FRIDAY 20 OCTOBER 2023

Martin Hoenigl, M.D., Assoc. Prof., FECMM is holding an appointment as Associate Professor for Translational Mycology at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Medical University of Graz, Austria. He has obtained his venia docendi in internal medicine in 2012, and is author to over 290 pub med listed publications in the field of infectious diseases, the majority in leading authorships (i.e. first or last author; ORCiD: 0000-0002-1653-2824). Dr. Hoenigl has particular expertise in conducting research on clinical mycology, including fungal diagnostics and pharmacology of antifungal drugs and correlation with clinical findings, as well as virology with a focus on HIV and respiratory viruses. He is the current president of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM), and the Vice Chair of the EHA Infections in Hematology SWG. Dr. Hoenigl serves since 2015 as an associate editor for the journal Mycoses and as a Deputy Editor for Mycopathologia and Open Forum Infectious Diseases. Dr. Hoenigl has been awarded with the Researcher of the year 2011 award at the Medical University of Graz, with the Research Promotion award 2014, the highest award of the German Speaking mMartin Hoenigl, M.D., Assoc. Prof., FECMM is holding an appointment as Associate Professor for Translational Mycology at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Medical University of Graz, Austria. He has obtained his venia docendi in internal medicine in 2012, and is author to over 290 pub med listed publications in the field of infectious diseases, the majority in leading authorships (i.e. first or last author; ORCiD: 0000-0002-1653-2824). Dr. Hoenigl has particular expertise in conducting research on clinical mycology, including fungal diagnostics and pharmacology of antifungal drugs and correlation with clinical findings, as well as virology with a focus on HIV and respiratory viruses. He is the current president of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM), and the Vice Chair of the EHA Infections in Hematology SWG. Dr. Hoenigl serves since 2015 as an associate editor for the journal Mycoses and as a Deputy Editor for Mycopathologia and Open Forum Infectious Diseases. Dr. Hoenigl has been awarded with the Researcher of the year 2011 award at the Medical University of Graz, with the Research Promotion award 2014, the highest award of the German Speaking mycological society, and with the ID Week Diagnostic award in 2018.

Biograpy
Professor Neil Gow is Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact and Professor of Microbiology at the University of Exeter. He oversees a total research portfolio of £500 million and leads the research vision and strategy for the University. His lab is within the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology – one of the largest groupings in the field with more than 120 researchers. His research speciality is the study of the biology and immunology of fungi and in particular he is interested in the fungal cell wall as a target for antifungal drugs and of the immune system. He was Director of a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology and a former Co-Director, MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, that has relocated to Exeter. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, Royal Society of Edinburgh and American Academy of Microbiology and has acted as President of four major international societies of mycology and microbiology.

Title: Structure of the fungal cell wall immune epitope: the origins of immunity

Neil A.R. Gow

Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter

Objectives:
For a fungus, there may nothing as biologically variable and highly regulated as its cell wall.  This makes the wall intellectually and methodologically challenging to study, but worth the effort because they have the potential to reveal novel targets for antifungal drugs and the mechanisms that are important for immune recognition. Differences and adaptations to the cell wall composition can serve to resist chemotherapy and create a moving target for efficient immune recognition.

Methods and materials:

We have used a variety of microscopic, forward and reverse genetic and immunological tools to generate a new spatially accurate model of the cell wall and to explore how dynamic changes in the wall influence drug efficacy and immune surveillance.  We also have screened a haploid library of C. albicans mutants with immune pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) to define the sub set of fungal genes that assemble and regulate immune epitopes.

Results:
Our molecular and cellular studies show that the cell has a mechanism to maintain wall robustness within physiological limits and has enabled the components of the wall to be defined with spatial precision. We also have demonstrated that immune relevant epitopes can be diffuse or clustered, superficial or buried in the cell wall and they changed during batch culture and between yeast, hypha and other cellular morphologies. Unbiased screening of a haploid mutant library has revealed gene sets for both predicted (e.g. cell wall glycosylation) and novel processes (I’ll reveal these in my talk) that are important for the assembly of the cell wall immune epitope.

