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Samples of yeast collected round Baltimore, which might be being stress-tested on the Casadevall lab at Johns Hopkins College.
Casadevall Lab
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Casadevall Lab
Samples of yeast collected round Baltimore, which might be being stress-tested on the Casadevall lab at Johns Hopkins College.
Casadevall Lab
Over six million fungal species are believed to inhabit Earth, and fungal infections are chargeable for over 1.5 million deaths a year globally. Many of the infections occur amongst individuals with compromised immune techniques.
Outsmarting them is the work of Arturo Casadevall’s lifetime.
“I desire a higher understanding of the fungal world. I feel the fungal world carries existential threats to humanity,” mentioned Arturo Casadevall, who’s a professor and chair of the molecular microbiology and immunology division on the Johns Hopkins Faculty of Public Well being.
What If Fungi Win? is the query on the coronary heart of Casadevall’s new e-book, co-authored with journalist Stephanie Desmon. The e-book traces Casadevall’s journey from Cuba to combatting the pathogenic powers of fungi at his lab in Baltimore.
Dr. Arturo Casadevall is a frontrunner in fungal microbiology and immunology. He not too long ago co-wrote “What If Fungi Win?” with journalist Stephanie Desmon for Johns Hopkins College Press.
Casadevall Lab
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Dr. Arturo Casadevall is a frontrunner in fungal microbiology and immunology. He not too long ago co-wrote “What If Fungi Win?” with journalist Stephanie Desmon for Johns Hopkins College Press.
Casadevall Lab
Casadevall’s ardour for this work started throughout the AIDs disaster in 1988, whereas witnessing an HIV affected person succumb to a Cryptococcus neoformans an infection. Although cryptococcal meningitis is fully treatable, the affected person’s immune system couldn’t combat again the invasion.
“Presently, infectious illness therapies give attention to killing the bug. We have to do extra to assist the host,” Casadevall informed NPR’s Quick Wave podcast throughout a latest go to.
For many years, the immunologist has been pushing for higher anti-fungal therapies. He hopes that sooner or later there will probably be a vaccine to stop and deal with fungal illness.
He’s additionally involved in regards to the potential for fungal outbreak to have an effect on the worldwide crop provide.
“When you develop fungicides, we will maintain the threats underneath management whereas on the identical time persevering with to discover the fantastic issues [fungi] give us. From wine to cheese to bread. It is a world you do not see, as a result of it’s largely under your toes, and hidden from you,” says Casadevall.
Discovering fungi in city warmth islands
Ahead-thinking-about-fungi is the signature of the Arturo Casadevall Lab, a gaggle of almost two dozen researcher finding out microbial illness from each angle.
Amongst them is postdoctoral analysis fellow Daniel Smith, who’s trying to find fungi on scorching Baltimore sidewalks —and stress-testing them.
Most fungi can’t survive on the human physique temperature of 37 levels Celsius, or 98.6 levels Fahrenheit.
In contrast to the world depicted within the online game and HBO sequence The Last of Us, there aren’t any fungal outbreaks inflicting mass societal collapse.
Nevertheless, one a part of the story rings true: Rising world temperatures may very well be increasing the areas the place some fungi can survive.
Did fungi contribute to the demise of the dinosaurs? That is one in every of Casadevall’s theories, commemorated by a laboratory door ornament.
Casadevall Lab
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Casadevall Lab
Did fungi contribute to the demise of the dinosaurs? That is one in every of Casadevall’s theories, commemorated by a laboratory door ornament.
Casadevall Lab
In drought-stricken components of California and Arizona, for instance, drought is kicking up the spores of Coccidioides, the fungi that causes Valley Fever.
Hotter temperatures may enable fungi to adapt to human temperatures and invade the physique. That seems to be the case with Candida auris, a drug-resistant fungus first detected in 2009 in Japan. It has now been reported in 50 international locations and 6 continents.
Smith desires to get forward of the following outbreak and cease it earlier than it begins.
Daniel Smith shares a collection of molds and yeasts, grown from dust and sidewalk samples collected round Baltimore, MD. Smith is a postdoctoral analysis fellow within the Casadevall Lab.
Casadevall Lab
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Casadevall Lab
Daniel Smith shares a collection of molds and yeasts, grown from dust and sidewalk samples collected round Baltimore, MD. Smith is a postdoctoral analysis fellow within the Casadevall Lab.
Casadevall Lab
Utilizing warmth maps from the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Smith has begun to establish the most well liked sidewalks in Baltimore. These “warmth islands” are sometimes within the lower-income components of town.
As soon as there, Smith appears to be like for fungi by scooping up samples into somewhat tube or sticking a Starburst into the sidewalk terrain. “The heat of the sidewalk actually helps it really get soften somewhat bit and get into the nitty gritty of the sidewalk materials,” he defined.
From these samples, Smith picks off these mould colonies and begins testing their sensitivity to warmth and different stressors.
Although additional analysis is required, there may be some indication that fungi in hotter neighborhoods are extra heat-resistant and are in a position to stand up to hotter temperatures than fungi in cooler neighborhoods.
“Figuring out that they are adapting to an surroundings is vital to know beforehand,” Smith mentioned, whereas sifting by petri dishes stuffed with yeast colonies. “So if the NIH is listening…” he trails off with a grim giggle.
The Casadevall Lab out to lunch
Casadevall Lab
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Casadevall Lab
The Casadevall Lab out to lunch
Casadevall Lab
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At the moment’s episode was produced by Jessica Yung and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. It was fact-checked by Tyler Jones. The audio engineer was Gilly Moon.
