Watching a fungus fight back: mapping antimicrobial resistance in 3-D as it happens (KOEV_U27DTP)

The chemicals that protect our crops and the drugs that treat fungal infections come from the same family. Fungi in the field meet them first — and are arriving in hospitals already resistant. Yet we still do not know what a fungus actually does in the hours after it meets a chemical that does not quite kill it.

We know it fights back. Our recent work shows that within a day of exposure, Aspergillus fumigatus rebuilds its cell wall and rewires its metabolism, then recovers. What we cannot yet see is where this happens. Does the response begin at the outside of the colony, where the chemical arrives first, leaving a sheltered core that survives and regrows? Or does the whole organism respond together?

This project will find out, using a technique developed in our lab that maps chemistry in three dimensions inside living fungal material without cutting it open. You will combine microbiology with cutting-edge magnetic resonance, working across two Norwich Research Park institutes, and help decide where the project goes next.

We welcome applicants from biology, chemistry, physics, or computational backgrounds. No prior NMR experience is required — you will be trained. What matters is curiosity and an interest in working across disciplines.