R&D

As the reference lab for the National Aspergillosis Centre (Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust) and a partner to the Manchester Fungal Infection Group (University of Manchester), we are uniquely situated to carry out research and service development into diagnostics for aspergillosis, particularly chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) and Aspergillus fumigatus.

We have the critical mass needed to carry out cutting-edge research using new technologies. We provide mycological testing and expertise to pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials to developing new antifungals (e.g. isavuconazole, ibrexafungerp, PC786, Pulmatrix PUR1900). We are also involved in therapeutic drug monitoring of newer antifungals such as isavuconazole.

Our latest publications

List of research publications

Last updated: 15 Nov 2024

The impact of the fungal priority pathogens list on medical mycology: A perspective from Northern Europe Arendrup, M. C., Armstrong-James, D., Borman, A. M., Denning, D., Fisher, M. C., Gorton, R., Maertens, J., Martin-Loeches, I., Mehra, V., Mercier, T., Price, J., Richardson, R., Wake, R., Andrews, N. & White, P. L., 1 Jul 2024, In: Open Forum Infectious Diseases. ofae372.

Treatment of cerebral aspergillosis with isavuconazole: an EFISG study ESCAI & EFISG, 2 Jul 2024, (Accepted/In press) In: Clinical infectious diseases .

COVID-19-Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis Isolates Are Genomically Diverse but Similar to Each Other in Their Responses to Infection-Relevant Stresses ECMM-CAPA Study Group, 22 Mar 2023, In: Microbiology spectrum. e0512822.

European candidaemia is characterised by notable differential epidemiology and susceptibility pattern: Results from the ECMM Candida III study Arendrup, M., Arikan-Akdagli, S., Jorgensen, K., Barac, A., Steinmann, J., Toscano, C., Arsenijevic, V., Sartor, A., Lass-Flörl, C., Hamprecht, A., Matos, T., Rogers, B., Quiles, I., Buil, J., Özenci, V., Krause, R., Bassetti, M., Loughlin, L., Denis, B. & Grancini, A. & 27 others, , 1 Nov 2023, In: Journal Of Infection. 87, 5, p. 428-437 10 p.

Guideline adherence and survival of patients with candidaemia in Europe: results from the ECMM Candida III multinational European observational cohort study ECMM Candida III Study Group, 8 Jun 2023, In: The Lancet. Infectious diseases. 23, 6, p. 751-761 11 p.

Predictors for Prolonged Hospital Stay Solely to Complete Intravenous Antifungal Treatment in Patients with Candidemia: Results from the ECMM Candida III Multinational European Observational Cohort Study Egger, M., Salmanton-García, J., Barac, A., Gangneux, J., Guegan, H., Arsic-Arsenijevic, V., Matos, T., Tomazin, R., Klimko, N., Bassetti, M., Hammarström, H., Meijer, E., Meis, J., Prattes, J., Krause, R., Sipahi, O., Scharmann, U., White, P., Desoubeaux, G. & García-Rodríguez, J. & 34 others, , 1 Dec 2023, In: Mycopathologia. 188, 6, p. 983-994 12 p.

An overview of using fungal DNA for the diagnosis of invasive mycoses White, P. L., Alanio, A., Brown, L., Cruciani, M., Hagen, F., Gorton, R., Lackner, M., Millon, L., Morton, C. O., Rautemaa-richardson, R., Barnes, R. A., Donnelly, J. P. & Loffler, J., 16 Feb 2022, In: Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics.

Guideline adherence predicts Survival of Candidemia in Europe: Results from the ECMM Candida III multinational European Cohort Study ECMM Candida III Study Group$ & Rautemaa-Richardson , R., 30 Sept 2022, (Accepted/In press) In: The Lancet.

Incidence of candidaemia in prolonged venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation Monk, E. J. M., Rautemaa-Richardson, R., Felton, T., Montalti, A., Parkes, M., Templeton, R., Ashworth, A., Garcia, M., Barker, J. & Thomas, S., 1 Jan 2022, In: Journal of Hospital Infection. 119, p. 49-53 5 p.

