Academic Research...
Directions of Academic Investigations:
Medical Mycology
The majority of work in this area involves the pathogenesis of the endemic fungal pathogen H. capsulatum. The work focuses on this pathogen's ability to overcome the antimicrobial effects of the macrophage initial inflammatory response and thus modulate the downstream consequences of the host adaptive immunity. The hypothesis is that the pathogen has evolved defensive mechanisms of its own to overcome the toxic effects of the oxidative burst. Some of these mechanisms involve the production and secretion of various catalase enzymes, to degrade the toxic hydrogen peroxide, the evolution of an alternative oxidative phosphorylation pathway, capable of degrading toxic nitric oxide, and mechanism or mechanisms to inhibit the fusion of the lethal phagolysosomal vacuoles. Work published in these areas can be found listed in the publication page.
Other work has been done involving similar mechanisms in other fungal pathogens such as Blastomyces dermatitidis, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus fumigatis, Cryptocococus neoformans, and Coccidioditis immitis. This work has emphasized comparisons between these pathogens and Histoplasma capsulatum with the intention of determining the presence of absence of similar mechanisms as described earlier. These results indicate some mechanisms, such as the synthesis of numerous catalase enzymes, are shared among most of these pathogens; while others, such as the ability to inhibit lysosomal fusion, are lacking. The possibility is that the absence of some of these defensive mechanisms may be involved in controlling the level of virulence of the pathogen and thus whether or not it fills the niche of a primary or opportunistic pathogen.
Academic Research Details
Histoplasma capsulatum and stress during pathogenesis
External pathogenic fungal proteome
Malonyl CoA levels during fat biosynthesis
Alzheimer’s pathogenesis and Diagnostics
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