Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies

It was our great pleasure to host @darrenthomson.bsky.social for a seminar on microscopy of fungal infection biology (#MycoScopy) at the @leibniz-hki.de for the @jsmc-info.bsky.social summer school. Naturally he also had to take a peek through Zeiss‘ microscope 🔬

A comparison of two photos of Candida albicans shows that a denser biofilm is formed in the presence of human albumin (right) than in its absence (left). In the photos, the yeast cells were colored in a golden hue.

💡 New infection strategy in #Candida albicans discovered: human #albumin reprograms its metabolism, turning harmless strains pathogenic – without the need of hyphae or toxins. #LeibnizHKI
🗞️ lmy.de/mthFi
🧪 rdcu.be/exl7d

@markgresnigt.bsky.social @aps-hki.bsky.social
@dfg.de @microverse.bsky.social

Host albumin redirects Candida albicans metabolism to engage an alternative pathogenicity pathway - Nature Communications Candida albicans normally relies on specific pathogenicity mechanisms to cause tissue damage. This study reveals that when sensing host albumin, C. albicans, even avirulent strains, can trigger an alt...

We are exited to share our story just out in @natcomms.nature.com on how the yeast Candida albicans can exploit human albumin to engage an alternative pathogenicity pathway, not relying on previously uncovered virulence factors.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

What an afternoon! ✨️
Yesterday, we had our annual group excursion together with @aps-hki.bsky.social. We visited the Petersberg citadel in Erfurt🏰, participated in a chocolate workshop and prepared our own pralines🍫, and had a nice dinner together! 🍻🌃

@leibniz-hki.de

ACS Infectious Diseases Interviews Early Career Researchers | ACS Publications Chemistry Blog ACS Infectious Diseases highlights the contributions of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars researching within the various subfields covered in the journal.

Just out: Check out the interview of ACS infectious diseases with our PhD student Karen Cheng working on new inflammatory axis in vaginal candidiasis

axial.acs.org/medicinal-ch...

Are you interested in #InfectionBiology and keen on unravelling infections using #SystemsBiology approaches???
Then join the 8th International Symposium "Systems Biology of Microbial Infection", Sept 18–19, 2025 in Jena.
Submit your abstract
Info: asb-conference.hki-jena.de

What an incredible joint meeting „FungiNet – Pathogenic fungiand their human host“ & „Invasive Mycoses in Haematological Malignancies – IMIHM XV in Würzburg!
🌟 The discussions were enlightening, and the talks were truly inspiring.
🙌 A big thank you to everyone involved!

Cracks in the Curriculum: The Hidden Deficiencies in Fungal Disease Coverage in Medical Books Abstract. Textbooks remain a primary source of reference and education for many health care professionals and students. This study assessed the mycology co

Cracks in the Curriculum: The Hidden Deficiencies in Fungal Disease Coverage in Medical Books

Isabela Rost / Alessandro Pasqualotto and colleagues

academic.oup.com/ofid/article...

We are thrilled to invite you to the annual meeting of CRC TR124 "FungiNet – Pathogenic fungi and their human host" and "Invasive Mycoses in Haematological Malignancies – IMIHM XV".
📅 Date: March 31 - April 1, 2025
📍 Location: University of Wuerzburg, IMIB
#Mycology #Fungi #MedicalResearch

We are incredibly proud of Kar On Cheng for winning the best presentation award at the 28th Symposium: "Infection and Immune Defense". She presented her doctorate project on IL-36 and its role in inflammation during RVVC. Congratulations Kar On!!!

My group @aps-hki.bsky.social is looking for a new postdoc in immunology of fungal infections focusing on vulvovaginal candidiasis. Please contact me for further details in case of interest.

Lactic acid in the vaginal milieu modulates the Candida-host interaction Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is one of the most common infections caused by Candida albicans. VVC is characterized by an inadequate hyperinflammatory response and clinical symptoms associated wit...

Check out our newest publication by Marisa Valenttine
in collaboration with Diletta Rosati in Nijmegen!
They investigated how lactic acid modulates #Candida albicans immunogenicity in vulvovaginal candidiasis.
👉 doi.org/10.1080/2150...

Pathogenic microorganisms employ adaptive strategies to escape host defense. Hitzler et al. explore how bacterial and fungal pathogens escape the host immune system. https://buff.ly/4ajQ9On
#FEMSMicrobiolRev
@markgresnigt.bsky.social

Lactic acid in the vaginal milieu modulates the Candida-host interaction Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is one of the most common infections caused by Candida albicans. VVC is characterized by an inadequate hyperinflammatory response and clinical symptoms associated wit...

Proud to share our latest article with the group of Mihai Netea showing that lactic acid in the vaginal milieu modulates the Candida-host interactions that underlie the immune responses associated with vulvovaginal candidiasis www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Microbial adaptive pathogenicity strategies to the host inflammatory environment Abstract. Pathogenic microorganisms can infect a variety of niches in the human body. During infection, microbes can only persist if they adapt adequately

We are excited to share that in the last few days of 2024 our review on how bacterial and fungal pathogens🦠🍄🧫 bind and/or sense immune mediators to evade and escape the immune system has been published in @femsjournals.bsky.social #FEMSMicrobiologyReviews.
academic.oup.com/femsre/advan...

How to write an excellent Review article @natrevbioeng.bsky.social #scisky #Science #REVIEW

Open Access
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

In our @dfgpublic.bsky.social funded research grouop we use this system in our lab to see how Candida albicans adapts to the different host stimuli we expose it to.

For our first post, we would like to share that we are enjoying how our live-cell imaging system (Funded by the state of Thuringia and co-funded by the EU) can use a neuron tool to quantify fungal hyphal growth.

See the paper by Wurster et al. who established this journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10....