MycoTalks

The MRC CMM would like to invite you to join us at the Monthly MycoTalks, where experts in Medical Mycology and related fields will be presenting their latest research.

Sign up for our mailing list if you would like to be first to hear about future MycoTalks, as well as selected other news from the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology.

Recent talks

20 November 2025 - MycoTalks S6E3: Eric Dang and Minh-Hong Nguyen

23 October 2025 - MycoTalks S6E2: Bernd Schnabl and Michal Olszewski

25 September 2025 - MycoTalks S6E1: Angie Gelli and Tuo Wang

Recordings of all of our MycoClinics webinars, as well as MycoTalks and the Medical Mycology Trainee Seminar Series, are available to view on our Youtube channel.

Current programme of invited speakers:

Talk number	Meeting date	Chair	Deputy chair	Speakers	Title
SEASON 6
S6 E1	25 September 2025	Christina Cuomo	Oliver Kurzai	Angie Gelli	Resolving mechanisms of fungal translocation from blood-to-brain
				Tuo Wang	Structural Adaptation of Fungal Cell Wall to Antifungals: New Insight from Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy
S6 E2	23 October 2025	Gordon Brown	Geraldine Butler	Bernd Schnabl	The Gut Mycobiome as Therapeutic Target in Liver Diseases
				Michal Olszewski	Immunomodulation in Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis
S6 E3	20 November 2025	Iliyan Iliev	Jay Kolls	Eric Dang	Barrier tissue immunity to pathogenic fungi
				Minh-Hong Nguyen	Within-host genotypic and phenotypic diversity of Candida causing bloodstream infection
S6 E4	29 January 2026	Neil Gow	Sarah Gaffen	Bing Zhai
				Bernhard Hube
S6 E5	26 February 2026	Joe Heitman	Jay Kolls	George Deepe
				Tamara Doering
S6 E6	2 April 2026	Gordon Brown	Alex Brand	Ruoyo Li
				Marty Burke
S6 E7	30 April 2026	Iliyan Iliev	Christina Cuomo	Paul Magwene
				Beatriz L Gomez
S6 E8	21 May 2026	Geraldine Butler	Neil Gow	Ana-Maria Lennon-Duménil

S6 E9	25 June 2026	Oliver Kurzai	Sarah Gaffen	David Underhill
				Chiung-Yu Hung
S6 E10	23 July 2026	Alex Brand	Joe Heitman	María Bravo Núñez
				Micha Fridman

Archive

Previous MycoTalks Season 5

Talk number	Meeting date	Chair	Deputy chair	Speakers	Title
SEASON 5
S5 E1	26 September 2024	Neil Gow	Oliver Kurzai	Julia Koehler	TOR signaling, stress management and phosphate acquisition are linked in Candida albicans
				James Kronstad	Glutathione-mediated redox regulation of Cryptococcal virulence
S5 E2	31 October 2024	Alex Brand	Joseph Heitman	Gordon Brown	Autoimmunity, C-type lectin receptors and immunity to fungal infection – a new link!
				John Taylor	Is Coccidioides the first example of a new ecological guild of fungi, the endozoans?
S5 E3	12 December 2024	Christina Cuomo	Judith Berman	Robert A Cramer	Aspergillus fumigatus Biofilms: Form and Function
				David Moyes	Nutritional immunology and immunometabolism in mucosal fungal infections
S5 E4	30 January 2025	Jay Kolls	Iliyan Iliev	Teresa O’Meara	Understanding Candida albicans during healthy human colonization
				Chad Rappleye	Metabolism of the fungal pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum enabling intraphagosomal proliferation
S5 E5	27 February 2025	Gordon Brown	Sarah Gaffen	Aleeza Gerstein	How evolutionary forces shape yeast populations: from a single individual to global relatedness
				Stuart Levitz	Cryptococcus Vaccines: Progress and Challenges
S5 E6	27 March 2025	Geraldine Butler	Joseph Heitman	Rebecca Shapiro	A CRISPR activation platform to identify genes involved in trisomy-associated antifungal drug resistance
				Guilhem Janbon	The Cryptococcus transcriptome
S5 E7	24 April 2025	Iliyan Iliev	Alex Brand	Runhui Liu	Host Defense Peptide Mimicking Antifungals
				Ana Alastruey	Raising awareness in Public Health Mycology; the FPPL and beyond
S5 E8	22 May 2025	Christina Cuomo	Jay Kolls	Linqi Wang	Host-induced fungicide phenotypic resistance
				Heather Conti	Oral megakaryocytes and platelets: getting us closer to a unified understanding of IL-17 signaling during oral mucosal immune responses
S5 E9	26 June 2025	Neil Gow	Christina Cuomo	Andrew Alspaugh	Dealing with stress: Lessons from a fungal pathogen
				Erica Washington	How sweet it is: The development of the trehalose biosynthesis pathway as an antifungal drug target
S5 E10	24 July 2025	Oliver Kurzai	Geraldine Butler	James Konopka	Plasma membrane architecture: form and function in fungal pathogenesis
				Jane Usher	Stress-Tested: Decoding Genomic Adaptation and Combinatorial Stress Resistance in Candida glabrata

