Thanks to DiMeN flexible funding, I was able to attend the Molecular Mechanisms of Host-Pathogen Interactions and Virulence in Human Fungal Pathogens Advanced Lecture Course (HFP) in La Colle sur Loup, France, in May 2024. This is a week long lecture course which aims to disseminate the latest fungal research and provide early career researchers with a platform to interact with leaders in the field, gain feedback on their research and form new networks.
The lecture course covered fungal pathogens from a range of perspectives, including molecular biology, epidemiology, ecology and host-pathogen interactions. I found the diversity of approaches very useful in giving me a more holistic view of fungal infections. These lectures also taught me about new techniques for genetic modification of fungi, such as conditional CRISPRi, which I may be able to use in my project. The interactive workshops at HFP allowed me to do some technical troubleshooting.
The most useful part of the lecture course was gaining feedback and advice on my research from the speakers. The course had a large emphasis on maintaining clinical relevance by validating findings with clinical isolates, which highlighted a gap in my project that I have since carried out experiments to resolve. I was also given useful advice on my preprint article, which has helped me to decide on a series of experiments to do before trying to publish and to anticipate some potential reviewers comments. Having conversations with other ECRs gave me an opportunity to establish new connections for our lab. I was able to obtain some clinical isolates of Candida auris from St George’s Hospital, London, thanks to a connection I made at HFP.
Overall, I had a fantastic experience at HFP 2024. Attending this lecture course helped to inspire new experiments and improve my preprint article before I try to publish. I am very grateful to DiMeN for providing me with the funding to attend HFP 2024 and I would highly recommend the lecture course to anyone involved in fungal research.
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