Prognostic impact of bronchoalveolar lavage galactomannan and Aspergillus culture results on survival in COVID-19 ICU patients: a post-hoc analysis from the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM) COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) Study Giacobbe, D. R., Prattes, J., Wauters, J., Dettori, S., Signori, A., Salmanton‐garcía, J., Maertens, J., Bourgeois, M., Reynders, M., Rutsaert, L., Van Regenmortel, N., Lormans, P., Feys, S., Klimko, N., Shadrivova, O., Cornely, O. A., Rautemaa-Richardson , R., Koehler, P., Lagrou, K. & Bassetti, M. & 1 others, , 15 Feb 2022, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of clinical microbiology.

Risk factors and outcome of pulmonary aspergillosis in critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 patients: a multinational observational study by the European Confederation of Medical Mycology ECMM-CAPA Study Group, Prattes, J., Wauters, J., Giacobbe, D. R., Salmanton-García, J., Maertens, J., Bourgeois, M., Reynders, M., Rutsaert, L., Van Regenmortel, N., Lormans, P., Feys, S., Reisinger, A. C., Cornely, O. A., Lahmer, T., Valerio, M., Delhaes, L., Jabeen, K., Steinmann, J. & Chamula, M. & 6 others, , Apr 2022, In: Clinical Microbiology and Infection. 28, 4, p. 580-587 8 p.

Risk factors for Intra-Abdominal Candidiasis in Intensive Care units: results from EUCANDICU study Rautemaa-Richardson , R. & et al., 10 Jan 2022, (Accepted/In press) In: Infectious diseases and therapy.

A prospective longitudinal study of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis in pulmonary tuberculosis in Indonesia (APICAL) Setianingrum, F., Rozaliyani, A., Adawiyah, R., Syam, R., Tugiran, M., Sari, C. Y. I., Nandipinto, F., Ramnath, J., Arifin, A. R., Handayani, D., Burhan, E., Rumende, M. C., Wahyuningsih, R., Rautemaa-Richardson , R. & Denning, D. W., 23 Jul 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Thorax.

Candidaemia incidence in prolonged veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Monk, E. J., Rautemaa-Richardson , R., Felton, T., Montalti, A., Parkes, M., Templeton, R., Ashworth, A., Garcia, M., Barker, J. & Thomas, S., 20 Sept 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Hospital Infection.

Diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 associated pulmonary apergillosis in critically ill patients: results from a European confederation of medical mycology registry Prattes, J., Wauters, J., Giacobbe, D. R., Lagrou, K., Hoenigl, M., Koehler, P., Salmanton-garcía, J., Rautemaa-richardson, R., Hatzl, S., Maertens, J., Debaveye, Y., Bourgeois, M., Reynders, M., Rutsaert, L., Van Regenmortel, N., Lormans, P., Feys, S., Reisinger, A. C., Cornely, O. A. & Lahmer, T. & 6 others, , 16 Jul 2021, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Intensive care medicine.

Impact of airway Exophiala spp. on children with cystic fibrosis Mills, R., Rautemaa-Richardson , R., Wilkinson, S., Patel, L., Maitra, A. & Horsley, A., 12 Mar 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Cystic Fibrosis.

Recurrent Vulvovaginal Candidiasis: a Dynamic Interkingdom Biofilm Disease of Candida and Lactobacillus Mckloud, E., Delaney, C., Sherry, L., Kean, R., Williams, S., Metcalfe, R., Thomas, R., Richardson, R., Gerasimidis, K., Nile, C. J., Williams, C., Ramage, G. & Chia, N. (Editor), 10 Aug 2021, (E-pub ahead of print) In: mSystems. 6, 4

The Current State of Clinical Mycology in Africa: A ECMM and ISHAM survey
Driemeyer, C., Falci, D. R., Oladele, R., Bongomin, F., Ocansey, B., Govender , N. P., Hoenigl, M., Gangneux, J.-P., Lass-Flörl, C., Cornely, O. A., Alanio, A., Guinea, J., Morrissey, C. O., Rautemaa-Richardson , R., Chakrabarti, A., Meis, J. F., Bruns, C., Stemler, J. & Pasqualotto, A. C., 24 Dec 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: The Lancet. Microbe.

