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The fungal pathogen Candida albicans is one of the most persistent yeast pathogens known to man. Most people associate it only with thrush, but, as Michelle Leach explains in the video below, it is actually the fourth most common hospital-acquired bloodstream infection and has a mortality rate of 40-70%.

Michelle is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Toronto and an F1000 Associate Faculty Member in the Microbiology Faculty. We recorded this video when she visited the F1000 offices last week. Michelle describes her research on the thermotolerance of pathogenic infections, and in particular, how C. albicans senses that the body’s temperature is raised and how it then uses that temperature fluctuation to become more pathogenic and establish systemic infection within the host.

This type of research is particularly important because it has been predicted that global warming could increase the virulence and diversity of fungal diseases.