Aiming to accelerate research initiatives in the field of fungi or invasive fungal infections prevalent in India, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) will soon begin research in the domain of medically important fungi with focus on the aspects of molecular epidemiology, pathogenesis and mechanism of fungal diseases, diagnosis of invasive fungal infection and drug development.
The fungi or invasive fungal infections prevalent in India include Candida tropicalis and other Candida spp. that cause blood stream infections; Aspergillus flavus and other Aspergillus spp. involved in fungal rhinosinuisitis, ABPA and endophthalmitis; Zygomycetes; and Cryptococcus neoformans.
The focus aspects of molecular epidemiology for the programme included molecular genotyping of clinical and environmental isolates of Indian patients, and comparative genomics: phylogenetic analysis of Indian isolates and comparison with world-wide data.
The focus area under Pathogenesis and mechanism of fungal diseases included immune surveillance of specific genes for vaccine preparation, virulence factors, and development of in-vitro model systems for understanding host-pathogen interactions.
Under the diagnosis of invasive fungal infection, the focus will be on development of point of care immunoassays, DNA based diagnostics, and validation of diagnostic techniques.
And under the drug development category, the focus will be on Identification of enzymes and other targets for antifungal development Structure based design of compounds; QSAR studies; Susceptibility studies against different pathogens; Mode of action, in vitro enzyme assays, cytotoxicity; transport, resistance and mechanistic studies; and other routes for anti-fungal development – antimicrobial peptides, natural products, microbial secondary metabolites.
The DBT has already invited research proposals from investigators and scientists actively engaged in the field of Medical Mycology preferably in the form of multi-centric consortium.