Congratulations to the newly minted Dr Dan Jones! Thanks to examiners Prof @dralexbrand.bsky.social and Kevin Hardwick for giving him a solid grilling about the Cryptococcus cell cycle and titan cells. You may know Dan through his alter ego, local newscaster Neil Formans @mrccmm.bsky.social

Finally, Dora Corzo-León @forestcita showed that the TG11 antibody can be used to differentiate #mucormycosis from #aspergillosis in a murine model of invasive tissue infection. 11/

Second, Alyssa showed that the TG11 antibody binds similarly to a wide range of important clinical isolates of #mucormycosis including #Rhizopus, #Lichtheimia, #Cunninghamella, and #Mucor species 10/

Together with the talented biophysicist Iana Kalinina, Alyssa also captured binding of the TG11 antibody to growing #Rhizopus arrhizus spores live in a #microfluidics chamber. #mucormycosis 9/

First, Alyssa observed the localisation of the TG11 antibody on germiating spores of Rhizopus arrhizus, one of the most common causes of #mucormycosis. The antibody did not bind inert spores, but did bind strongly to growing hyphae. 8/

Diagnosis of #mucormycosis is frequently based on radiography, CT, biopsy and histology, as in this 2023 clinical report from Choudhary et al., (https://rdcu.be/dWYmW) showing Periodic Acid Schiff staining of aseptate hyphae that can be challenging to accurately identify. 5/