The Microbiology Society, together with the British Mycological Society, has announced Dr Harry Chown of Imperial College London, UK, as the winner of the 2025 Tony Trinci Award.
Dr Chown will give his award presentation, ‘The pangenome of Aspergillus fumigatus highlights the dynamics of gene gain-loss over evolutionary time-scales in a human fungal pathogen’ at the British Mycological Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting from 14-17 July 2025, at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
Dr Harry Chown obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Exeter before pursuing a master’s degree and PhD at the University of Manchester. During his doctoral studies, he was based within the Manchester Fungal Infection Group, where he worked on a range of topics, with a particular focus on the development, interrogation, and application of pangenomics in the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. His research contributed to a deeper understanding of the genetic diversity within A fumigatus populations and the implications of genome variability in fungal antimicrobial resistance (fAMR).
Following his PhD, Harry joined Matthew Fisher's group at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Imperial College London, as a research assistant. His current work builds upon the initial pangenome of A fumigatus. Harry’s work leverages comparative genomics, population genetics, and bioinformatics to explore the ecological, environmental, and evolutionary drivers of fAMR. By integrating large-scale genomic datasets with environmental and clinical metadata, he aims to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the emergence and spread of antifungal resistance, with the long-term goal of informing surveillance strategies and fAMR mitigation efforts.
Harry said of the award: “I am incredibly grateful for the recognition of this work through receiving the Tony Trinci Award. It is a great privilege to receive this award from both the Microbiology Society and British Mycology Society. Ultimately, this work spans genomic concepts and bioinformatic approaches across domains of microbial life, which makes receiving the reward from both Societies incredibly special. Having communication with the wider genomics field enables us all to gather insight into novel approaches to investigate ‘omics’ data.”
President of the Microbiology Society, Professor Gordon Dougan FRS said: “Harry’s extensive work on the genomic evolution of a common environmental mould and human pathogen reflects why we created the Tony Trinci Award with the British Mycological Society, which celebrates outstanding mycology and investigative work. I am delighted the Award has gone to such an exceptional winner.”
Harry will present his talk. ‘The pangenome of Aspergillus fumigatus highlights the dynamics of gene gain-loss over evolutionary time-scales in a human fungal pathogen’ at 15.30 on 17 July 2025 as part of the British Mycological Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.