Fighting Fungal Pathogens

Among the risks posed by a rapidly changing climate is the threat of fungal pathogens. Fungal infections currently cause 1.5 million deaths worldwide, and rising temperatures have the potential to make pathogenic fungi still more dangerous.

Erica J. Washington, PhD, a Duke Science and Technology Scholar, is exploring a crucial enzyme pathway that enables fungi to survive high temperatures. If researchers can disrupt this pathway, they may make fungi more vulnerable to warmer temperatures and potentially prevent fungal infections.

Another Duke Science and Technology Scholar, Amy Gladfelter, PhD, has identified a protein that helps fungi and plants  adapt to changing conditions, including temperature. Her work has the potential to help make crops more heat-tolerant and to render pathogenic fungi less resilient.

Still another Duke scientist, Asiya Gusa, PhD, is exploring whether environmental disruptions make the fungus Cryptococcus, a particularly dangerous pathogen for people with compromised immune systems, even more virulent by increasing the spread of spores.

Duke Health experts are hard at work to protect individuals and populations from the risks changing conditions may pose to human health.