Fungal Genetics

Yeasts and filamentous fungi are eukaryotic micro-organisms amenable to genetic analysis which have been used extensively as model systems for studying aspects of eukaryotic cell biology including growth, division and genetic recombination. Filamentous fungi give us antibiotics that revolutionised medicine, and yeast as a model system provided key insights in understanding cancer through genetic analysis of the cell cycle.
 
Fungal pathogens such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus have recently become major causes of death through infection in immunocompromised patients following heart and lung transplants or anti-cancer chemotherapy.
 
Current research areas include: