Pathogenesis of fungal diseases

There is a strong focus on the pathogenesis of plant infection within the Department of Life Sciences where Pietro Spanu researches the pathogenesis of powdery mildews in barley and wheat, and Tolga Bozkurt investigates the molecular basis for plant fungal pathogen effectors. Claire Stanley in the Department of Bioengineering is also focussed on interactions between plant root systems, pathogenic fungi and bacteria.

A further strength within the Imperial Fungal Network is in zoonotic and human fungal infection. Within Life Sciences, Bernadette Byrne investigates membrane transporters from Aspergilli in terms of both their basic biology and their potential as drug targets, Ernesto Cota has an interest in fungal adhesins and Michalis Barkoulas studies 0omycete infections in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Darius Armstrong-James, Anna Reed, Matt Fisher, Anand Shah, and Sanjay Chotirmal within the Faculty of Medicine all work closely together on the pathogenesis of respiratory fungal diseases in humans such as pulmonary aspergillosis, with a further strength being the role of the mycobiome in disease pathogenesis more broadly where Bill Cookson, Miriam Moffat, Phil Molyneaux, Matt Fisher, and Sanjay Chotirmal have all made major contributions. Matt Fisher has made leading contributions to our understanding of fungal disease in amphibians and reptiles.