Candida auris: An Emerging Fungal Pathogen

Candida auris is an opportunistic fungal pathogen, which has been linked with bloodstream infections in India and South Korea. Unusually, a recent outbreak has occurred in a London Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where twenty patients all developed infections caused by Candida auris. Microsatellite typing of these strains, carried out in Aberdeen, suggests they may all be the same strain type or closely related. This PhD project will design a Multi-Locus Typing Scheme (MLST) to type and compare the twenty strains obtained to date, as well as characterising the strains to determine which phenotypic characteristics have allowed this to emerge as a pathogen in the ICU. Comparative virulence of this species relative to Candida albicans and other pathogenic fungi will be determined in range of in vitro and in vivo models.