On November 4-8th, 2019 the "HiPoAF-Isolation and Cultivation of Anaerobic Fungi Workshop" was held at the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL) in Freising, Germany.
This workshop was designed for our Swiss collaborators from the University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in Zurich, Switzerland. We covered every step of how to isolate, maintain and preserve anaerobic cultures in theory and practice. We trained ourselves in isolation from feces, isolation by roll tubing, preparation of media, subculture in different types of media (complex, enriched, defined media), preparation and use of antibiotics stock solution, and microscopy from mixed and pure cultures. These techniques have been routinely performed in the Micro- and Molecular Biology laboratory from LfL since 2013.
It was very interesting to compare the different methods and media preparation protocols used at LfL, with the ones used by Akshay Yoshi at the Agharkar Research Institute in Pune, India, for anaerobic fungi, and at the ZHAW for anaerobic microorganisms. Every discussion was enriched with the experience of each of the participants and we could learn little tricks from each other to further optimize the procedures.
Written by Diana Young, Research Associate from the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL), Central Department for Analytics, Micro- and Molecular Biology laboratory (AQU1c) in Freising, Germany.