MRC Centre for Medical Mycology

MRC 医学真菌学中心

• 批准号: MR/N006364/2
• 负责人: Gordon Brown
• 金额: $ 151.31万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FN006364%2F2
• 关键词: MRC; Centre; Medical; Mycology

The major contribution of fungi to the global burden of disease is not widely appreciated, despite the fact that fungi infect billions of people annually. While most infections are non-life threatening superficial infections, such as athlete's foot, millions of people contract invasive fungal diseases resulting in global mortality figures that rival those of tuberculosis or malaria. Despite their huge burden and high rates of death, fungal infections remain understudied compared with other infectious diseases and there is a pressing need for more research in this field. Experts in the field, including Aberdeen scientists, have identified three priorities that require urgent attention: (i) to improve our ability to detect fungal infections, (ii) to generate better antifungal drugs, and (iii) to enhance the understanding of fungal immunity and its exploitation to fight these diseases. The limited progress in tackling these challenges is due, in large part, to a lack of basic and clinical scientists working in this field in the UK and worldwide.The UK has a small but highly active community of scientists working on fungal diseases (medical mycologists), with the largest group based at The University of Aberdeen (the Aberdeen Fungal Group, AFG). The AFG, which consists of 11 independent research teams, totalling around eighty individuals, is internationally recognised as a leading group in this field. We aim to achieve maximal synergistic potential within the diverse expertise of the AFG by establishing a world-leading MRC Centre of excellence for research and training in Medical Mycology (MCMM). The MCMM will focus on performing cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and on training the next generation of scientists to increase research capacity in this neglected field in the UK. Establishing the MCMM will facilitate full integration of the complementary areas of expertise into six exciting research themes that address the key priorities of this field. Moreover, creation of the MCMM will lead to the recruitment of two academics whose expertise will add significant complementary value to the current group, and enable expansion of our research capacity into important new areas. One post will be in Bioinformatics, which will study and help process our massive biological datasets. This post will empower new technologies that will allow us to gain important insights into the mechanisms of fungal disease. The second post will be in immunology which, in addition to delivering cutting-edge science, will help promote the translation of our scientific discoveries into new diagnostic, preventative and therapeutic applications. The MCMM will also be used as a platform to raise awareness and influence policy regarding the management of fungal diseases within the broader academic community and the general public.A major objective of the MCMM is to increase capacity in medical mycology in the UK by delivering a cohort of 21 basic and clinical researchers through a range of world leading training programmes. This will include a bespoke four-year MRes-PhD programme for 13 students that will provide a broad interdisciplinary training that is not available anywhere else; 3 Early Career Fellowships to promote an early independent research career in medical mycology for outstanding individuals; 5 Fellowships for excellent clinical trainees to provide one year of focussed academic training and research and to establish a foundation for subsequent PhD fellowship applications; and 10 eight-week summer scholarships for fourth-year medical students to stimulate their interest in medical mycology, and to promote links between the MCMM and other centres in this field. The MCMM Fellows, PhD students and clinical trainees will underpin the integration of the AFG, through appointment to jointly-supervised projects within our new research themes, and will significantly advance our understanding of fungal disease.

