MRC Centre for Medical Mycology

尽管真菌每年感染数十亿人，但真菌对全球疾病负担的主要贡献并未得到广泛认识。虽然大多数感染是不危及生命的表面感染，如脚气，但数以百万计的人患有侵袭性真菌疾病，导致全球死亡率与结核病或疟疾不相上下。尽管真菌感染负担巨大，死亡率很高，但与其他传染病相比，对它们的研究仍然不足，迫切需要在这一领域进行更多的研究。该领域的专家，包括阿伯丁大学的科学家，已经确定了三个需要紧急关注的优先事项：(I)提高我们检测真菌感染的能力，(Ii)开发更好的抗真菌药物，以及(Iii)加强对真菌免疫及其利用来抗击这些疾病的了解。在应对这些挑战方面进展有限，很大程度上是因为在英国和世界范围内缺乏在这一领域工作的基础和临床科学家。英国有一个研究真菌疾病的科学家社区(医学真菌学家)，其中最大的群体在阿伯丁大学(阿伯丁真菌小组，AFG)。AFG由11个独立研究小组组成，总共约80人，是国际公认的这一领域的领导小组。我们的目标是通过建立一个世界领先的医学真菌学研究和培训(MCMM)卓越中心，在AFG的不同专业知识中实现最大的协同潜力。MCMM将专注于进行尖端的跨学科研究，并培训下一代科学家，以提高英国这一被忽视领域的研究能力。建立监测和监测机制将有助于将互补的专门知识领域充分纳入六个令人振奋的研究主题，以解决该领域的主要优先事项。此外，MCMM的成立将导致招聘两名学者，他们的专业知识将为目前的小组增加重要的互补价值，并使我们的研究能力能够扩展到重要的新领域。其中一个职位是生物信息学，它将研究和帮助处理我们的海量生物数据集。这篇文章将赋予我们新的技术，使我们能够对真菌疾病的机制获得重要的见解。第二个职位是免疫学，除了提供尖端科学外，还将有助于促进我们的科学发现转化为新的诊断、预防和治疗应用。MCMM还将被用作一个平台，在更广泛的学术界和公众中提高对真菌疾病管理的认识并影响其政策。MCMM的一个主要目标是通过一系列世界领先的培训计划，通过提供21名基础和临床研究人员，提高英国的医学真菌学能力。这将包括为13名学生定制的为期4年的MRE-PhD课程，将提供其他任何地方都没有的广泛的跨学科培训；3个早期职业奖学金，以促进杰出个人在医学真菌学方面的早期独立研究生涯；5个为优秀的临床实习生提供的5个奖学金，以提供一年的重点学术培训和研究，并为以后的博士研究生奖学金申请奠定基础；以及10个为期8周的夏季奖学金，以激发他们对医学真菌学的兴趣，并促进MCMM与该领域其他中心之间的联系。MCMM研究员、博士生和临床实习生将通过在我们新的研究主题内任命联合监督项目来支持AFG的整合，并将显著促进我们对真菌疾病的理解。

The major contribution of fungi to the global burden of disease is not widely appreciated, despite the fact that fungi infect billions of people annually. While most infections are non-life threatening superficial infections, such as athlete's foot, millions of people contract invasive fungal diseases resulting in global mortality figures that rival those of tuberculosis or malaria. Despite their huge burden and high rates of death, fungal infections remain understudied compared with other infectious diseases and there is a pressing need for more research in this field. Experts in the field, including Aberdeen scientists, have identified three priorities that require urgent attention: (i) to improve our ability to detect fungal infections, (ii) to generate better antifungal drugs, and (iii) to enhance the understanding of fungal immunity and its exploitation to fight these diseases. The limited progress in tackling these challenges is due, in large part, to a lack of basic and clinical scientists working in this field in the UK and worldwide.The UK has a small but highly active community of scientists working on fungal diseases (medical mycologists), with the largest group based at The University of Aberdeen (the Aberdeen Fungal Group, AFG). The AFG, which consists of 11 independent research teams, totalling around eighty individuals, is internationally recognised as a leading group in this field. We aim to achieve maximal synergistic potential within the diverse expertise of the AFG by establishing a world-leading MRC Centre of excellence for research and training in Medical Mycology (MCMM). The MCMM will focus on performing cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and on training the next generation of scientists to increase research capacity in this neglected field in the UK. Establishing the MCMM will facilitate full integration of the complementary areas of expertise into six exciting research themes that address the key priorities of this field. Moreover, creation of the MCMM will lead to the recruitment of two academics whose expertise will add significant complementary value to the current group, and enable expansion of our research capacity into important new areas. One post will be in Bioinformatics, which will study and help process our massive biological datasets. This post will empower new technologies that will allow us to gain important insights into the mechanisms of fungal disease. The second post will be in immunology which, in addition to delivering cutting-edge science, will help promote the translation of our scientific discoveries into new diagnostic, preventative and therapeutic applications. The MCMM will also be used as a platform to raise awareness and influence policy regarding the management of fungal diseases within the broader academic community and the general public.A major objective of the MCMM is to increase capacity in medical mycology in the UK by delivering a cohort of 21 basic and clinical researchers through a range of world leading training programmes. This will include a bespoke four-year MRes-PhD programme for 13 students that will provide a broad interdisciplinary training that is not available anywhere else; 3 Early Career Fellowships to promote an early independent research career in medical mycology for outstanding individuals; 5 Fellowships for excellent clinical trainees to provide one year of focussed academic training and research and to establish a foundation for subsequent PhD fellowship applications; and 10 eight-week summer scholarships for fourth-year medical students to stimulate their interest in medical mycology, and to promote links between the MCMM and other centres in this field. The MCMM Fellows, PhD students and clinical trainees will underpin the integration of the AFG, through appointment to jointly-supervised projects within our new research themes, and will significantly advance our understanding of fungal disease.