Breaking the mould: challenging the status quo of clinical trial response definitions for invasive fungal diseases – a debate Maertens, J., Slavin, M., Hoenigl, M., THOMPSON III, G. R., Richardson, M. & Lass-Flörl, C., 1 May 2024, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Development of a novel mycobiome diagnostic for fungal infection Weaver, D., Novak-Frazer, L., Palmer, M., Richardson, M., Bromley, M. & Bowyer, P., 19 Feb 2024, In: BMC Microbiology. 24, 1, 63.

Aneuploidy is associated with azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus Khateb, A., Gago, S., Bromley, M., Richardson, M. & Bowyer, P., 28 Mar 2023, In: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 67, 4, e01253-22.

Comparison of β-1-3-D-Glucan and Candida Mannan Biomarker Assays with Serological Tests for the Diagnosis of Candidemia Eades, C. P., Bakri, A. R. B. A., Lau, J. C. Y., Moore, C. B., Novak-Frazer, L., Richardson, M. D. & Rautemaa-Richardson, R., 1 Aug 2023, In: Journal of Fungi. 9, 8, 813.

Improving awareness, diagnosis and management of invasive fungal infections in Ghana: establishment of the Ghana Medical Mycology Society Ocansey, B. K., Dadzie, E. A., Eduful, S. K., Agyei, M., Osei, M.-M., Puplampu, P., Asamoah, I., Oladele, R. O., Osaigbovo, I. I., Afriyie-mensah, J. S., Opintan, J. A., Essien-baidoo, S., Chakrabarti, A., Hoenigl, M., Denning, D. W. & Richardson, M. D., 8 Sept 2022, In: Medical Mycology . 60, 9

Antibacterial activity of 2-hydroxyisocaproic acid (HICA) against obligate anaerobic bacterial species associated with periodontal disease Sakko, M., Rautemaa-Richardson , R., Sakko , S., Richardson, M. & Sorsa, T., 2021, In: Microbiology Insights.

ASPERGILLUS IN INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS Richardson, M. & Rautemaa-Richardson , R., 2 Feb 2021, (Accepted/In press) Encyclopedia of Fungi.

CYP51 Paralogue Structure Is Associated with Intrinsic Azole Resistance in Fungi Van Rhijn, N., Bromley, M., Richardson, M. & Bowyer, P., 28 Sept 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: mBio.

Differential proinflammatory responses to Aspergillus fumigatus by airway epithelial cells in vitro are protease dependant Rowley, J., Namvar, S., Gago, S., Labram, B., Bowyer, P., Richardson, M. & Herrick, S., 3 Jun 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Fungi .

Differential Proinflammatory Responses to Aspergillus fumigatus by Airway Epithelial Cells In Vitro Are Protease Dependent Rowley, J., Namvar, S., Gago, S., Labram, B., Bowyer, P., Richardson, M. D. & Herrick, S. E., 10 Jun 2021, In: Journal of Fungi. 7, 6, p. 468

Effect of patient immunodeficiencies on the diagnostic performance of serological assays to detect Aspergillus-specific antibodies in chronic pulmonary aspergillosis Hunter, E. S., Wilopo, B., Richardson, M. D., Kosmidis, C. & Denning, D. W., 11 Jan 2021, In: Respiratory Medicine. 178, 106290.

Global guideline for the diagnosis and management of rare mold infections: An initiative of the ECMM in cooperation with ISHAM and ASM Richardson, M. & et al., 1 Aug 2021, In: The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 21, 8, p. e246-e257

Impact of self-reported environmental mould exposure on COPD outcomes Kosmidis, C., Hashad, R., Mathioudakis, A., McCahery, T., Richardson, M. & Vestbo, J., 5 May 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Pulmonology.

Meteorological factors influence the presence of fungi in the air; a 14-month surveillance study at an adult cystic fibrosis centre Van Rhijn, N., Coleman, J., Collier, L., Moore, C., Richardson, M., Bright-Thomas, R. & Jones, A., 5 Nov 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology.

