Hi! I’m Jenny & I’m doing my PhD with @oxonandrew of @UK_CEH & @fisher_mat of @imperial_college on drug-resistant #Aspergillus fumigatus in the environment and its relevance for human health. [1/12] #AMR #OneHealth #mycology #WallingfordECRTweets

#Aspergillus fumigatus is found everywhere – in air & soil, indoors & outdoors, in every country – and plays an important role as a decomposer. It produces tiny spores that float on air currents & it is estimated we inhale 100s of these spores every day. [2/12]

For most of us the spores will be cleared by our innate immune system with no ill effects, but in others the spores can cause #aspergillosis – illnesses ranging from severe #asthma, to chronic colonisation of the lung, to invasive disease. [3/12] @aspertrust @AspergillusWeb

#Aspergillosis diseases are treated with #antifungal drugs containing #azoles. Azole-resistant infections are increasing, even in patients that have never received azole drugs before. This suggests that #Aspergillus fumigatus is acquiring resistance in the environment. [4/12]

To study this, I asked volunteers in the UK to collect air & soil samples on #solstice & #equinox dates from June 2018 to June 2019: #ScienceSolstice, #AutumnAirquinox, #WinterScienceSolstice, #SpringAirquinox & #SummerSoilstice. #citizenscience [5/12]

The project was hugely successful with 688 citizen scientists collecting 1,293 air samples & 509 soil samples, from which I cultured 7,540 #Aspergillus fumigatus colonies! People took part from 47 of 48 English counties (just missed Rutland!), Wales, Scotland & N. Ireland. [6/12]

Citizen science engagement was brilliant with many participants Tweeting & sending photos of them taking part in air & soil sampling. Lots of lovely messages of support handwritten on questionnaires and great interest in results! [7/12] #citizenscience #mycology

All colonies were tested for growth on tebuconazole, the 3rd most sprayed azole in UK agriculture. Agricultural azoles are used to prevent destruction of crops by fungal pathogens & many are similar in structure to medical azoles used to treat #aspergillosis. [8/12] #OneHealth

Azole-resistance is commonly caused by mutations in a gene called cyp51A & its promoter region. I plan to extract DNA from #Aspergillus fumigatus that grew on tebuconazole & sequence this gene region to find mutations responsible for azole-resistance. [9/12] #moleculargenetics

I will then use @UK_CEH Land Cover plus Pesticides map to determine whether resistant #Aspergillus fumigatus were collected from areas with high spray rates of azole fungicides. [10/12] #spatialmodelling https://www.ceh.ac.uk/services/ceh-land-cover-plus-products-fertilisers-pesticides

Here's a blog if you'd like to read more about my project! [11/12] https://wwwf.imperial.ac.uk/blog/imperial-medicine/2019/01/09/strength-in-numbers-monitoring-of-fungicide-resistance-with-the-help-of-500-citizen-scientists/

Thank you to my funder @NERCscience, PhD program @SSCP_DTP, institutes @UK_CEH & @imperialcollege, supervisors @OxonAndrew & @fisher_mat, group @fisher_lab, colleagues @drswel, @AmelieBrackin & @JohannaRhodes, @aspertrust & 688 amazing citizen scientists! Any questions? [12/12]