Antifungal agents are used prolifically to treat both fungal diseases in the clinic and to protect crops in agriculture. However, such ‘dual use’ accelerates the spread of resistance across the globe and means that we are losing our first line of defence against opportunistic fungal infections in the clinic. Imperial researchers are exploring the interplay between environment, amplifiers, and exposures for Aspergillus fumigatus.

Researchers in this field include:

The following researchers are exploring the interplay between the environment (e.g., agriculture), amplifiers (e.g., farm or food waste disposal) and exposures (how and where humans, animals, and plants encounter resistant drug-resistant fungi):

• Professor Mat Fisher
• Dr Johanna Rhodes
• Professor Darius Armstrong-James
• Dr Anand Shah

Researchers are also developing diagnostics solutions, appropriate for low-resource and settings, to support the extraction, detection and characterisation of fungal infections.

• Dr Jesus Rodriguez Manzano
• Professor Pantelis Georgiou

Finally, Professor Marc Dionne is exploring whether insect hosts drive AMR acquisition in broad host-range pathogens. 

Links:

• Imperial Fungal Science Network
• Publications: Rhodes et al, Nature Microbiology 2022, Shelton et al, Science Advances 2023