Objective Fungal diseases represent a significant and growing threat to human health, particularly since the AIDS pandemic and increasing use of immunosuppressive drugs has produced a massive population of people with impaired immunity who are vulnerable to fungal infections. A great challenge in medical mycology is to understand how fungal virulence evolves. The vast majority of fungal species are not human pathogens and, for those that are, virulence appears to have evolved independently on many different occasions. Identifying the step(s) that convert an environmental fungus into a human pathogen, as well as subsequent changes in virulence within a pathogenic lineage, is therefore of fundamental importance. Based on a number of lines of evidence, I hypothesise that a critical regulator of fungal virulence in animal hosts is the activity of the fungal mitochondrion, an energy-generating organelle present in almost all eukaryotes. I propose to test this hypothesis comprehensively by combining genetic and cell biological approaches with high-resolution imaging methods. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologymycologymedical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusesHIV Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-CG-2013-LS6 - ERC Consolidator Grant - Immunity and Infection Call for proposal ERC-2013-CoG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-CG - ERC Consolidator Grants Host institution THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM EU contribution € 1 991 629,00 Address Edgbaston B15 2TT Birmingham United Kingdom See on map Region West Midlands (England) West Midlands Birmingham Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Robin Charles May (Dr.) Administrative Contact Xavier Rodde (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM United Kingdom EU contribution € 1 991 629,00 Address Edgbaston B15 2TT Birmingham See on map Region West Midlands (England) West Midlands Birmingham Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Robin Charles May (Dr.) Administrative Contact Xavier Rodde (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data