Molecular epidemiology of Aspergillus fumigatus in chronic pulmonary aspergillosis patients Torre, M. H. V. D., Shen, H., Rautemaa-Richardson , R., Richardson, M. & Novak Frazer, L., 15 Feb 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Fungi

Systemic fungal infections Rautemaa-Richardson , R. & Richardson, M., 6 Aug 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Medicine.

Van Der Torre M, Whitby C, Eades C, Moore C, Novak Frazer L, Richardson M et al. Absence of azole antifungal resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus isolated from root vegetables harvested from UK arable and horticultural soils. Journal of Fungi . 2020; 6: 208

Kosmidis C, Otu A, Moore CB, Richardson M, Rautemaa-Richardson R. Isavuconazole therapeutic drug monitoring during long-term treatment for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 2020; 01511-20.

Setianingrum F, Rautemaa-Richardson R, Shah R, Denning DW. Clinical outcomes of patients with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis managed surgically. European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. 2020; 58: 997-1003 (watch a video of this paper being discussed as part of the NAC Patients & Carers meeting)

Gits-Muselli M, White PL, Mengoli C, Chen S, Crowley B, Dingemans G et al. The Fungal PCR Initiative’s evaluation of in-house and commercial Pneumocystis jirovecii qPCR assays: Toward a standard for a diagnostics assay. Medical Mycology. 2020; 58: 779-788

Glampedakis E, co-author: Richardson M. Invasive aspergillosis due to Aspergillus section Usti: a multicenter retrospective study. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2020; doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa230

Hunter E, Page I, Richardson M, Denning DW. Evaluation of the LDBio Aspergillus ICT lateral flow assay for serodiagnosis of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. PLoS One. 2020.

Koehler P, co-authors: Richardson M, Rautemaa-Richardson R. European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM) Expert Consult – An ECMM Excellence Center Initiative. Mycoses. 2020; 63: 566-572.

Loughlin L, Hellyer TP, White PL, McAuley DF, Morris AC, Posso RB et al. Pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with suspected ventilator-associated pneumonia in UK Intensive Care Units. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2020; 202:1125-1132

Marttila E, Rusanen P, Uittamo J, Salaspuro M, Rautemaa-Richardson R, Salo T. Expression of p53 is associated with microbial acetaldehyde production in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology. 2020.

Marttila E, Grönholm L, Saloniemi M, Rautemaa-Richardson R. Prevalence of bacteraemia following dental extraction – efficacy of the prophylactic use of amoxicillin and clindamycin. Acta Odontologica Scandinavica. 2020 May 25;1-6

Moazam S, Muldoon E, Moore C, Richardson M, Rautemaa-Richardson R. Positive Aspergillus PCR as a marker of azole resistance or sub-therapeutic antifungal therapy in patients with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. Mycoses. 2020; 63: 376-381

Novak-Frazer et al (2020) Deciphering Aspergillus fumigatus cyp51A-mediated triazole resistance by pyrosequencing of respiratory specimens

Osmanov A, Farooq Z, Richardson M, Denning DW. The antiseptic Miramistin: a review of its comparative in vitro and clinical activity. FEMS Microbiology Reviews. 2020; 44: 399-417.

Richardson M, et al. Global guideline for the diagnosis and management of rare mold infections: An initiative of the ECMM in cooperation with ISHAM and ASM. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2020; in press.

Rautemaa-Richardson R, et al. Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW) group. Consensus-based antimicrobial resistance and stewardship competencies for UK undergraduate medical students. JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance. 2020.

Sudradjat FS, Rozaliyani A, Syam R, Adawiyah R, Tugiran M, Sari CYI et al. Evaluation and comparison of automated and manual ELISA for diagnosis of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) in Indonesia. Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease. 2020; 98: 115124.

van der Torre MH, Novak-Frazer L, Rautemaa-Richardson R. Detecting Azole-Antifungal Resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus by Pyrosequencing. Journal of Fungi. 2020; 6: 12. doi: 10.3390/jof6010012

van der Torre et al (2020) Pyrosequencing to detect cyp51A-mediated triazole resistance

Vergidis et al (2020) High-volume culture and quantitative real-time PCR for the detection of Aspergillus in sputum

Vergidis P, Rao A, Moore CB, Rautemaa-Richardson R, Sweeney LC, Morton M et al. Talaromycosis in a Renal Transplant Recipient Returning from South China. Transplant Infectious Disease. 2020

Vergidis P, Moore CB, Novak Frazer L, Rautemaa-Richardson R, Walker A, Denning DW, Richardson MD. High-volume culture and quantitative real-time PCR for the detection of Aspergillus in sputum. Clinical Microbiology and Infection. 2020; 26: 935-940

Wilopo BAP, Hunter E, Richardson M, Denning DW. Optimising the cut-off of the Bordier Aspergillus IgG ELISA for the diagnosis of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. Journal of Microbiological Methods. 2020; 176: 106021.