Previous MycoTalks Season 4

Talk number	Meeting date	Chair	Deputy chair	Speakers	Title
SEASON 4
S4 E1	28 September 2023	Gordon Brown	Geraldine Butler	Jatin Vyas	The Role of the cGAS/STING Pathway in innate immunity to C. albicans
				Carol Munro	Targeting the fungal cell wall
S4 E2	26 October 2023	Neil Gow	Joseph Heitman	Jennifer Lodge	The changing coat of Cryptococcus
				Amelia Barber	From Environment to Infection: Insights from Aspergillus fumigatus
S4 E3	30 November 2023	Alex Brand	Neil Gow	Sandy Johnson	Evolution of pathogenesis in the Candida clade
				Mat Fisher	Citizen-Science Approaches to Understanding Big Fungal Problems
S4 E4	25 January 2024	Oliver Kurzai	Iliyan Iliev	June Round	Microbes with benefits: Neonatal microbes promote lasting metabolic health
				Damian J Krysan	Moving it inside: Candida albicans filamentation in vivo
S4 E5	29 February 2024	Judy Berman	Christina Cuomo	Alessia Buscaino	Discovery of an active RNAi pathway in Candida albicans
				Sing Sing Way	Immunology learned from fungal colonization
S4 E6	28 March 2024	Iliyan Iliev	Sarah Gaffen	Blake Billmyre	High-throughput genetics, essential gene discovery, and antifungal resistance in Cryptococcus neoformans
				Antonis Rokas	Strain heterogeneity in a non-pathogenic fungus highlights factors contributing to virulence
S4 E7	25 April 2024	Sarah Gaffen	Alex Brand	Toni Gabaldon	Emerging by merging: hybridisation as a route to opportunistic pathogenesis in yeasts
				Neta Shlezinger	Fungal-host Interactions: A Duel to the (Cell) Death
S4 E8	30 May 2024	Geraldine Butler	Jay Kolls	Oliver Kurzai	Monitoring fungal invasions into Germany
				Pushpa Pandiyan	Dectin signaling in HIV infections and oral cancer
S4 E9	27 June 2024	Christina Cuomo	Gordon Brown	Yong-Sun Bahn	Genome-wide functional analysis of WD40 proteins in the fungal meningitis pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans
				Wendy van de Sande	MycetOS: Open Source drug discovery to identify novel drugs for mycetoma
S4 E10	25 July 2024	Joseph Heitman	Oliver Kurzai	Christina Hull
				Thuy Le

