BARKER LAB

Barker LaB @ PMI

Cutting edge research on ​Coccidioides
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Lab updates


If you are interested in joining our lab group, we are considering graduate student for enrollment in FALL 2022
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CRISPR technology

The Barker group is now funded by two U19 grants from NIH/NIAID. The work supports several institutions, including NAU, UCSF, UC-Berkeley and UC-Davis. For more information see NIH reporter:
​U19 UCSF
U19 NAU Core​
U19 NAU Project 1

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Soil Ecology

 A recently funded SHERC grant win collaboration with Dr. Anita Antotinka  is allowing us to use molecular techniques to detect Coccidioides ​in soil, and determine effects of desert biocrust on Cocci spore prevalence.

An ABOR funded grant with our sister Arizona institutions ASU and UA will allow us to monitor Cocci in soil over a 3 year period, including data from soil, air and patients!

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morphological switching

The ability of Coccidioides to change morphology in response to environmental changes has implications for infection and sexual recombination. A recent NIH/NIAID R21 grant supported this work. We have discovered the sexual cycle for the organism and are in process of completing work for publication
The Barker Lab is interested in all aspects of Coccidioides biology. We study fungal pathogenesis, genomics and ecology. We are striving to improve our knowledge of the ecological niche of Coccidioides in soil by developing new technologies for detection, and improving our ability to predict the presence of Coccidioides in soil. A method to detect Coccidioides in soil would be both an economic development opportunity, and public health benefit to Arizona citizens. Coccidioidomycosis, also known as Valley Fever, is caused by two fungal species within the Coccidioides genus. These are normally soil dwelling dimorphic fungi that are endemic to the Americas. The most common route of infection is inhaling airborne fungal arthroconidia that are present in the environment. Being exposed to environmental Coccidioides arthroconidia often leads to an asymptomatic infection. In many cases pulmonary coccidioidomycosis can lead to the development of asymptomatic benign nodules. It has been estimated that at least 30% of lung nodules biopsied in the endemic region are caused by coccidioidomycosis. When pulmonary coccidioidomycosis is symptomatic in a host, the clinical presentation mimics pneumonia or other flu-like illness. Even in endemic regions, it is estimated that misdiagnosis of coccidioidomycosis as viral or bacterial pneumonia occurs in 30% of patients. If the acute infection does not resolve, it can progress to chronic and/or disseminated disease, and the specific factors influencing this outcome are unknown.

OUR GOAL

When infected by Coccidioides, some people have severe disease, whereas others won't even know they were exposed- Why?​
Students
Students interested in graduate studies see NAU grad college and contact Dr Barker for more information. Undergraduate students please apply through the PMI website, and specify interest in Coccidioides research.
INFO for Citizen Scientists
We are collecting data from owners of dogs living in the endemic regions 

Please go to 

https://www.tgen.org/research-forms/canine/valley-fever-paws/
Publications
For a full list of pubs- see my google scholar page
  1. Mead HL, Hamm PS, Shaffer IN, Teixeira MM, Wendel CS, Wiederhold NP, Thompson GR 3rd, Muñiz-Salazar R, Castañón-Olivares LR, Keim P, Plude C, Terriquez J, Galgiani JN, Orbach MJ, Barker BM. Differential Thermotolerance Adaptation between Species of Coccidioides. J Fungi (Basel). 2020 Dec 14;6(4):E366. doi: 10.3390/jof6040366. PMID: 33327629.
  2. Mead HL, Roe CC, Higgins Keppler EA, Caballero Van Dyke MC, Laux KL, Funke AL, Miller KJ, Bean HD, Sahl JW, Barker BM. Defining Critical Genes During Spherule Remodeling and Endospore Development in the Fungal Pathogen, Coccidioides posadasii. Frontiers in Genetics. 2020 May; 11. NIHMSID: NIHMS32499817.doi: 10.3389/fgene.2020.00483.

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