Meet the people behind the microscopes
Fungal infections kill more around three million people worldwide each year and billions suffer from fungal infections across the globe. These infections are becoming harder to treat, due to antifungal resistance, where fungi have evolved to evade the medicines used by clinicians to treat patients. Some fungi, like Candida auris, have become resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, and have been classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a serious global health problem.
Despite the high fatality rates and ill-health that fungal diseases cause, their devastating impact is not widely appreciated. Nestled in the beautiful campus of the University of Exeter, is the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology (MRC CMM), where more than 90 researchers are working tirelessly to improve the diagnosis, treatment and wider understanding of deadly fungal infections.
In 2022 the MRC CMM’s laboratory expanded to include a state-of-the-art microscopy lab for medical mycology. We call it the MYCOscopy lab. Five bespoke microscopes were set up to capture 4D living images of host-fungus interactions, fungal cell biology and drug discovery. The technologies within the imaging suite enables CMM researchers to control the environment that fungi grow, such as conditions close to the human body. In the last year the microscopes have been used for just under 10 000 hrs by over 50 medical mycologists. The CMM’s Senior Experimental Officer Dr Darren Thomson built and manages the MYCOscopy lab to support scientists who capture fungal cells as they’ve never been seen before.
To highlight the work that we do, we were commissioned in 2024 to provide a range of fungal ‘artworks’ for an exhibition on The Hidden World of Killer Fungi at the Queen’s Exhibition Space at the University of Exeter.