FungiNet

Updated January 10, 2024

FungiNet: Advancing genomic surveillance and epidemiology of fungal diseases

At a glance

  • FungiNet is a global community of practice advancing fungal pathogen genomics to improve outbreak responses and surveillance.
  • Activities include expanding fungal whole genome sequencing, developing data analytic tools, and contributing genomic data to a public database.
  • Public health collaborators can learn how to participate by emailing FungiNet@cdc.gov.

Advancing Fungal Pathogen Genomics

FungiNet, launched in 2021, is a global network of laboratorians, bioinformaticians, and epidemiologists advancing fungal pathogen genomics in public health.

The FungiNet community of practice shares resources to help public health officials:

  • Detect fungal disease outbreaks earlier.
  • Investigate outbreaks more effectively.
  • Track the spread of antimicrobial-resistant fungal pathogens.

FungiNet Domestic includes participants from across the United States, including many collaborators with the Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network.

FungiNet Global currently has participants in Colombia, South Africa, Spain, Bangladesh, and Argentina.

Public health collaborators who want to learn more about participating in FungiNet, including accessing the FungiNet channel on the communication application Slack®, should email FungiNet@cdc.gov.

FungiNet Activities

FungiNet participants collaborate to:

  • Building laboratory and bioinformatics capacity to generate and analyze Candida auris (C. auris) and other fungal pathogen whole genome sequencing data.
  • Develop tools to analyze fungal genomic data.
  • Submit genomic data to the National Center for Biotechnology Information Sequence Read Archive (NCBI SRA), a publicly accessible database.

FungiNet Resources

Publications on Fungal Whole Genome Sequencing
  1. Oltean HN, Etienne KA, Roe CC, Gade L, McCotter OZ, Engelthaler DM, Litvintseva AP. Utility of Whole-Genome Sequencing to Ascertain Locally Acquired Cases of Coccidioidomycosis, Washington, USA. Emerg Infect Dis. 2019 Mar;25(3):501-506. doi: 10.3201/eid2503.181155. PMID: 30789132; PMCID: PMC6390764.
  2. Cuomo CA. Harnessing Whole Genome Sequencing in Medical Mycology. Curr Fungal Infect Rep. 2017;11(2):52-59. doi: 10.1007/s12281-017-0276-7. Epub 2017 Jun 9. PMID: 28904649; PMCID: PMC5570814.
  3. Chow NA, Gade L, Tsay SV, Forsberg K, Greenko JA, Southwick KL, Barrett PM, Kerins JL, Lockhart SR, Chiller TM, Litvintseva AP; US Candida auris Investigation Team. Multiple introductions and subsequent transmission of multidrug-resistant Candida auris in the USA: a molecular epidemiological survey. Lancet Infect Dis. 2018 Dec;18(12):1377-1384. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30597-8. Epub 2018 Oct 4. PMID: 30293877; PMCID: PMC6556114.
  4. Bagal UR, Phan J, Welsh RM, Misas E, Wagner D, Gade L, Litvintseva AP, Cuomo CA, Chow NA. MycoSNP: A Portable Workflow for Performing Whole-Genome Sequencing Analysis of Candida auris. Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2517:215-228. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2417-3_17. PMID: 35674957.