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. For example, Cryptococcosis, Aspergillosis, Histoplasmosis, Blastomycosis and Coccidioidomycosis.

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 dermatology, technologists and science graduates. 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.

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.

Staff

David Ellis BSc Hons, MSc, PhD, FASM, FRCPA (Hon).
Head, Mycology Unit, SA Pathology at the Women's and Children's Hospital
Associate Professor, School of Molecular & Biomedical Sciences, University of Adelaide

Stephen Davis BSc, MASM
Senior Medical Scientist

Helen Alexiou BSc, MASM
Medical Scientist, Mycology Unit

Rosie Handke ASDMLS
Senior Technical Officer

Tracey Williams HNC
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: dellis@adelaide.edu.au