Professor Dave Berger was fortunate to spend a month of his sabbatical with the research group of Prof. Yves Van de Peer at the Department of Plant Systems Biology at the University of Ghent in Belgium affiliated with the VIB (Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie).  Yves also has a joint appointment in the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology at UP.  PSB is housed in a complex that includes several institutes including a VIB Immunology Institute (IRC), and is situated on the Zwijnaarde Technologiepark. This illustrates Belgium’s “knowledge economy”. This was Dave’s second visit (previously in 2014). The aim was to advance genomics research on the endemic Greyia tree genus which is important for biodiversity conservation and has medicinal properties. Dave presented a seminar entitled “Greyia tree genomics project”. The visit was extremely productive and helped to boost the projects of MSc student Iné Botha and Honours student Jana Botes in the MPPI group. Amongst other advances, full chloroplast genomes were assembled for the three Greyia species, and RNAseq data uncovered insights about the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway.  During his time in Ghent, Dave attended the VIB conference, “Translational Research In Crops 23”, where he presented the work of Kevin Scheepers “Maize-gray leaf spot disease under elevated CO₂ levels”.