Investigating fungal threats to health in a changing climate

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Funding cuts to research threaten our ability to address fungal threats and train our future scientists

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Our Research in Action - Investigating Fungal Risks in western NC following Hurricane Helene

Learn about our efforts to study fungal growth in the wake of a devastating flood in western North Carolina. Duke University researchers collaborated to collect environmental samples from flooded facilities in Black Mountain, NC to learn more about potential fungal health risks.

  • With fungal diseases on the rise, our lab seeks to understand how fungi evolve to cause human disease and resist drug treatment

  • We are working to reduce fungal risks to health and to harness the power of fungi for new medicines, tools, and technologies

  • Your support enables our lab to provide meaningful research and solutions

About Our Lab

Life-threatening fungal infections are on the rise as populations with weakened or suppressed immunity increase. At the same time, climate change is predicted to increase the dispersal of fungal spores in the environment and to select for fungi adapted to growth at human body temperature, increasing the likelihood of infection.

We discovered that heat stress increases mutations in disease-causing fungi. Genetic changes can lead to adaptations, such as survival at human body temperature and drug resistance.

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