Two new APS doctoral researchers

| by Mark Gresnigt

This month two new doctoral researchers started their work in the Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies.

Karen (Kar On) Cheng did her Masters at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology under supervision of Prof. Pingbo Huang and worked as a research assistant with Prof. Patrick CY Woo focusing on virulence factors in Talaromyces marneffei. After which she worked as a Research Support Specialist at the University at Buffalo in the lab of Prof. Mira Edgerton focusing on the effects of Candida albicans Sap6, a secreted aspartyl protease, on human oral epithelial immunity.

In her PhD project Karen will work on uncovering novel aspects of the pathogenesis of vulvuvaginal candidiasis in a collaborative project funded by the the Research Foundation – Flanders led by Prof. Patrick van Dijck at KU Leuven.

Candela Fernández-Fernández did her masters in the Spanish Mycology Reference Lab l National Centre for Microbiology under supervision of Dr. Alicia Gómez focusing on Characterisation of secondary metabolites in infection models of the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus.

In her PhD project Candela will work on how Candida albicans adapts to the host immune system in the DFG-funded Emmy Noether project.