dgeiser

As Chris' PhD advisor I endorse this work! Starting with Ning Zhang (postdoc) and Dylan Short (PhD student) in my lab, we found that a large portion of Fusarium human infections were caused by species that are common in plumbing systems (Zhang et al. 2006; Short et al. 2011; 2013: 2014). The most common of these, which we described as Fusarium keratoplasticum (Short et al. 2013) is extremely common in plumbing systems and the most frequent cause of human infections, but virtually unknown other than in highly anthropogenically influenced settings. Then work from Javier Diéguez-Uribeondo's lab (Sarmiento-Ramirez et al. 2014) showed that F. keratoplasticum, along with the more soil borne human pathogen F. falciforme, was found destroying sea turtle eggs worldwide. This discovery opens up major questions about the natural ecology and epidemiology associated with these very common and very interesting fungi and the diseases they cause. Chris' project represents a key next discovery step in figuring that out.