Previous MycoTalks Season 3

Talk number	Meeting date	Chair	Deputy chair	Speakers	Title
SEASON 3
S3 E1	25 August 2022	Neil Gow	Jay Kolls	Petra Bacher	Regulation of protective immunity and inflammation by fungus-reactive T helper cells
				Clarissa Nobile	Host mucins are natural inhibitors of Candida albicans biofilms
S3 E2	29 September 2022	Geraldine Butler	Neil Gow	David Corry	Fungi as Biological Probes of the Mammalian Immune Response
				Soo Chan Lee	A novel drug resistance pathway in pathogenic fungi
S3 E3	27 October 2022	Jay Kolls	Gordon Brown	Partha Biswas	Metabolic fitness: key determinant of neutrophil function in fungal infection
				Mari Shinohara	Phenotypic and functional subsets of lung myeloid cells at an early stage of Cryptococcus neoformans infection
S3 E4	17 November 2022	Alex Brand	Geraldine Butler	David Andes	Construction and destruction of the Candida biofilm matrix
				Nancy Keller	GRAsp: a user friendly platform to further Aspergillus fumigatus research
S3 E5	15 December 2022	Judith Berman	Alex Brand	Carol Kumamoto	Gut colonization by Candida albicans: host-Candida interactions govern the commensal state
				Richard Bennett	Phase Separation Regulation of Candida Transcriptional Networks
S3 E6	26 January 2023	Iliyan D Iliev	Oliver Kurtzai	Andy Koh	Candida colonization of the mammalian gastrointestinal tract
				Michael Bromley	Application of functional genomics for drug discovery in Aspergillus fumigatus
S3 E7	23 February 2023	Gordon Brown	Iliyan D Iliev	Deborah Hogan	Fungal evolution in chronic lung infections reveals selective pressures in vivo
				Chad Steele	Fungal-associated allergic airway inflammation: unexpected contributors to pathogenesis (and a surprising non-contributor)
S3 E8	23 March 2023	Jay Kolls	Judith Berman	Julie Segre	Human Skin Mycobiome: Finding Friends and Foes
				John Perfect	The Sugar-Coated Killer Yeast unplugged!
S3 E9	27 April 2023	Oliver Kurzai	Gordon Brown	Yen-Ping Hsueh	Catch me if you can — predator-prey interactions between carnivorous fungi and the nematode C. elegans
				June Kwon-Chung	Stark differences in pathobiology of the two cryptococcosis agents, Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii species complex
S3 E10	25 May 2023	Judith Berman	Geraldine Butler	Georgios Chamilos	Molecular Mechanisms regulating fungal phagosome biogenesis in health and disease
				Anuradha Chowdhary	Understanding of Candida auris niches in the environment: is this a One Health case?
S3 E11	29 June 2023	Joseph Heitman	Gordon Brown	Agostinho Carvalho	Metabolic circuits of immune regulation and function in aspergillosis
				Duncan Wilson	Zinc prevents vaginal candidiasis by inhibiting expression of an inflammatory fungal protein
S3 E12	27 July 2023	Joseph Heitman	Oliver Kurzai	Darius Armstrong-James	Phenotypic and clinical correlates of genomic diversity in Aspergillus fumigatus
				Aaron Mitchell	Natural variation in the Candida albicans biofilm regulatory network

Previous MycoTalks Season 2

Talk number	Meeting date	Chair	Deputy chair	Speakers	Title
SEASON 2
S2 E1	26 August 2021	Neil Gow	Jay Kolls	Bridget Barker	Investigating the Genomic Landscape of Coccidioides
				Frank van Der Veerdonk	Immunotherapy in fungal infection
S2 E2	30 September 2021	Geraldine Butler	Sarah Gaffen	Peter Cook	Host responses to Aspergillus that trigger asthma and allergic lung disease
				Kirsten Nielsen	Cryptococcus Cell Wars: The Ultimate Battle Between Host and Pathogen
S2 E3	28 October 2021	Jay Kolls	Geraldine Butler	Betty Wu-Hsieh	Differential usage of receptors for fungus-induced innate cell response
				Salome Leibundgut-Landmann	Immunosurveillance of fungal commensalism
S2 E4	18 November 2021	Alex Brand	Judith Berman	David Denning	Why are there still so many deaths from fungal disease?
				Anita Sil	Regulation of cell shape and virulence in thermally dimorphic fungal pathogens
S2 E5	16 December 2021	Judith Berman	Alex Brand	Axel Brakhage	Aspergillus fumigatus interferes with maturation of phagolysosomes and triggers antifungal extracellular vesicles by neutrophils
				Ashraf Ibrahim	Unique invasins and toxins promoting hallmarks of mucormycosis
S2 E6	27 January 2022	Iliyan Iliev	Gordon Brown	Ilse Jacobsen	The role of filamentation in systemic candidiasis.
				Alistair Brown	Fitness, memory and immune evasion in Candida albicans
S2 E7	24 February 2022	Joe Heitman	Iliyan Iliev	Michael Lorenz	Candida-innate immune interactions: surprising lessons from comparative transcriptomics
				Claire Hoving	Host recognition and clearance of Pneumocystis: investigating immune mediators and mechanisms
S2 E8	31 March 2022	Sarah Gaffen	Judith Berman	Dan Kaplan	Recognition and consequence of C. albicans recognition by cutaneous sensory neurons
				Hiten Madhani	Secreted fungal effector triggers allergic inflammation via Toll-like receptor to enable lethal infection
S2 E9	28 April 2022	Oliver Kurzai	Sarah Gaffen	Kyla Ost	Adaptive immunity shapes friendlier fungi in the gut.
				Gustavo Goldman	The caspofungin paradoxical effect: a tolerant "Eagle effect" in Aspergillus fumigatus
S2 E10	26 May 2022	Judith Berman	Neil Gow	Anne Puel	Inborn errors of IL-17 immunity and superficial fungal diseases
				Michelle Momany	Conidial dormancy and germination in Aspergillus fumigatus
S2 E11	30 June 2022	Gordon Brown	Sarah Gaffen	Mairi Noverr	Harnessing Fungal Trained Immunity to Target Lethal Sepsis
				Xin Lin	TLTA4H-LTB4-BLT1 axis plays a critical role in anti-fungal infection through regulating neutrophil function
S2 E12	28 July 2022	Alex Brand	Oliver Kurzai	Jay Kolls	The Genetics Of Pneumocystis pneumonia: from host to fungus
				Christina Cuomo	Population genomics and the evolution of virulence traits in Cryptococcus neoformans