Conclusion:
These experiments demonstrate that the fungal cell surface is ordered, complex and dynamically changing, requiring immune recognition to mobilise the concerted action of multiple receptors operating singly and in combination.  My presentation will focus on work that demonstrates that describes recent advances that have generated a scaler and dynamic model of the cell wall that illuminates mechanisms of immune recognition and cell wall homeostasis.

Reference: Gow, N.A.R. & Lenardon, M.D. (2022). Architecture the dynamic fungal cell wall. Nature Reviews Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00796-9.  PMID 36266346

Biography
Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo is a research scientist at the Mycology Reference Laboratory of Spain where she leads the mould unit. She chairs the technical expert group of the Fungal priority Pathogens list by WHO, is the chair of the Fungal Infection Study group from ESCMID (EFISG), president of the Spanish Society for Mycology (AEM), fellow and board member of ECMM and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Joint Program Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR). Her main area of interest are Identification and early diagnosis of invasive fungal infections, antifungal susceptibility testing and surveillance and characterization on antifungal resistance. She has published more than 150 peer reviewed articles in scientific journals including several guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of fungal infections.

Biography
David Denning is an internationally recognised retired clinician with expertise in fungal diseases and Professor of Infectious Diseases in Global Health at The University of Manchester. He was the founding Director of the UK’s National Aspergillosis Centre in Manchester (2009-2020), the world’s only such centre. David was Chief Executive of GAFFI from its inception in 2013 until early 2023, part-time. David Denning has published more than 700 papers, books and book chapters and lectures worldwide. His writings have been cited over 95,000 times and he has successfully lead many major international collaborative science, diagnostic and treatment projects and clinical guidelines, with subsequent publication in Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet.

Abstract

The WHO model list of essential diagnostics (EDL) was first issued in 2018, and is now in its third iteration, with substantial updates in 2021. It is an indispensable resource for the development of national essential diagnostics lists in countries, enabling them to prioritise procurement for their populations, according to different demographic factors such as HIV/AIDS burden, fungal disease endemicity (ie Histoplasma), and levels of care (ie intensive care, transplantation etc. GAFFI, in collaboration with a number of leading medical mycology societies worldwide, continues to advocate universal access of key fungal diagnostics. The WHO EDL now includes direct microscopy, fungal culture, blood cultures, histopathology to include fungal stains, cryptococcal, Histoplasma and Aspergillus antigen, Aspergillus IgG antibody and Pneumocystis jirovecii PCR. The introduction of highly sensitive, highly specific rapid diagnostics assays presents a transformational opportunity for countries with systemic healthcare delivery challenges. The availability of low cost, quick turnaround diagnostics, maximises the chances of patient survival from fungal disease, but clinical suspicion is critical to request fungal testing appropriately, and fast response times from the laboratory.

Resources: https://gaffi.org/where/neglected-fungal-diseases/  www.aspergillus.org.uk

https://en.fungaleducation.org/

Biography
Dr. Jannik Stemler is a fifth-year resident in internal medicine at the University Hospital of Cologne. His clinical specialization focuses on patients with haematological malignancies, infectious diseases and intensive care. At the same time, he is a physician-scientist and is active in clinical research on COVID-19, pharmacovigilance and drug-drug interactions of anti-neoplastic drugs and anti-infectives, and the epidemiology of invasive fungal diseases as well as an investigator in phase II and III clinical trials on novel anti-infectives. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and is a member of several societies in the field of haematology and infectious diseases.

