Enhancing fluconazole efficacy and precision through novel molecular and nanoscale approaches. – University of Birmingham

Lead applicant

Dr Hung-Ji Tsai – University of Birmingham

Co-applicants

Liam Cox  – University of Birmingham

Zoe Pikramenou – University of Birmingham

Rebecca Drummond – University of Birmingham

Marcio Rodrigues – Fiocruz

Geographical focus – Global, but specifically LMICs

Research Theme – One Health

Lay summary

Fungal infections present a global problem, affecting our environment, food supply, and health. Unfortunately, we have not been able to develop new antifungal drugs fast enough to keep up with the rise of new fungal diseases. While our body presents a completely different experimental environment compared to the laboratory, host factors affect the efficiency of drug delivery. At the same time, fungi can quickly adapt to drugs by changing their genomes, although these irregular genome types, such as abnormal numbers of chromosomes may be thought to be deleterious to their growth. We can not predict these genomic events during treatment, but their influence on the fungal cells follows common laws of physics that we can design new drugs to target.

In this project, we propose that by adjusting existing antifungal drugs to work with the changes in both our body and fungi, we might make them effective again. Our computational simulations support this idea, and therefore we are planning to test a series of modified antifungal drugs following this design principle, to against fungal infection and their resistance. While creating entirely new antifungal drugs is a long-term goal, our approach might quickly lead to cheaper and more effective solutions, which would be especially beneficial for low- and middle-income countries.