The @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social & @jhu.edu Gilbert Otto Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Research Professor Radamés J.B. Cordero's work studying how fungi respond in space is profiled in @elnuevodia.bsky.social
www.elnuevodia.com/english/news...
An informational ad for the meeting, with data and place details and pictures of the keynote speakers.
Dear Midwest friends, the Midwest Neglected Infectious Diseases Meeting #MNID26 is back and gone live! Please save the date: August 7-8. I will be sharing more info soon but for now, please check the meeting website here: www.mnidmeeting.org
I've been very quite on here, but am so excited to share a new project we just had funded together with @clairehoving.bsky.social @ewjwallace.bsky.social @darrenthomson.bsky.social @rdangarembizi.bsky.social Lucian Duvenage, Iana Kalinina, and @swainqbiolab.bsky.social the result of 3 years of work
A wonderful collaboration. Very excited about the other stories in the pipeline and the future of this project!
Here we show that C20 cells behave similarly to primary human microglia from cadavers. And we use the cells to understand new biology related to the cryptococcal-microglia interactions. This is the basis for Robbi's F31 award from NIH. You can read more below. (3/3) fungilab.nd.edu/news/robbi-w...
A figure depicting the potential interactions between microglia and C. neoformans. The top (labeled with the letter A) shows killing of the fungus; the middle panel (B) shows intracellular replication and exocytosis of the fungus; and the bottom panel (C) shows recognition and phagocytosis.
Cryptococcus neoformans is an ubiquitous environmental fungus that we are exposed frequently through inhalation, but the fatal pathology is due to a brain infection. Thus studying the interactions with microglia, the brain's immune cells, is an important but incompletely understood area. (2/3)
PUBLICATION ALERT: In this latest study from the lab we characterized a human immortalized microglia cell line in terms of cryptococcal-host interactions. We believe this is a powerful new way to study these important interactions and ask mechanistic questions.🧵(1/3) journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Don't miss this fun and informative interview with the great @afloresmireles.bsky.social with the patient advocacy organization Live UTI Free! They talk all the way from marine biology, to good microbes, bad microbes, and UTIs and CAUTIs - a little bit for everyone! Only 30 really enjoyable mins!
This was the work of many undergraduates in the lab, supervised and led over the years by student-turned-postdoc Pete Stuckey. To learn more about it, see the news article below. Thank you and congratulations to all the authors! fungilab.nd.edu/news/elucida...
The protein is conserved in the fungal kingdom, but almost everything we know about it comes from S. cerevisiae. Relative to baker’s yeast, it seems Vac8 has both similar and unique functions in C. neoformans. Thus, we are happy to have started working on this new fungal cell biology story!
We found that deleting VAC8 causes fragmented vacuoles, and defective vacuolar fusion or enlargement, affecting the biology of the fungus in big ways, including no Titan Cells! Some of the phenotypes were negative, while others, like increased resistance to fluconazole, were surprising!
PUBLICATION ALERT: The latest from the lab is out, on the function of a vacuolar protein in Cryptococcus. Meet Vac8, the vacuolar protein that keeps cryptococcal vacuole in one large piece! This is a small thread on it, but you can find the paper here: www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/11....
Following our initial paper (doi.org/10.1126/scia...) in the new preprint we report the bladder-specific Efg1 regulon promoting C. albicans CAUTI. With the increased incidence of fungal CAUTI and the high mortality of fungal infections, this knowledge is vital for developing new targeted treatments.
Hospital-acquired infections are deadly, and catheter-associated urinary ones (CAUTIs) are the most common. CAUTIs are more challenging when the microbe is/involves a fungus. Fungal CAUTIs are neglected, thus we started this collaboration to shed light on this common but neglected disease. (2/3)
Preprint alert: the latest from my collaboration with the great @afloresmireles.bsky.social, @shapirorebecca.bsky.social , and Ilse Jacobsen (not in BS). You can find it here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A small thread below (1/3)
Fungi are everywhere doing everything! So amazing! These stinkbugs coat their eggs in fungi to protect them from parasitic wasps. Read more here: www.science.org/content/arti...
UChicago Microbiology is searching for tenured or tenure-track faculty working in host-pathogens interactions, viral and bacterial pathogenesis, and emerging infectious diseases. Come join our vibrant Department! microbiology.uchicago.edu
Apply here apply.interfolio.com/174404
There’s now an app for all things fungi 🦠🍄
Dr. Matthew Pullen, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, helped launch Dr Fungus—a free app that brings the trusted resource to your phone.
Explore fungal infections, antifungal treatments, and case-based learning—all in one place.
Who said drama is only for Mexican tele-novellas (soap operas). This article has it all! "After bizarre journey, prized history of molecular biology archive finds new home" www.science.org/content/arti...
Now we are receiving the wisdom from NIAID extraordinaire PO Glen McGugan on best practices to obtain NIH funding. Of if two unique opportunities on this year’s #MNID25.
And we’re off with #MNID25 at Case Western Reserve! My student Robbi gave an awesome presentation. Looking forward to all other talks and posters!
I have an R56 that will pay for 1 year of a postdoc that will hopefully bridge us to a 4-year R01. It's not without risk but uh...everything in science feels like a major risk right now. We're in need of a #postdoc w/ #nmr experience. DM or email me for project details.
@notredame.bsky.social
Congratulations to my student Robbi Ross on her award from NIH! Robbi will be working on the host-pathogen interactions between the environmental fungus Cryptococcus and human microglia. Looking forward to all of what you will accomplish Robbi! Congrats! fungilab.nd.edu/news/robbi-w...
New in #G3journal: @hitenmadhani.bsky.social and the team present new methods and strains for high-efficiency homology-dependent genome editing in Cryptococcus neoformans, a budding #yeast that is the most common cause of fungal meningitis in humans.
Read more: buff.ly/dQRKrOJ
Visit to the legendary Woods Hole MOMY course to visit with Mycology trainees and faculty. Awesome to see Andy Alspaugh, Deb Hogan, and Paul Magwene honored for their contributions!
Kudos to Robb Cramer and David Andes for their final year as Course Directors! 🍄🟫🧫🧬
The traditional #MOMY25 picture! You guys chose the perfect timing! Not only the company has been fantastic but the weather has been beautiful! Hopefully it will stay like that for the whole course. Thank you David and Robb for inviting me again, it has been wonderful! @mblscience.bsky.social
I can see the pros and cons, but to be fair to new PIs, it should not count resubmission. Nowadays you have to submit upwards to 4 or 5 times before you get a fundable score...and that just one application! "NIH limits scientists to six applications per year" www.science.org/content/arti...
I once visited Mayan ruins in Mexico and was told that is not known how they were able to make such bright blue colors. Also heard the same about bright red ones. It turns out, at least for the red color, a fungus is responsible! Read more here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
"STEM is profoundly shaped by wealth, yet financial privilege is rarely acknowledged... Wealth influences participation, persistence, and recognition in science, affecting not just who enters the pipeline but also who can afford to stay." Interesting article at #PLOS dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...