Abstract
Patients with haematological malignancies (HM) are at high risk to develop invasive fungal disease (IFD) with high morbidity and attributable mortality. The strong recommendation to administer antifungal prophylaxis in patients with HM with long-lasting neutropenia, i.e. <500 cells/μL for >7 days remains unchanged. Posaconazole remains the drug of choice for mould-active prophylaxis in these patients. Novel treatment options in HM, such as CAR-T-cell treatment or novel targeted therapies for AML were considered, however, data are insufficient to give general recommendations for routine antifungal prophylaxis in these patients. Major changes regarding specific recommendations are the now moderate instead of mild support for the recommendations of isavuconazole and voriconazole. Furthermore, published evidence on micafungin allows recommending with moderate strength for its use in HM. Furthermore, non-pharmaceutical measures regarding prophylaxis of IFD should be considered, comprising the use of HEPA filters, smoking, measures during construction work and neutropenic diets.

The impact of antifungal prophylaxis with triazoles on drug-drug interactions with novel targeted therapies that are metabolized via cytochrome p450 where triazoles inhibit CYP3A4/5 may be higher than expected. It is recommended to reduce the dose of venetoclax when used concomitantly with strong CYP3A4 inhibiting antifungals. Furthermore, data on prophylactic use of novel antifungal agents like rezafungin or ibrexafungerp may become available soon. Currently there is no evidence to support their use in a prophylactic setting in clinical practice.

Biography
Dr. Shahid Husain completed his Internal Medicine residency from Cook County Hospital and his three-year Infectious Diseases Fellowship from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) with specialized training in Transplant Infectious Diseases. He completed his Masters in Clinical Trials from the University of Pittsburgh. He remained at UPMC as faculty and joined the University of Toronto in 2008.

Dr. Husain is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Transplant Infectious Diseases, as well as serving as Chairman of the Infectious Diseases Council of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation. He is actively involved in the Canadian Society of Transplantation and currently serves as Chair of Transplant Infectious Diseases group. Shahid is an active contributor in the development of guidelines for the management of infections in solid organ transplant recipients on the behest of the American Thoracic Society and American Society of Transplantation.

Dr. Husain’s research has focused on the risk factors and outcomes of infections in solid organ transplant recipients. He has a particular interest in antibiotic stewardship of immunocompromised hosts. His funded clinical research is directed towards the evaluation of diagnostic tests for early diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis, development of appropriate antiviral, anti-bacterial and antifungal prophylactic strategies in immunocompromised hosts. He has been funded through the National Institute of Health, Canadian Institute of Health Research and the Center for Disease Control.

To date, Dr. Husain has published more than 200 peers reviewed publications and has authored more than seven book chapters. He also serves as a reviewer in various journals. Dr. Husain is passionate about teaching the future generation of transplant physicians and in 2009 he established the world’s largest structured Transplant Infectious Diseases Fellowship program. Currently, he serves as the Director of Research for the Ajmera Transplant Centre at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network.

Biography
Juergen Prattes, M.D., has received his medical degree from the Medical University in Graz, Austria in 2013 and has since been working at the Section of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Medical University of Graz, Austria. Following medical school, Dr. Prattes also completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Medical University in Graz. He has obtained his venia docendi in 2018 in internal medicine. Infectious diseases biomarker research, with special focus on fungal biomarkers, is one of his main research interests, where he authored numerous publications and gave numerous lectures in national and international conferences. Besides patient care and research, Dr. Prattes is dedicated to train undergraduate and post-graduate students in infectious diseases.

He currently holds the position of the president of the Austrian Society of Medical Mycology (ÖGMM), is a member of the German speaking Mycological Society (DMykG), of the Fungal Infection Study Group of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (EFISG), of the SWG Infections in Hematology of the European Hematology Association (EHA) and of the Infection Study Group of the German Society for Hematology and Oncology (AGIHO). He has been serving as reviewer for numerous international scientific journals and serves as deputy editor for Mycoses. Dr. Prattes is recipient of many national and international awards such as TIMM – ECMM Young Investigators Travel Award in 2017 and 2015, the ID Week Trainee Award in 2016, the ICAAC/ICC 2015 Infectious Disease Fellows Grant in 2015 and the Researcher of the Year at the Medical University of Graz in 2018.

