Mycology Unit, SA Pathology at the Women's and Children's Hospital
The Mycology Unit is recognized as a State and National Reference Centre for Medical Mycology.
The Mycology Unit provides a definitive identification service on fungi and yeasts isolated from medical and veterinary clinical specimens. It also performs antifungal drug sensitivity tests on fungi and yeasts, and a serological tests for several systemic fungal infections.
The Mycology unit is also actively involved in the teaching of medical mycology to undergraduate medical students, post-graduate medical students undergoing specialist training in microbiology, infectious diseases and dermatology, and medical technologists and scientists. The unit also hosts a regular national course in medical mycology. Mycology Online is an extension of the reference and teaching activities of the Unit.
Other functions include (a) the provision of the medical mycology component of the Quality Assurance Programme organized by the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia which currently reaches over 120 laboratories situated in Australasia, South East Asia and Oceania; and (b) the maintenance of a reference collection of medically important fungi.
Research Interests
The Mycology Unit has current research interests in the following areas:
Antifungal drug discovery.
Antifungal susceptibility testing.
Ecological and epidemiological studies on Candida, Cryptococcus, Scedosporium, Fusarium, Aspergillus and the dermatophytes.
Fungal and host risk factors for progression of Aspergillus fumigatus colonisation to invasive disease. Collaboration with Dr. Orla Morrissey and A/Prof Monica Slavin (The Alfred Hospital), A/Prof. Debbie Marriott and Prof. Allan Glanville (St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney).
Molecular epidemiology of cryptococcal meningitis in a prospective, consecutive cohort of HIV-infected, ART-naive patients in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Collaboration with Dr. Christina Chang (Monash University), Dr. Orla Morrissey, Prof. Sharon Lewin and Dr. Julian Elliott (The Alfred Hospital).
Global surveillance collaboration for emerging antifungal resistant Aspergillus species (SCARE study). Study co-ordinated by Prof. Paul Verweij (Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands).
Development and implementation of a standardized, reproducible and sensitive sequence typing technique to investigate the global molecular epidemiology of Aspergillus fumigatus. Collaboration with Arun Balajee (CDC) and Corne Klaassen (Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands).
The Emergence of Cryptococcus gattii in British Columbia and Northwest USA. Collaboration with A/Prof. Karen Bartlett and Prof. Jim Kronstad (University of British Columbia, Canada), Dr. Eleni Galanis and the BC Cryptococcal working group (British Columbia Centre for Disease Control).
Staff
Sarah Kidd BMedSc (Hons), PhD, MASM
Head, Mycology Unit, SA Pathology
David Ellis BSc Hons, MSc, PhD, FASM, FRCPA (Hon).
Emeritus Mycologist, SA Pathology
Associate Professor, School of Molecular & Biomedical Sciences, University of Adelaide
Stephen Davis BSc, MASM
Senior Medical Scientist
Helen Alexiou BSc, MASM
Medical Scientist
Peter Norman ASDMLS
Senior Technical Officer
Contact details
Mycology Unit
SA Pathology at
the Women's and Children's Hospital
North Adelaide SA 5006
Tel: +61 8 8161 7365
Fax: +61 8 8161 7589
Email: Sarah.Kidd@health.sa.gov.au
