PhD defense: Klara Junker

Prospecting a predator: Exploration of the biocontrol potential of the mycoparasitic yeast Saccharomycopsis schoenii and an integrated microscopic and multiomic characterization of its predatory behaviour

Supervisor
Birgitte Regenberg

Committee
Rasmus Kjøller (internal)
Gianni Liti (external)
Alexandra Brand (external)

Summary
Fungal infections have in the recent years gone from being associated to minor annoyances,to being recognized as a diverse group of emerging killers, now even out numbering the deathtoll of malaria. The human body is adept at keeping fungal pathogens at bay, but when our immune system is down, pathogenic yeast can infect and even kill us. One of the mostrecently emerging pathogens, the yeast Candida auris, was first described in Japan in 2009,but has already spread across the globe. In addition, several strains of C. auris are multi drug resistant.

Development of antifungal drugs has been even less prioritized than the development of new bacterialantibiotics, but the need for novel strategies to combat fungal infections is real. This thesis exploresthe antifungal mechanisms and potentials of Saccharomycopsis schoenii, a little-studied mycoparasitic yeast with the rare ability to attack and kill other fungi including, as I demonstrate, multi drug resistant C. auris.