And of course I would like to add @jenmgshe.bsky.social , thank you for laying the groundwork!

This flipped perspective of measuring the air embeds epidemiological thinking into our studies. And perhaps most exciting: as long as you can develop a selective medium for your fungus, large-scale aerobiological surveillance is absolutely feasible. I’m curious to see which fungus is up next!

I think this study nicely shows how integrating air sampling with land-use data, and partnering with enthusiastic citizen scientists, can uncover hidden patterns in fungal transmission pathways. Also, although stressful at times, conducting a first citizen science project was also lots of fun!

We then launched a Dutch citizen science project led by @bobriggeman.bsky.social and Hylke. Screening over 60K (!) colonies, we found 4% triazole resistance. By combining this with land-use data, flower bulbs and greenhouses showed to best predict local peaks in antifungal resistance.

This inspired us to tweak the approach and Hylke began using an insect delta trap, exposed the seals for 4 weeks, and recovered far more colonies. In addition, growing A. fumigatus with a selective medium was a total game changer for processing a high sample volume.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

In 2023, Jennifer Shelton showed that citizen scientists could capture A. fumigatus spores using adhesive seals exposed for 8 hours in the UK. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The method worked great, but the short exposure time didn’t yield enough colonies to estimate resistance proportions.

Many researchers have measured high levels of resistant A. fumigatus in soils and plant material from agricultural sites. But what this meant for the airborne population, which humans actually inhale, wasn’t clear.

I saw it in the Dutch news, ‘a dangerous’ fungus being smuggled into the USA. I had to read it twice. I guess we are talking about the same?? 🤪

Fantastic news Amelia! Congrats 🎉

We can sure use positive news like this! Congratulations 👏

Congratulations, a big milestone! 🥳🍾

And important to point out that 'new' does mean unqualified or unable to do so. Some new PIs are doing an amazing job 😀

As long as you feel like it still applies? In Japan it sometimes takes decades of training to become a professional of a specific job... I like the idea of taking time to learn something properly! No rush right, it is still some time before we retire 😀

Ah good 🤗