Project title : Recognition of Candida parapsilosis

The cell wall is the first site of interaction between the fungal pathogens and host cells, influencing the immune recognition of fungal cells. The fungal cell wall constituents are pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) that are recognized by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) on the surface of host immune cells, for example monocytes and neutrophils in the circulation and macrophages in infected tissues.

Of the four major families of PRRs, the Toll-like receptor (TLR) family is the best studied, with TLR2 and TLR4, among others, being involved in the fungal recognition. However, antifungal immunity appears to be mediated primarily by members of the C-type lectin receptor (CLR) family, including Dectin-1 and Dectin-2. Nevertheless, the exact role of these PRRs with focus on the immunity against C. parapsilosis needs to be determined.

With using mutant cells lacking enzymes with key roles during the assembly of fungal surface components we are able to understand these cellular processes and the importance of these cell wall elements in the host-phatogen interactions.

As a PhD student, I have been working on the characterization of recognition of C. parapsilosis using different infection models such as cell culture, interaction with primary immune cells and in vivo imaging.