Sarah Jane Gurr
Appointment
Fellow
Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities
About
Sarah Jane Gurr’s interest is in plant disease, with particular emphasis on fungal infestations and their global movement and control.
She has modelled movement, assessed global burden and commented on the impact of climate change on pathogen spread. Most recently, she has begun to build models to predict the movement and severity of specific fungal diseases, parametrizing the infection cycle, intercalating host resistance status and integrating this with climate data and time. She is also interested in the emergence of antifungal resistance, the synthesis of the fungal cell wall and in pathogenicity determinants.
Awards
- Huxley Medal, Imperial College
- President’s Medal, The British Mycological Society
- Honorary Professor at Utrecht University
- Senior Research Fellow, Somerville College Oxford
- Research Fellow, James Hutton Institute
Relevant Publications
Fisher, M, Hawkins, N, Sanglard, D and Gurr, SJ (2018). Worldwide emergence of resistance to antifungal drugs challenges human health and food security. Science 360 739-742
Schuster, M, Martin-Udiroz, M, Higuchi, Y, Hacker, C, Steinberg, N, Gurr, SJ, Steinberg, G (2016) Cell wall-forming enzymes are co-delivered in the same vesicle for coordinated formation of the fungal cell wall. Nature Microbiology 1:16149
Bagchi, R, Gallery, RE, Gripenberg, S, Gurr, SJ, Narayan, N, Addis, CE, Freckleton, RP, and Lewis, OT (2014) Pathogens (fungi) and insect herbivores drive rainforest plant diversity and composition. Nature 506:85
Fisher, M, Henk, D, Briggs, C, Brownstein, J, Madoff, L, McCraw, S and Gurr, SJ, (2012) Emerging fungal threats to animal, plant and ecosystem health Nature, 484:185
Spanu, P., et al (2010). Genome expansion and gene loss in powdery mildew fungi reveals trade-offs in extreme parasitism. Science 330:1543
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