• Question: Why did you start studying fungi ?

    Asked by slothridley to Donna on 14 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by leejp02.
    • Photo: Donna MacCallum

      Donna MacCallum answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      I initially started studying fungi as part of my PhD. Although there are lots of jokes about mycologists (people who study fungi), we do an important job. Most people think of fungi as mushrooms (which some are), but my interest is in the fungi which cause human disease, such as thrush, athlete’s foot and farmer’s lung. These fungi grow as small, round cells or as thread-like filaments. Although the majority of diseases caused by these fungi are most irritating (itchy!), some of the infections can kill people and it’s really important that we find out how and why this happens.

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