Tuesday, 01 July 2025
Experts from the University of Nottingham will investigate how genes responsible for disease and antifungal resistance might evolve and spread through fungal populations, thanks to funding from the Wellcome Trust.
Paul Dyer, a Professor in Fungal Biology in the School of Life Sciences has been awarded a £1.2million four-year grant to lead a team project including Dr Jasmine Ono from the University, along with researchers from the Universities of Manchester and Pretoria.
The project aims to investigate how genes responsible for human disease and antifungal resistance might evolve and spread through fungal populations by sexual and other transfer mechanisms, thereby providing an indication of risk from fungal diseases to inform future health management. The work also includes investigation of how climate change might impact on the evolution and spread of fungal pathogenicity genes.
The fungal diseases under study include life-threatening Aspergillosis and Candidiasis, and tropical Fusarium diseases. It is possible that sub populations of these fungi are already evolving to form new disease-causing species.
The research work will draw on recent developments in genomic, bioinformatic, gene editing and barcoding analyses which offer breakthrough possibilities.
Professor Dyer said: “Although many fungi are beneficial, there has been a recent rise in threats from fungal diseases to humans, animals and our plant food crops. This has been compounded by the evolution of resistance to the anti-fungals that we rely on to control disease.
“The funding from the Wellcome Trust will allow our team to study the mechanisms of how genes contributing to pathogenicity and drug resistance can evolve and spread through fungal populations, with associated risk, and how this might be impacted by climate change. This is critical to inform fungal disease management and future drug development. We are very grateful to Wellcome for providing us with this opportunity.”
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More information is available from Professor Paul Dyer at paul.dyer@nottingham.ac.uk
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About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 97 in the world and 17th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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