Biography
Dr. Sean Zhang is an Associate Professor of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Medical Director of Medical Mycology Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is American Board-certified in Medical Microbiology (ABMM) with expertise in fungal diagnostics. Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on identifying fungal pathogens from FFPE (Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded) tissue blocks, fungal antigen assays, host-driven response assays, multiplex PCR, next-generation sequencing, identification and characterization of new emerging fungal pathogens, the role of fungal pathogens in cystic fibrosis patients, and antifungal drug resistance. He has authored over 100 publications. Dr. Zhang is the Executive Editor of Medical Mycology, an Editorial Board Member of the Clinical Microbiology Reviews. He is a Section Editor (Mycology) for the Manual of Clinical Microbiology (13th Edition). He serves as an advisor to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Antifungal Susceptibility Testing subcommittee, a member of American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Laboratory Practice Subcommittee, and a member of the College of American Pathologist (CAP) Microbiology Committee. He is also a co-founding chair of Fungal Diagnostics Laboratory Consortium (FDLC) in the USA/Canada.

Towards international guidelines for fungal detection in CF
The importance of Aspergillus and other fungi as lung pathogens in CF is becoming increasingly recognized. However, the true prevalence of these fungi in CF and their roles on impacting the disease are not well defined, largely due to lack of standardized optimal laboratory approach for CF fungal culture. A variety of factors are considered to contribute to fungal detection by culture in CF. These include sample type (expectorated sputa vs throat swabs), sample process (mucolytic or sonication), sample inoculum volume, selection of fungal culture media, incubation conditions and duration. In this talk, current data on supporting laboratory practice for optimal recovery fungi from respiratory samples in CF will be reviewed and discussed. In addition, non-culture-based methods, including galactomannan detection, serum beta-D-glucan detection, Aspergillus serology, Aspergillus PCR, and next generation sequencing, will be described for their potentials to improve and enhance fungal detection in CF.

Biography
Professor Andy Borman is the Deputy Director of Public Health England’s UK National Mycology Reference Laboratory since 2003 and also an Honorary Professor at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK. His research interests include the epidemiology of emerging fungal pathogens and neglected tropical diseases caused by filamentous fungi, the diagnosis and management of fungal infections, the molecular and proteomic identification of pathogenic fungi, fungi associated with cystic fibrosis, and fungal taxonomy, phylogenetics and nomenclature.
Educated at the Universities of Manchester (B.Sc.) and Cambridge (Ph.D), Andy has published over 160 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. He serves as a reviewer for a wide range of scientific journals, was previously on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Mycopathologia and is a current editor for Medical Mycology and Journal of Fungi.
He is a member of the ASM and the BSMM, a fellow of the ECMM and several working groups of the International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM). He also served as co-convenor for the ISHAM working group on “Fungal respiratory infections in cystic fibrosis” from 2009-2017.

Rasamsonia argillacea species complex in cystic fibrosis
Prof. Andrew M Borman.

UK National Mycology Reference laboratory, UK Health Security Agency, Southmead Hospital, Bristol BS10 5NB and Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology (MRC CMM), University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QD, United Kingdom.

Species within the Rasamsonia argillacea complex are recognised colonisers of the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis and have been reported to cause fatal disseminated infections in CF patients post lung transplantation and also in patients with chronic granulomatous disease.  Members of the complex are associated with high minimum inhibitory concentrations with the triazole antifungal agents, particularly voriconazole and posaconazole, whereas the echinocandin class of antifungals appear to retain clinically relevant activity against these organisms. Here we review the evidence for the ability of the organism to persist in CF lungs, the clinical impact of colonisation with R. argillacea complex on CF lung function and the most appropriate treatment regimens for eradication of the organism in colonised patients and the treatment of invasive/disseminated infections.

