@mrccmm.bsky.social
Based at the University of Exeter, the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology is a research facility focussed on the global threat of fungal infections and anti-fungal resistance. www.exeter.ac.uk/research/medicalmycology www.thefungalthreat.com
🧫 World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 🧫
Antifungal resistance is a growing threat. At the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, we’re working together to advance new diagnostics & treatments, & building global research capacity to protect health worldwide.
#AMR #DrugDiscovery #Science #Health
#ImageOfTheWeek ¦ The Fungal Superhighway 🧫
Cryptococcus neoformans (blue) moving through mouse nose tissue (pink). This image is the first time it’s been seen in this formation in the airways.
📸 Dr Vanessa Francis, MRC Centre for Medical Mycology
#FungalInfection #Mycology #Science
🌍New Funding Alert!
Apply for the CMM International Fund: up to £30k over 2 years for globally collaborative medical mycology research. FAPESP-funded PhD & Postdoctoral opportunities available for partnerships with researchers in São Paulo State, Brazil
🔗 www.exeter.ac.uk/research/med...
Global impact in medical mycology! 🌍
Congrats to Professor Gordon Brown, Director of the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, named among the world’s most influential researchers in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers™ 2025 list.
Read more: buff.ly/9Ln9ZS5
🚨SWBio DTP PhD Opportunity 🚨
Join the teams of Prof. Elaine Bignell, Dr Sandra Catania & Dr Johannes Rack to unravel how epigenetic changes drive fungal development and virulence. Multi-omics, genetics & microscopy on WHO medical pathogens.
More info: buff.ly/dTgOHYG
Apply: buff.ly/iuVttsJ
🧫Preparing agar plates
Scientists use agar plates to grow fungi, which are petri dishes filled with nutrient-rich growth media.
🧑🔬 Ian is adding Bromocresol green, a pH indicator which turns yellow in acidic conditions. As fungi grow, the media turns yellow!
#mycology
Join us this week for #MycoTalks with Eric Dang and Minh-Hong Nguyen
🗓️ Thursday 20 November
🕓 16:00 (UK time)
📍 Online – open to all!
🔗 Register here: universityofexeter.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
🍄🖋 #imageoftheweek ¦ A sketch of Shaggy Ink Cap mushrooms, drawn using ink from the mushrooms themselves!
Art meets nature, thanks to Professor @neil-gow.bsky.social 🌳
📣 Join the MRC CMM team 📣
Dr Johannes Rack's team are looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher to explore a new area of research: how fungal ADP-ribosylation signalling influences Aspergillus fumigatus survival, virulence, and diseases progression.
Deadline: 23 November 25
Catch up on #MycoTalks Season 6
Episode 1 - Angie Gelli and Tuo Wang: youtu.be/gumk_Ye280E
Episode 2 - Bernd Schnabl and Michal Olszewski: youtu.be/Yv6uNNp_TLg
📣 Join the MRC CMM team 📣
Dr Johannes Rack's team are looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher to explore a new area of research: how fungal ADP-ribosylation signalling influences Aspergillus fumigatus survival, virulence, and diseases progression.
Deadline: 23 November 25
Join us for our next #MycoTalks with Eric Dang and Minh-Hong Nguyen
🗓️ Thursday 20 November
🕓 16:00 (UK time)
📍 Online – open to all!
🔗 Register now to secure your spot: universityofexeter.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Trichyphyton hyphae tangled to form fungal balls. The fungus was grown in liquid shaking culture and stained for chitin with Calcofluor White. Credit: Mark Stappers, Ian Leaves and Darren Thomson, MRC Centre for Medical Mycology
🎆 Fungal fireworks! 🎆
This #imageoftheweek shows Trichophyton, the fungus behind athlete’s foot & ringworm. It is a mould, which forms spores that germinate and grow long, thin strands called hyphae.
📸 Mark Stappers, Ian Leaves and Darren Thomson, MRC Centre for Medical Mycology
🚨 CMM LATAM Unit website is now live 🚨
Explore the CMM LATAM unit, established by University of São Paulo, Brazil and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (CMM).
