The MRC Centre for Medical Mycology

🔬✨ Join us for this month's #MycoTalks with George Deepe and Tamara Doering.
📅 26 February 2026
⏰ 4:00 PM (UK time)
📍Online
👉 Register here: buff.ly/mzkil6W

🚨 Applications open! 🚨

Medical students: Apply for our 8-week Summer Scholarship in medical mycology. Gain lab experience, study design & data analysis skills, no prior expertise needed!

📍 Exeter or partner institutions
📅 Deadline: 28 Feb 2026
👉 buff.ly/PrpeVN4

🔬 3D super‑resolution image of Candida albicans, highlighting chitin and β‑1,3 glucan in its yeast and pseudohyphal forms.

Captured on Andor Dragonfly by @fungalhyphae at the MRC CMM.

@oxfordinstruments.bsky.social

#ImageOfTheWeek #FungalBiology #Microscopy

🔬✨ There's still time to register for #MycoTalks with Iuliana Ene and Bernhard Hube.
📅 29 January 2026
⏰ 4:00 PM (UK time)
📍 Online
👉 Register here: buff.ly/M4wg4KJ

🦠 Hospitals face a silent killer: Candida auris. This drug-resistant fungus is spreading globally, threatening vulnerable patients. Exeter researchers found iron hunting pumps, a survival trick that could be its Achilles’ heel.

🔗 Learn more 👉 buff.ly/8IN0w4r.

#ImageOfTheWeek #Science #Health

🚨 Applications open! 🚨

Medical students: Apply for our 8-week Summer Scholarship in medical mycology. Gain lab experience, study design & data analysis skills, no prior expertise needed!

📍 Exeter or partner institutions
📅 Deadline: 28 Feb 2026
👉 buff.ly/PrpeVN4

🥊💥 You breathe fungi every day! Aspergillus fumigatus is usually harmless but for those with weak immunity or lung disease, it can be deadly.

🔍 Blue = fungal hyphae
🟣 Purple = immune cells trapping fungus

📸 Mariano Malamud Guillan & @darrenthomson.bsky.social

#ImageOfTheWeek

Catch our new review on amphotericin B resistance in fugal pathogens. doi.org/10.1016/j.tc.... @mrccmm.bsky.social @youngecmm.bsky.social @ishamycology.bsky.social @youngisham.bsky.social @bsmm-meeting.bsky.social

Scientists at MRC CMM & collaborators discover how Mycobacterium tuberculosis harnesses the immune system to cause infection.

Gordon Brown @mrccmm.bsky.social Claire Hoving @uct-fhs-research.bsky.social @maxgg.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk @wellcometrust.bsky.social

Read more:

Congrats to Dr Iana Kalinina & Dr Duncan Wilson for featuring on mBio’s December cover!

Their study shows how “Goliath” cells formed under zinc limitation drive biofilm formation.

Cover: buff.ly/xfz8aEH
Article: buff.ly/WqvpK25

#Microbiology #Research #ImageOfTheWeek

🔬✨ #MycoTalks is back for 2026!
Join us for the first MycoTalks of the year featuring Iuliana Ene and Bernhard Hube.
📅 29 January 2026
⏰ 4:00 PM (UK time)
📍 Online
👉 Register here: buff.ly/JbBeC6i
Don’t miss this exciting start to our 2026 MycoTalks!

@ene-lab.bsky.social @mpm-hki.bsky.social

🚨 Applications open! 🚨

Medical students: Apply for our 8-week Summer Scholarship in medical mycology. Gain lab experience, study design & data analysis skills, no prior expertise needed!

📍 Exeter or partner institutions
📅 Deadline: 28 Feb 2026
👉 buff.ly/PrpeVN4

MRC CMM's Hugh Gifford & Rhys Farrer have uncovered an 'Achilles heel' in Candida auris, a deadly fungal pathogen. This breakthrough could lead to new treatments & drug repurposing to fight life-threatening infections.

Read more 👉 buff.ly/bUjIXJP.

#PublicHealth #ScienceNews #FungalInfections

🧠 What does it take to study a brain infection?

PhD student Will is converting cells to investigate how the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans behaves.

The big moment? Seeing the IBA1-stained cells glowing green under the microscope, a sign the transformation worked!