Biography
Michaela Lackner is University Professor for Experimental Mycology at the Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology (HMM) at the Medical University of Innsbruck (MUI), Innsbruck. Austria that is an ECMM Excellent Center. Since 2017, she heads the Mycological Research Group at the HMM. She completed both her Master and her PhD in natural sciences with distinction at the University of Innsbruck (LFU) in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Since 2007, she has a strong interest in fungal pathogens, particularly in the development of novel diagnostic tools and in understanding antifungal azole resistance mechanisms. She is FECMM member, ECFS fungal pathogens working group co-coordinator, member of the FPCRI expert board – leading the clinical translational working party on Mucorales, convenor of the ECMM-ISHAM working group on Pseudallescheria/Scedosporium infections and the ISHAM working group of ISHAM Working Group Nomenclature of Clinical Fungi. Lackner has authored more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed articles and is involved in the training of medical and science graduates and undergraduates in Social Medicine, Hygiene and Medical Microbiology.

Biography
Born in Setri Levante (Italy) on January 26th 1961, medical degree in 1986 at Univeristy of Genoa, degree in Infectious Diseases, in Paediatrics, and PhD in Immunology, Vaccines and Organ Transplant, training in Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Infections in Transplant. At present Chief of the Infectious Diseases Unit and Chief of the Department of Pediatric Medical Sciences at Istituto Giannina Gaslini Children’s Hospital, Genoa –Italy. Dealing with infections in pediatric leukaemia, solid tumours, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant, with special attention to bacterial and fungal invasive diseases for more than 35 years. In the last 10 years the scientific and clinical interest expanded to infection in preterm/low birth weight neonates and in patients with cystic fibrosis and more recently to application of pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies for treatment of bacterial and fungal invasive infections in paediatrics.

Biography
Dr Andreas H Groll is Professor of Paediatrics, Head of the Infectious Disease Research Programme and Deputy Director of the Department of Haematology/Oncology at the University Children’s Hospital in Münster, Germany. Dr.Groll’s research interests include infectious complications in the immunocompromised host, particularly invasive fungal infections, the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antimicrobial agents, and the design and conduct of clinical research studies. He is a member of several international medical societies, on the editorial board of several international journals and has published more than 300 scientific articles thus far. He is regularly engaged in patient care as Attending Physician of the inpatient and outpatient service and the haematopoietic stem cell transplant program.

Biography
Emmanuel Roilides, MD, PhD is Professor of Paediatrics-Infectious Diseases in Aristotle University School of Medicine at Hippokration General Hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece. He is Fellow of European Confederation of Medical Mycology as well as of European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, member of the Steering Committee of European Paediatric Mycology Network (EPMyN). His research focuses on serious infections in neonates and children. He is the author of >680 peer reviewed articles and book chapters with >15000 citations. He has been co-ordinator or partner in several multicentre or multinational studies. He leads the national hub of conect4children, a European network of pediatric centers of excellence for clinical studies.

Biography
Oliver Cornely is Director & Chair of Translational Research at the CECAD Institute of the University of Cologne, and Scientific Director of the Center for Clinical Trials. Clinically, he serves as Infectious Diseases Consultant at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.
He is board certified in internal medicine, infectious diseases, haematology, oncology, and emergency medicine, and holds degrees in medical mycology and travel medicine. Originating from an HIV/AIDS clinical research group, Dr Cornely’s research interest centres on infections in immunocompromised hosts, including invasive fungal diseases, antimicrobial resistance, Clostridium difficile infection, and vaccine preventable
infections.
Oliver Cornely is immediate-past President of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM), the roof organization of 28 national mycology societies, and did set up the ECMM Global Guideline Program, ECMM Academy (Fellows program), and ECMM Excellence Center Initiative, designating clinical and microbiological excellence centres after an international audit procedure. He is founder and chair of the Infectious Diseases Scientific Working Group of the European Hematology Association (EHA).
Oliver Cornely is a member of the Council of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) and serves as Chair of the Infectious Diseases Working Party (AGIHO), a working group of the German Society for Haematology and Oncology (DGHO). He was recently elected as site spokesman for Bonn/Cologne for the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF).
Oliver Cornely coordinates guidelines on invasive fungal infections and currently collaborates with mycologists from in 87 countries on tailoring management guidelines to health care settings throughout the world. He intends to intensify global networking, which he regards as paramount to improve management and care of these mostly rare diseases. In September 2022, he was awarded the Johann-Lucas-Schönlein Medal by
the German-speaking Mycological Society (Deutschsprachige Mykologische Gesellschaft e.V.).
In January 2021, he founded the VACCELERATE platform, which currently includes 23 countries and 29 partner institutions for the European Commission to accelerate vaccine development against COVID-19 and future pandemic pathogens.
He published over 600 peer-reviewed articles, books, book chapters, and electronic media; runs the YouTube® channel ID in Motion™, and ranks among the Top 1% most cited researchers. He is a reviewer for numerous medical scientific journals, editorial board member for Haematologica and Infectious Disease, and Editor-in-Chief of Mycoses.

