The Fungus Olympics

Recently, Dr Sarah Kidd and I participated in the Fungus Olympics. This event is an international competition between laboratories to see how fungal strains use hyphae to navigate microscopic obstacles.

I wanted to share here my experience and fun I had participating in this event. Also, the event was important because we are able to learn much about how fungi sense surfaces: an important aspect of the way in which they cause diseases.

This has developed into an interesting story and I pitched the idea to The Conversation. I have been working on the article a great team there and the piece is nearing completion. Hopefully it will be soon when I can share the published final version.

Until then, I will tease a video from the event which is the first video that I’ve uploaded to YouTube. It shows one of our “athletes” navigating some of the microfluidic obstacles which make up the “events” in the competition.

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