Elaine Bignell

Elaine Bignell is a Professor of Infection Biology at the University of Manchester and Co-Director of the Manchester Fungal Infection Group (MFIG). She leads the Division of Immunology, Immunity to Infection, and Respiratory Medicine. Her research focuses on fungal pathogenesis, particularly Aspergillus fumigatus, aiming to develop novel antifungal therapies. Key areas include pH signaling, host-pathogen interactions, and in vivo infection modeling.

• BSc (Hons) Biochemistry from University of East Anglia
• PhD in Molecular Genetics from Imperial College London

Research Interests: Elucidating fungal pathogenicity mechanisms, identifying therapeutic targets, and advancing quantitative models of host-pathogen dynamics. Her work spans molecular genetics, transcriptomics, and collaborative mathematical modeling. Active in professional committees such as the UK Wellcome Trust Strategic Award for Medical Mycology and the British Mycological Society.

Recent work highlights include discovering druggable fungal kinases and defining host immune responses to Aspergillus infections. Funded projects include Medical Research Council grants for pathogenicity factor censuses and tissue invasion studies.

Collaborations and grants focus on antifungal drug discovery and fungal genomics. Supervised 8 research projects, advancing next-generation therapeutics.