Objective
The number of people who die from fungal infections is estimated to be equivalent to or greater than the numbers that die from either tuberculosis or malaria. There are only 3 classes of antifungal drugs available to treat these invasive diseases and resistance against these drugs is increasing. In this study I will investigate how antifungal resistance is impacted by cell heterogeneity in the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus. The main hypothesis that I will test is that fungal cell heterogeneity provides subpopulations of cells with greater fitness to resist antifungal treatment. I will determine: (1) which features of three distinct fungal cell types contribute to cell heterogeneity; (2) which cell types and subpopulations of these cells show highest resistance or survival against antifungals; and (3) the roles of septal plugging and cell ploidy in the mechanistic basis of fungal cell heterogeneity. Cutting edge technologies that will be used in this study will include: (1) flow cytometry and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) to identify and select cell subpopulations to test their antifungal resistance, (2) automated, high throughput, high content live cell imaging to analyse the resistance of single cells to antifungals, (3) advanced live-cell imaging techniques including GFP photoactivation and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) to identify septal pore plugging; and (4) laser microdissection to further analyse septal pore plugging. With these advanced techniques I will study the mechanistic basis of fungal resistance mediated by cell heterogeneity. My results will ultimately show how fungal cell heterogeneity impacts fitness against antifungal drugs and they will be the starting point for designing novel antifungal therapies that reduce this fitness.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases malaria
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases RNA viruses HIV
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine pneumology tuberculosis
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics epigenetics
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2014
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
M13 9PL Manchester
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.