Pathogenic Fungi: A 'myco'-look at fungal pathogens and our future | Jehoshua Sharma

"The fungi we know are better than the fungi we don't." Fungi may be fantastic, but they have an ugly side too. Jehoshua Sharma delves into when fungi are pathogens whether in humans, animals or plants, why climate change makes them more of a concern, and how we can address them.
Jehoshua Sharma is a PhD student from Trinidad and Tobago, currently studying the fungal pathogen Candida albicans at the University of Guelph. His current research looks for compounds that can enhance the activity of known drugs or that can disarm the pathogen of virulence mechanisms that make them harmful to the human host. He is also developing novel CRISPR variants to study the functional genomics of drug resistant Candida albicans isolates. Outside of the lab, Jehoshua is a co-founder of cGEM, a Canadian-wide initiative connecting research groups tasked with using synthetic biology to solve real-world problems. His aim is to give students access to the tools they need to conduct research independently and communicate their research on a wider scale to the public.