Previous MycoTalks Season 1

Talk number	Meeting date	Chair	Deputy chair	Speakers	Title
SEASON 1
S1 E1	30 July 2020	Sarah Gaffen	Jay Kolls	Arturo Casadevall	Updating the fungal infection-mammalian selection hypothesis at the end of the Cretaceous Period
				Rebecca Drummond	Understanding Mechanisms of Organ-Specific AntiFungal Immunity
S1 E2	27 Aug 2020	Gordon Brown	Sarah Gaffen	Liz Ballou	The Cryptococcus neoformans Titan cell is an inducible and regulated morphotype underlying pathogenesis
				Bruce Klein	Genetic variation at the Interleukin-6 locus and human susceptibility to fungal infection
S1 E3	24 Sept 2020	Neil Gow	Jay Kolls	Bernhard Hube	The virulence and avirulence functions of candidalysin
				Geraldine Butler	Ongoing hybridisation in Candida species
S1 E4	29 Oct 2020	Oliver Kurzai	Jay Kolls	Sarah Gaffen	A Tale of Two Cytokines: IL-17 and IL-22 in driving oral mucosal immunity to Candida albicans
				Alex Brand	Rsr1 - a simple GTPase with a complex function in the cellular organisation of Candida albicans.
S1 E5	19 Nov 2020	Gordon Brown	Oliver Kurzai	Joe Heitman	RNAi-dependent epimutations evoke transient antifungal drug resistance
				Tobias Hohl	Foiling Fungal Invasion: Lessons from the Mycobiome and Pulmonary Antifungal Immunity.
S1 E6	17 Dec 2020	Joseph Heitman	Gordon Brown	Judith Berman	Tolerating challenges: lessons from pathogenic yeast
				Michail Lionakis	Aberrant type 1 immunity drives mucosal fungal infection susceptibility
S1 E7	28 Jan 2021	Sarah Gaffen	Alex Brand	Suzanne Noble	Candida albicans, a fungal pathobiont of the mammalian gut
				Amariliz Rivera	Novel insights on the regulation of interferons and innate antifungal immunity
S1 E8	25 Feb 2021	Alex Brand	Judith Berman	Nelesh Govender	Milestones in the Prevention and Management of Cryptococcal Meningitis
				Anna Selmecki	Genome plasticity and the acquisition of antifungal drug resistance in Candida species
S1 E9	25 Mar 2021	Iliyan Iiiev	Joe Heitman	Scott Filler	Aspergillus fumigatus transcription factor expression and function during invasion of the mammalian lung
				Tihana Bicanic	Emergence and mechanism of fluconazole resistance in human cryptococcosis
S1 E10	29 April 2021	Geraldine Butler	Neil Gow	Leah Cowen	Identifying Vulnerabilities in Fungal Pathogens Through Functional and Chemical Genomic Analyses
				Iliyan Iliev	The Mycobiome of the gastrointestinal tract: at the crossroad of Protective Immunity and Inflammatory Diseases
S1 E11	27 May 2021	Judith Berman	Gordon Brown	Neil Gow	The fungal cell wall: communication across barriers
				Floyd Wormley	Induction of protective immunity against pulmonary Cryptococcus neoformans infections
S1 E12	24 June 2021	Sarah Gaffen	Iliyan Iiiev	Julian Naglik	Host-Candida interactions – a toxic encounter
				Elaine Bignell	Antivirulence strategies for tackling aspergilloses
S1 E13	29 July 2021	Jay Kolls	Oliver Kurzai	Duncan Wilson	Micronutrient scavenging by human fungal pathogens
				Jules Ene	Population heterogeneity in the context of antifungal drug resistance

Organising Committee:

Gordon Brown, Alex Brand and Neil Gow (MRC CMM, UK), Judith Berman (Tel Aviv University, Israel), Geraldine Butler (University College Dublin, Ireland), Christina Cuomo (Broad Institute, USA), Sarah L Gaffen (University of Pittsburgh, USA), Joseph Heitman (Duke University School of Medicine, USA), Iliyan D Iliev (Weill Cornell Medical College, USA), Jay Kolls (Tulane University, USA), Oliver Kurzai (University of Wuerzburg, Germany).