation and speciation across a range of species, including insects and marine mammals. He is currently based at the Natural History Museum, where he works as the bioinformatician for the Poll-A-Gen project, contributing to the sequencing and genomic analysis of Britain’s pollinators. With a background in evolutionary genomics, his current work involves applying and developing computational approaches to compare the genome of museum and modern samples to investigate how their genetic variation changed over time.

This month's ERGA BioGenome Analysis & Applications Seminar will feature talks by Emile Gluck-Thaler and Aaron Vogan on the recently discovered Starship giant transposons and their implications for the study of fungal evolution and adaptation. See more details below Wednesday, September 30th 2026 - 16:00 CEST Abstract Talk 1: Starship transposons and the makings of a new framework to understand fungal evolution Talk 2: Starship transposons: Drivers of adaptation across fungi Starships are a recently discovered superfamily of giant transposons found across hundreds of fungal species. Starships are fundamentally unlike typical eukaryotic transposons because they span hundreds of kilobases and mobilize dozens of genes, including those encoding phenotypes ranging from stress resistance to host-microbe interactions. Although we have known about the existence of Starships for only five years, sustained efforts and collaborations are rapidly establishing systems to move from identifying genomic patterns to characterizing the genetic processes underpinning Starship biology, including their roles as vectors of fungal-to-fungal horizontal gene transfer. We argue that the little we know about Starships already raises important questions about the mechanisms of adaptation across medically, agriculturally and economically important groups of fungi. Drawing on examples of Starship activity spanning individual species to entire phyla, we build on existing models of fungal genome biology to propose that Starships are a distinct genomic compartment whose dynamics must be considered to fully understand and predict the mode and tempo of fungal evolution. Speakers Dr. Emile Gluck-Thaler Assistant professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dr. Gluck-Thaler received his PhD in 2019 from the Ohio State University. In 2023, he began his current position as an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is the PI of the Fungal Interactions Lab. The goal of the Fungal Interactions Lab is to better understand the fungi that threaten plant and human health with a focus on answering the question: how do fungi acquire new strategies for interacting with other organisms, including humans, plants and other microbes? Dr. Aaron Vogan, Docent, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Institute of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University Received his PhD from McMaster University in 2016. In 2020 received funds to begin his own research group at Uppsala University. In 2024 became an associate professor. He is the PI of the Fungal Accessory Genome Evolution lab, where we seek to understand how within population/species variation shapes fungal evolution and adaptation. Research encompasses human and plant pathogens, as well as model organisms across filamentous fungi. We seek to obtain comprehensive views of fungal biology by integrating molecular biology, physiology, population and comparative genomics to uncover how these organisms are capable of adapting to nearly every niche on Earth.

Committees SSP - Sampling & Sample Processing samples@erga-biodiversity.eu More > DAC - Data Analysis Committee analysis@erga-biodiversity.eu More > CE - Community Engagement citizenscience@erga-biodiversity.eu More > SAC - Sequencing and Assembly Committee assembly@erga-biodiversity.eu More > ITIC - IT & Infrastructure Committee itinfra@erga-biodiversity.eu More > TKT - Training and Knowledge Transfer training@erga-biodiversity.eu More > Annotation Committee annotation@erga-biodiversity.eu More > ELSI - Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues elsi@erga-biodiversity.eu More > Social Justice Committee socialjustice@erga-biodiversity.eu More >

samples@erga-biodiversity.eu < Back SSP - Sampling & Sample Processing samples@erga-biodiversity.eu The Sampling and Sample Processing Committee (SSP) gathers and gives information on all steps from choosing which species to generate sequences for, to sending correctly prepared samples to sequencing centers. This also includes vouchering, biobanking and standardized metadata collection, as well as exchange on best practices for sampling and lab protocols for the whole variety of organisms that ERGA aims to include. This committee is thus often the first port of call for new sequencing projects within ERGA, and closely collaborates with scientific collections and sequencing centers, as well as several other ERGA committees, on issues such as collection permits and equal opportunities for projects from all over Europe. To accomplish these diverse tasks, we depend upon input from taxonomic experts on the whole eukaryotic tree of life. ( V.1.0 02.05.2023) Co-Chairs Katja Reichel Jaakko Pohjoismäki Coordinator Rita Monteiro Steering Committee Astrid Böhne Jennifer Leonard Olga Vinnere Pettersson Torsten Hugo Struck Committee Resources 💡 ERGA Knowledge Hub ▶️ ERGA SSP Youtube Playlist Böhne, A., Fernández, R., Leonard, J.A. et al. Contextualising samples: supporting reference genomes of European biodiversity through sample and associated metadata collection. npj biodivers 3 , 26 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44185-024-00053-7 ERGA News #41 - September 2026 ERGA Newsletter Starship transposons and a new framework to understand fungal evolution Events ERGA News #40 - August 2026 ERGA Newsletter

socialjustice@erga-biodiversity.eu < Back Social Justice Committee socialjustice@erga-biodiversity.eu The ERGA Social Justice Committee is dedicated to embedding justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion principles into every aspect of eukaryotic genome production, from sampling to results dissemination. This committee serves as an ethical compass for ERGA members, guiding the community to ensure that every step in the genome generation pipeline is conducted with social responsibility and respect for diversity in line with our four core principles: promoting diversity, ensuring equity, advancing inclusion and upholding justice. Through these principles, we aim to ensure both scientific rigor and social responsibility in our guidelines for generating high-quality reference genomes. (V1. 01/12/2025) Co-chairs Fabrizio Ghiselli James Fleming Head to the committee page >> ERGA News #41 - September 2026 ERGA Newsletter Starship transposons and a new framework to understand fungal evolution Events ERGA News #40 - August 2026 ERGA Newsletter