Collections
Browse our collections – bringing together peer-reviewed content from across the Society’s publishing platform on a range of hot topics and subject areas.
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Fungal Pathogenesis: Mechanisms, Resistance, and Threats
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Fungi are a major global health concern, responsible for over a billion infections annually and an estimated 1.5 million deaths each year. Despite their substantial impact on human health and healthcare systems, fungal pathogens have long been underrepresented in research and public health initiatives. In response to this critical gap, the WHO recently published a fungal priority pathogens list, emphasising the urgent need to address both local and global threats posed by fungal infections.
Advancing our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying fungal pathogenesis is pivotal for the development of innovative therapeutics and treatment strategies, offering the potential to reduce mortality and mitigate the burden on healthcare systems worldwide. To capture the current state of play and provide a platform for progress in this field, this collection welcomes submissions across (but not limited to) the following themes:
Fungal Pathogenesis and Virulence
- Mechanisms of fungal pathogenicity (virulence factors)
- Mechanisms of antifungal resistance e.g. efflux, enzymes, tolerance
- Emergence of new strains and their biology
Host Immune Responses to Fungal Infections
- Innate (e.g., macrophages, dendritic cells, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, neutrophils), adaptive (e.g., T-cell, B-cell, antibody), mucosal, skin, organ specific and systemic responses
- Fungal strategies to evade the human host
- Fungal infection in immunocompromised or co-morbid patients
Antifungal Resistance and clinical challenges
- Mechanisms of antifungal resistance
- Challenges and advances in diagnostics
Fungal Interactions
- Influence of microbiome and dysbiosis on fungal colonisation and infection
- Interactions of fungi with other fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa or helminths influencing infection
Emerging threats and innovations
- Impact of climate change, zoonoses and globalisation on fungal transmission
- Advances in vaccines, immunomodulatory therapies and disruption strategies
This collection welcomes Research Articles, Reviews, short communication and Technical Resource article types. Please indicate upon submission that you would like your paper to be considered for the collection.
Editors: Lysangela Alves, Seána Duggan, Campbell Gourlay
Status: Open for submissions
Journals submission links:
Journal of Medical Microbiology
Image credit: iStock/Jannicke Wiik-Nielsen
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Fungal spotlight: Host-associated microbiomes
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Fungi comprise a distinct eukaryotic lineage often associated with their important role as degraders of organic substrates in the environment. However, fungi also form well-known symbiotic association with higher plants, as mycorrhizae, or with algae as lichens. Additionally, fungi are a critical component of the environmental microbiome associated with both plants and animals. The functional role of fungi in these interactions is poorly understood. Increasingly fungi are being recognized as opportunistic pathogens of animals, including humans, and as plant pathogens, are a threat to the global supply of food. Fungi themselves may harbour their own unique microbiome or organise the microbiome of the substrate they colonise.
This collection will feature studies of fungi in host-associated microbiomes, functional analysis of host-fungal or fungal-microbe interactions, the genetic and genomic diversity of host-associated fungi, as well as the impacts of environmental fungi in natural and manmade ecosystems. It is guest edited by Professor Corby Kistler (University of Minnesota), Dr. Ferry Hagen (Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute), Dr. David Fitzpatrick (Maynooth University), and Dr. Daniel Croll (University of Neuchâtel).
Image credit: Corby Kistler (University of Minnesota), US Department of Agriculture (public domain), and Biotec, Thailand
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