MRCM’s hosts its first ESCMID observership
MRCM was recently approved as a host centre for ESCMID observerships, which are short training visits designed to transfer practical skills and expertise between biomedical scientists in different countries. We were delighted to host our first observer in May 2023 (see below) and look forward to many more
Find out how to apply for an ESCMID observership at MRCM
While many commercial kits and online training materials are available for learning new fungal techniques, an in-person visit is better because it allows for plenty of questions about interpreting results in different patient populations and complex cases. and how to troubleshoot unexpected/failed results
Dr Selin Gamze Kılıç
Dr Kılıç (Ankara University) spent 3 weeks with us learning about fungal diagnostics and how they are used to guide patient treatment, particularly the importance of therapeutic drug monitoring and antifungal resistance
She was also able to learn about how these results are interpreted and used by doctors through shadowing consultants and attending multi-disciplinary team meetings of the National Aspergillosis Centre (a specialist centre for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis)
As a result of her visit she hopes to implement antifungal susceptibility testing at her home institution, which will help doctors to select the best antifungal treatment for each patient and will also help reduce antifungal resistance
Other mycology techniques covered during her visit:
Microscopic identification of moulds from respiratory samples
Preparation of specialist fungal culture media
Panfungal PCR
Pyrosequencing to detect resistance alleles
Yeast and mould susceptibility testing
Flucytosine bioassay
Beta-D-glucan and galactomannan assays
Hair/nail/skin sample processing and ID