🌍 Explore cutting edge research
🎓 Discover funding and training opportunities
🛡️ Join the FAILSAFE network
cmm-latam.com
👻 This creepy critter isn’t a Halloween costume, it’s Trichophyton - a fungus that causes athlete’s foot & ringworm! 🧟Seen under the microscope, it looks like it’s reaching out to haunt your skin🎃
📸 Mark Stappers
#imageoftheweek #halloweenscience #halloween #fungi
#imageoftheweek ¦ Screening a library of mutant fungi
Scientists at the Centre often remove or 'knock out' a particular gene to see how it affects the fungi's response to different antifungal drugs, to deepen understanding & improve outcomes for patients.
Join us this week for #MycoTalks with Bernd Schnabl and Michal Olszewski @olszewskilab.bsky.social
🗓️ Thursday 23 October
🕓 16:00 (UK time)
📍 Online – open to all!
🔗 Register now to secure your spot: universityofexeter.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
This weekend we've been at the @newscientist.com Live event at London ExCel. We've seen thousands of people keen to learn about the global threat of fungal infections and answered some really tricky questions, such as 'Are fungal spores soft or hard?'.
#outreach #STEM #engagement
🔬 #imageoftheweek ¦ Candida albicans goliath cells
Goliath cells are oversized, ultra-sticky yeast cells formed when Candida albicans is starved of zinc. They cling to plastic and build biofilms, making them a potential culprit in hospital infections. 🧫
🔗 buff.ly/JikHPLM
📸 Iana Kalinina
🎉 Preparations are underway for New Scientist Live 2025 🎉
🧫 Ian, one of our fabulous Research Technicians, is making sure the fungi are looking their best, ready to wow the crowds!
📅 Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th October
📍 New Scientist Live, Excel London, stand G24
🔗 buff.ly/MCuaJX4
🧠🌿 A full house at Sidmouth Science Festival yesterday for Prof @neil-gow.bsky.social talk on the fascinating world of fungi, supported by Ian Leaves.
From deadly infections to life-saving research at the MRC CMM, visitors explored killer fungi through microscopes & stunning artwork! 🔬🎨
Encouraging to find a packed audience at the Sidmouth Science Festival to hear about how good and bad fungi shape the world. @mrccmm.bsky.social. Also thanks to Ian Leaves for mycohelp. @britmycolsoc.org.uk @bsmm-meeting.bsky.social @youngecmm.bsky.social @youngisham.bsky.social
14.10.2025 11:49 — 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
This week we welcomed the Textiles Diploma students from Exeter College. They were visiting the Centre to inspire them to create their own mycology artwork. Previous students have created amazing artworks for us and we can't wait to see what this year's intake produce.
#Engagement #Art #Fashion
...and how Candida albicans’ cell wall shapes antifungal immunity. Plus: copper’s role in biofilms & the impact of antifungal drugs on resistance 🛡️
Thanks to @microbiologysociety.org for a great meeting. It's great to be part of a vibrant community pushing boundaries in medical mycology!
🧪 #imageoftheweek Cutting-edge science in action at #Candida25
Talks from Catrin Williams, Hugh Gifford, Arnab Pradham, @harry-osborne.bsky.social @seanaduggan.bsky.social & @jusher.bsky.social revealed new disease models, fresh insights into Candida glabrata ⬇️ 🧵
Only 8 days to go until New Scientist Live!
Find us at stand G24 to explore:
🧫 Different types of deadly fungi
🛡️ Fungal infections & their affect on our bodies
💉 Cutting-edge science to fight fungal infections
📍 Excel London
📅 18-19th October
buff.ly/fV7qWt4
Hugh Gifford also giving an excellent talk on his work discovering xenosiderophore transporters in C. auris killifish infections @mrccmm.bsky.social #Candida2025
07.10.2025 08:56 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Last @mrccmm.bsky.social talk of the day from talented PhD candidate @harry-osborne.bsky.social about how cell wall targeting antifungals impact immune recognition to C. albicans.
07.10.2025 14:15 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
I had a great time getting to present my work on the impact of Manogepix on antifungal immunity at Candida and Candidiasis yesterday! Some really great discussions at my poster! #Candida2025
@mrccmm.bsky.social
Fantastic start to day 2 with Arnab Pardhan discussing work from the group looking at niche-simulating media and the impact on PAMP exposure #Candida2025 @mrccmm.bsky.social
08.10.2025 08:56 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