尽管真菌每年感染了数十亿人，但真菌对全球疾病负担的主要贡献并没有得到广泛赞赏。尽管大多数感染是非生命危险的浅表感染，例如运动员的脚，但数百万人会感染侵入性真菌疾病，导致全球死亡人数与结核病或疟疾相抗衡。尽管与其他传染病相比，尽管他们的负担很大和死亡率很高，但真菌感染仍在研究中，并且在该领域有更多的研究迫切需要。包括阿伯丁科学家在内的该领域的专家已经确定了需要紧急关注的三个优先级：（i）提高我们检测真菌感染的能力，（ii）产生更好的抗真菌药物，以及（iii）增强对真菌免疫及其剥削的理解以抗击这些疾病。在很大程度上，解决这些挑战方面的进展有限是由于缺乏在英国和全球范围内从事该领域的基本和临床科学家。 AFG由11个独立研究团队组成，总计约有80个人，在国际上被认为是该领域的领先小组。我们旨在通过建立世界领先的MRC MRC研究和医学真菌学研究中心（MCMM）来实现AFG多样化专业知识的最大协同潜力。 MCMM将专注于进行尖端的跨学科研究，并培训下一代科学家，以提高英国被忽视的领域的研究能力。建立MCMM将有助于将专业知识的补充领域完全整合到六个令人兴奋的研究主题中，以解决该领域的关键优先事项。此外，MCMM的创建将导致招募两种学者，这些学者将为当前小组增添显着的互补价值，并使我们的研究能力扩大到重要的新领域。一篇文章将在生物信息学中进行，该帖子将研究和帮助处理我们的大量生物学数据集。这篇文章将增强新技术的能力，这将使我们能够对真菌疾病的机制有重要的见解。第二篇文章将是免疫学，除了提供尖端科学外，还将有助于将我们的科学发现转化为新的诊断，预防和治疗应用。 MCMM还将用作一个平台，以提高对更广泛的学术界和公众内真菌疾病的管理的认识和影响政策。MCMM的主要目标是通过通过一系列世界领先的培训计划提供21名基本和临床研究人员的同伙来提高英国医学真菌学的能力。这将包括针对13名学生定制的四年MRES-PHD计划，该计划将提供广泛的跨学科培训，而其他任何地方都无法获得； 3早期职业研究金，旨在促进杰出个人的医学真菌学早期独立研究职业； 5奖学金的奖学金是出色的临床学员，他们提供一年的专注于学术培训和研究，并为随后的博士学位奖学金申请奠定基础；为四年级的医学生提供了10个为期八周的夏季奖学金，以激发他们对医学真菌学的兴趣，并在该领域的MCMM与其他中心之间建立联系。 MCMM研究员，博士生和临床学员将通过任命在我们的新研究主题中共同监督项目来支持AFG的整合，并将大大提高我们对真菌疾病的理解。

项目成果

Analysis of Pneumocystis Transcription Factor Evolution and Implications for Biology and Lifestyle.

• DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02711-22
• 发表时间: 2023-02-28
• 期刊: mBio
• 影响因子: 6.4

The Third International Symposium on Fungal Stress - ISFUS.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.funbio.2020.02.007
• 发表时间: 2017-11
• 期刊: Fungal biology
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Alene Alder-Rangel;A. Idnurm;A. Brand;A. J. Brown;A. Gorbushina;Christina M. Kelliher;C. B. Campos;D. E. Levin;D. Bell-Pedersen;E. Dadachova;F. Bauer;G. Gadd;G. Braus;G. U. Braga;G. Brancini;G. Walker;Irina S Druzhinina;I. Pócsi;J. Dijksterhuis;J. Aguirre;J. E. Hallsworth;J. Schumacher;K. H. Wong;L. Selbmann;L. Corrochano;M. Kupiec;M. Momany;M. Molin;N. Requena;O. Yarden;Radames J. B. Cordero;R. Fischer;R. Pascon;R. Mancinelli;T. Emri;T. O. Basso;D. Rangel

Fungal spore swelling and germination are restricted by the macrophage phagolysosome

真菌孢子的膨胀和萌发受到巨噬细胞吞噬溶酶体的限制

• DOI: 10.1016/j.funbio.2023.08.002
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Fungal Biology
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Alonso M

Candida albicans phosphate transport, facilitating nucleotide sugar biosynthesis, contributes to cell wall stability.

白色念珠菌磷酸盐转运，促进核苷酸糖生物合成，有助于细胞壁稳定性。

• DOI: 10.1099/acmi.cc2021.po0036
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Access Microbiology
• 作者: Acosta-Zaldivar M

The nature of the fungal cargo induces significantly different temporal programmes of macrophage phagocytosis.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.tcsw.2022.100082
• 发表时间: 2022-12
• 期刊: Cell surface (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• 作者: Alonso, Maria Fernanda;Bain, Judith M.;Rudkin, Fiona M.;Erwig, Lars P.;Brown, Alistair J. P.;Gow, Neil A. R.
• 通讯作者: Gow, Neil A. R.