Dr. Nadica Ivošević DeNardis
Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
e-mail: ivosevic@irb.hr

ARBRE-MOBIEU served as the platform to initiate a new research collaboration between partners from Croatia, Czech, Hungary and Slovakia which led to a joint project funded by International Visegrad Fund.

Participating in the activities of ARBRE-MOBIEU (working group and plenary meetings), by hosting a student through STSM, researching the ARBRE-MOBIEU website with member and grant call database, I found the funding opportunities of the International Visegrad Fund and even more importantly, I met the partners with whom I may tackle regionally relevant environmental issues.

Our Visegrad funded project „Algal cell biophysical properties as markers for environmental stress in aquatic systems“ brings together four partner institutions:

• Ruđer Bošković Institute, (dr. Nadica Ivošević DeNardis), Zagreb, Croatia,
• Czech Technical University in Prague, (dr. Josef Sepitka), Prague, Czech Republic,
• Faculty of Science and Informatics (dr. Bela Gyurcsik), University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary,
• Faculty of Natural Sciences (dr. Alzbeta Marcek Chorvatova), University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia.

The project aim is to employ a comprehensive, multi-faceted biophysical approach to examine the response of a single algal cell in the laboratory culture to environmental stress by using cell surface properties as a marker for environmental stress. This will inform our understanding and modelling of algal population viability and adaptation strategies in aquatic systems. Clearly, our project necessitates regional collaboration to gain access to the specific equipment and complementary expertise. The Visegrad Fund will allow scientific exchange visits of students and training of young fellows to develop hands-on experience with interdisciplinary and international teams. Further development of our specific capabilities along with the broadening of our insights through collaboration expedites the search for the solution – facilitating such processes is the essence of COST networks.

We acknowledge the International Visegrad Fundꞌs support to the project No 21720055.