Wilopo B, Richardson M, Denning DW. Diagnostic Aspects of Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis: Present and New Directions. Current Fungal Infection Reports. 2020;13: 292-300.

Bongomin et al (2019) Isavuconazole and voriconazole for the treatment of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis: A retrospective comparison of rates of adverse events. Mycoses 62, 217–222

Fraczek et al (2019) Detection of Pneumocystis jirovecii by quantitative real-time PCR in oral rinses from Pneumocystis pneumonia asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus patients. Journal de Mycologie Médicale 29, 107–111

Kosmidis et al (2019) Therapeutic drug monitoring and adverse events of delayed-release posaconazole tablets in patients with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. J Antimicrob Chemother 74, 1056–1061

Page et al (2019) Siemens Immulite Aspergillus-specific IgG assay for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis diagnosis. Med Mycol 57, 300–307

Stucky Hunter et al (2019) Evaluation of LDBio Aspergillus ICT Lateral Flow Assay for IgG and IgM Antibody Detection in Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis. J Clin Microbiol 57

Richardson (2019). An introduction to current standards of CARE in invasive fungal disease. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 74, ii2

Schelenz et al (2019) National mycology laboratory diagnostic capacity for invasive fungal diseases in 2017: Evidence of sub-optimal practice. Journal of Infection 79, 167–173

Sanguinetti et al (2019) Diagnosis and treatment of invasive fungal infections: looking ahead. J Antimicrob Chemother 74, ii27–ii37

Saxon C, Edwards A, Rautemaa-Richardson R, Owen C, Nathan B, Palmer B et al. BASHH Guideline on the Management of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis (2019). International Journal of STD and AIDS. 2020.

Bongomin et al (2018) Sequence analysis of isolates of Aspergillus from patients with chronic and allergic aspergillosis reveals a spectrum of cryptic species. Future Microbiology 13, 1557–1563

Page et al (2018) Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of four Aspergillus-specific IgG assays for the diagnosis of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease 91, 47–51

Richardson & Page (2018) Role of Serological Tests in the Diagnosis of Mold Infections. Curr Fungal Infect Rep 12, 127–136

Rautemaa-Richardson et al (2018) Impact of a diagnostics-driven antifungal stewardship programme in a UK tertiary referral teaching hospital. J Antimicrob Chemother 73, 3488–3495

Rodriguez-Goncer et al (2018) Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is associated with adverse clinical outcomes in critically ill patients receiving veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 37, 1251–1257

Fayemiwo et al (2017) Comparative performance of Aspergillus galactomannan ELISA and PCR in sputum from patients with ABPA and CPA. J. Microbiol. Methods 140, 32–39.

Jiménez-Ortigosa et al (2017) Emergence of Echinocandin Resistance Due to a Point Mutation in the fks1 Gene of Aspergillus fumigatus in a Patient with Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 61

Kosmidis et al (2017) Challenges in the management of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. Med Mycol 55, 63–68

Moore et al (2017) First isolation of the pan-azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus cyp51A TR46/Y121F/T289A mutant in a UK patient. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 49, 512–514

Richardson & Page (2017) Aspergillus serology: Have we arrived yet? Med Mycol 55, 48–55

Page et al (2016) Comparison of six Aspergillus-specific IgG assays for the diagnosis of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA). Journal of Infection 72, 240–249

Richardson (2016) An introduction to antifungal stewardship. J Antimicrob Chemother 71, ii3–ii3

Conferences

Our staff produce many peer-reviewed scientific papers and conference presentations each year.

Audits

We regularly carry out clinical audits to help improve the service we provide.