It's time to take fun(gi) seriously
Event Details
- Date:
- Tuesday, 31 October 2023 - Tuesday, 31 October 2023
- Time:
- 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
- Room:
- 3-206
- UQ Location:
- Steele Building (St Lucia)
- URL:
- https://scmb.uq.edu.au/event/session/11768
- Event category(s):
Event Contact
- Name:
- Dr Danielle Schultz
- Phone:
- 53900
- Email:
- danielle.schultz@uq.edu.au
- Org. Unit:
- Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Event Description
- Full Description:
- The Skerman Lecture recognises the contribution of Professor Victor Bruce Darlington Skerman in the development of Microbiology at The University of Queensland. Professor Skerman was Head of the Department of Microbiology from 1962 to 1981, having been appointed Foundation Chair of Microbiology in 1961. He had broad interests in microbial physiology, ecology and diversity, but is best known and recognised for his international reform of bacterial systematics and nomenclature.
Professor Dee Carter of the University of Sydney will be presenting this year.
Abstract: Mycology has long been considered something of a niche area in microbiology. For a long time, fungi were considered to be lower plant forms and studied as a branch of botany. But a growing awareness of their potential for both good and evil has seen an increased interest in all things fungal in recent times. We now know that fungi are much closer relatives of animals than they are of plants, that they are major players in the global carbon cycle, and that they could be key to reducing climate change and pollution. On the flip side, fungi can destroy crops and wildlife, and with the rise in immunocompromised hosts fungi have become increasingly important as agents of human disease and death.
But while we should all take fungi seriously, working with them can also be fun. Unlike most micro-organisms, fungi can be interesting to look at even when microscopic. In this lecture I will take you through an exploration of the shape-shifting potential of Cryptococcus, a yeast pathogen that has the capacity to cause disease in animals that range from worms and lizards to koalas and humans. Cryptococcus is normally a rather boring looking spherical yeast, but under the conditions found in a mammalian host it can shape shift to become very small, very large, or elongated in structure. I will look at two separate studies we have done of this shape-shifting: first, using isolates from human patients, and second, using lineages derived over time from an original type strain. We will see that shape shifting can be associated with different levels of virulence and disease outcomes, suggesting that this capacity for variation may be critical for the ability of Cryptococcus in maintaining disease in the hostile host environment.
Directions to UQ
- Google Map:
-
- Directions:
- St Lucia Campus | Gatton campus.
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