Editors

Dee Carter
Dee Carter is Professor of Microbiology at the University of Sydney. She has a degree in microbiology and biochemistry from Otago University, New Zealand, and a PhD from Imperial College, London, UK. After postdoctoral fellowships in Montpellier, France, and UC Berkeley, California, USA, she moved to Australia in 1995 to take up a lectureship at the University of Sydney. Dee’s research has encompassed 1) the population genetics and ecology of medically important fungi, including yeast and mould pathogens; 2) responses of fungi to host and antifungal stress, including the production of variant morphological forms; and 3) the transcriptome and proteome response to antifungal therapy, particularly during synergistic interactions between antifungals and natural products. As well as research, Dee teaches microbiology including mycology, epidemiology and molecular biology at Sydney University.

Anuradha Chowdhary
Anuradha Chowdhary is a Professor of Medical Mycology at the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, University of Delhi, India. She received her medical degree in 1992 and MD (Microbiology) degree in 1996 from University of Delhi, India and PhD, from Faculty of Medical Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Netherlands. Dr Chowdhary’s research interests include molecular ecology and population genetics of pathogenic fungi, antifungal drug resistance mechanisms, especially Aspergillus and Candida spp, and the epidemiology of systemic mycoses. She is currently working on molecular epidemiology of Candida auris, terbinafine resistant dermatophytes and azole resistant Aspergillus fumigatus.

Joseph Heitman
Joseph Heitman is James B. Duke Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. His research studies model and pathogenic fungi addressing fundamental questions of scientific and medical importance. Pioneering studies with Baker’s yeast revealed how immunosuppressive natural products interdict signaling cascades via FKBP12-drug complexes, and discovered TOR as a globally conserved nutrient sensor targeted by the immunosuppressive, antiproliferative drug rapamycin. His research discovered unisexual reproduction of pathogenic microbes, with implications for pathogen emergence, how sex generates diversity, and how sex evolved. Dr. Heitman’s lab has further developed genetic and genomic approaches elucidating molecular principles of fungal virulence, identifying therapeutic targets, and illustrating convergent evolution of fungal mating-type loci with mammalian, insect, and plant sex chromosomes, defined the calcium-activated protein phosphatase calcineurin as a globally conserved fungal virulence factor, and elucidated functions of RNAi in microbial pathogen genome integrity, hypervirulent outbreak lineages, and drug resistance via epimutation.

Ulrich Kück
Ulrich Kück is a Professor of General and Molecular Botany at the Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany. He is being graduated in Biology and Chemistry, and has a long standing experience in the molecular biology of fungi, algae, and plants. His research with fungi has focussed on two general aspects: 1st, Genetic engineering of the secondary metabolism of biotechnically relevant filamentous fungi, including functional genomics and proteomics. 2nd, Molecular genetic analysis of cellular growth in filamentous fungus, with the focus on sexual development. In particular, he is interested in the function of mating type loci, and the involvement of conserved signaling complexes, such as the striatin-interacting phosphatases and kinases (STRIPAK) complex, in the control of cellular and developmental processes.