Biography

With over a decade of experience fighting coccidioidal meningitis, Robert (Rob) Purdie brings a unique perspective and passion to mycology advocacy. Rob is the Patient and Program Development Coordinator at the Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical Center and a founding member of MyCARE. He is a lifelong Bakersfield resident who was diagnosed with coccidioidomycosis in 2012. Since his diagnosis, he has been dedicated to raising awareness of the impact Valley Fever has on individuals and communities and fighting to improve outcomes for his fellow patients fighting this challenging fungal infection.

Rob has spearheaded several awareness campaigns for Valley Fever. He has shared his personal knowledge and experience with numerous media entities at the local, state, and national level as well as internationally. His efforts include bringing community awareness through events such as the Valley Fever Walk, which he has helped organize since 2016.

Rob’s legislative efforts have included involvement in multiple aspects of California Assembly Bills on Valley Fever, resulting in $8 million in budget allocations for awareness and research. Rob has continued his efforts at the federal level working with patients and stakeholders to support legislation to improve patient outcomes.

Rob has been a Sponsored Participant and Presenter at workshops hosted by the NIH and FDA, provided Patient Advocacy at a Valley Fever Roundtable in Washington DC and recently at an international roundtable on fungal infections. He coauthored an article published in Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID), a leading journal in the field of infectious diseases with a broad international readership. Rob has many additional presentations scheduled, providing a voice for patients at several research and policy symposiums and meetings in 2023.

Rob’s desire to become involved in broader advocacy efforts springs from the relationships he has built with researchers, clinicians, and stakeholders and the realization that the issues experienced by Valley Fever patients are similar to those of other patients with fungal disease. His path to addressing the broader need was provided through collaborations established under a CDC Cooperative Agreement in mycology. Through these collaborations, Rob connected with additional members of the mycology community who shared his passion and vision for improving the lives of those battling fungal diseases. We trust that with Rob’s passion and guidance, MyCARE will make a difference for patients across the mycology spectrum.

Biography
Prof Maiken Cavling Arendrup (MD) is specialist in clinical microbiology. She holds PhD and Dr. Med. Sci degrees. Currently, Dr. Arendrup is Professor at the University Hospital Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen and the Head of the Mycology Unit at Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, where she is responsible for the fungal laboratory, which receives 13,000 routine and reference samples per year for culture, susceptibility testing, antigen- and antibody-detection, and PCR as well as for the national surveillance programmes of candidaemia and of azole resistance in Aspergillus. She is responsible for the supervision of several PhD students. Prof Arendrup was the founder of the Nordic Society of Medical Mycology (NSMM) the president since the formation of the society in 2003 until 2018. She is chair of the EUCAST Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee Steering Committee, head of the EUCAST Development Laboratory for fungi. In 2017 she was appointed Fellow of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and in 2018 honouree member of the NSMM. Prof Arendrup has authored 280 publications in international journals and as book chapters. She has received two research awards. Her main research interests include the epidemiology, susceptibility, breakpoint development, diagnostics and treatment of fungal infections.