Things are continuing to progress nicely here at Imperial! We have just finalised our next batch of 96 isolates, which will be shipped off to the sequencer in a matter of days. These isolates have an environmental origin and are resistant to azole antifungals. They have a vast global distribution and are temporally very interesting. The genome sequences will help fill in the gaps on our phylogeny and provide us with more information on the ecology and evolution of the pathogen and its resistance phenotype. In addition to this, we have received more isolates from collaborators across the globe all of which will be included in our later WGS runs in 2018.
In other news, Jennifer Shelton has just started her PhD with us and will be investigating whether Aspergillus fumigatus distribution in air and soil is linked to environmental factors and clinical disease. The project is out of Imperial College but she will split her time between here and the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology in Wallingford. The project is part of the Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet (SSCP) Doctoral Training Program (DTP), which is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Imperial’s Grantham Institute. You will hear from Jen soon so check back for updates on her project as well as our WGS runs.
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Fisher Lab
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