#Science

It’s cold in Exeter, but not as cold as our cryostorage. At –195.7°C we preserve 10,000+ cell vials for long-term infection & immunology research. Strict safety protocols, trained staff, and robust infrastructure keep our samples and our team safe.

#Mycology #STEM #STEMCareers #LabTech

❄️ Protein crystals or snowflakes?

Protein crystals reveal the 3D structure of proteins in fungi, helping scientists to understand how they function.

📸 Adam Bainbridge

🎄 Merry Christmas from the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology 🎄

Wishing all our followers, collaborators, students and staff a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

🧫 📸 Mark Stappers & Ian Leaves

🎶 …and a partridge in a petri 🎶

The labs are feeling festive! Some of our team have decorated their petri-tree, complete with an Eppendorf star 🌟

Thanks to Will Newton, @orlandorosss.bsky.social Abby Potton, @harry-osborne.bsky.social and Matheus Araujo for spreading the cheer!

#ImageOfTheWeek

🥼MSc Immunology - Now accepting applications for 2026 entry.
Elevate your future with advanced immune-cytomic training and expert-led teaching in the latest breakthroughs in immunology
Find out more and apply: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgr...

CMM International Fund for Global Advancement of Medical Mycology!
Thanks to everyone who joined our recent webinar and Q&A session. If you missed it, find our more about the fund and application process here: www.exeter.ac.uk/research/med...

Before imaging, cells get a gentle rinse for crystal-clear microscopic details.

PhD student Will is reprogramming blood cells into brain-like cells to study how Cryptococcus neoformans behaves during infection.

#MedicalMycology #FungalInfections #Microscopy #LabLife #PhDLife

Looks like Arctic icebergs? Think again. ❄️

These are air bubbles trapped between a cover slip and a slide under the microscope. 🔬

📸 Alex Brand

What’s the most striking image you’ve captured in your work?

#Science #ScienceArt #Microscopy

🎨🔬 Art meets Science!

50 Exeter College Fashion & Textiles students teamed up with MRC CMM researchers to explore fungi & create stunning designs. We enjoyed an inspiring evening of art and science, while celebrating the students achievements 👏

#STEM #ScienceArt

The 12th International Conference on Cryptococcus & Cryptococcosis (ICCC), hosted by the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology and the University of Exeter, and will take place on 28th June - 3rd July 2026, in Exeter, UK.
Find out more: iccc2026.org

Tackling deadly fungal threats: Global training empowers clinicians and lab technicians Twenty-four clinicians and laboratory technicians have enrolled in a bespoke training programme designed to strengthen the diagnosis and treatment of deadly fungal diseases. With infections soaring…

🌍 Fighting deadly fungal infections!

MRC CMM AFRICA Unit & @pasteur.fr trained 24 clinicians & lab techs from Africa & Asia to boost diagnosis & treatment skills.

Fungal infections kill 2M yearly, expertise saves lives.

🔗 buff.ly/yjxChfN

@nihr.bsky.social @nihrexeterbrc.bsky.social

🌍 Final day of our Medical Mycology Training Course in Cape Town!

24 clinicians & lab techs from Africa & Asia joined forces to tackle deadly fungal infections through hands-on labs & expert-led sessions.

Learn more 👉 cmm-failsafe.com

#GlobalHealth #MedicalMycology

🔬 #imageoftheweek ¦ Aspergillus fumigatus colony cultured at 37C in Aspergillus Complete Medium (ACM).

This filamentous fungus is blue-green in appearance, with radial grooves and concentric rings reflecting its growth dynamics.

📸 Alberto Munoz

#mycology #aspergillus #fungi

Join us for our next #MycoClinics with Fanny Laternier and Jop Jons.

🗓️ Thursday 11 December
🕓 16:00 (UK time)
📍 Online – open to all!

Register here: universityofexeter.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

#Phaehyphomycosis #Magnusiomyces

Great to see @orlandorosss.bsky.social sharing his PhD research and representing the MRC CMM at #BSI25 🧫

🌍 This week, MRC CMM AFRICA Unit hosts the Medical Mycology Training Workshop 2025 at @uct-fhs-research.bsky.social Cape Town.
5 days of:
✅ Expert lectures
✅ Case-based discussions
✅ Hands-on lab training

Follow along for updates!