Elias Barbosa da Silva-Junior, Ph.D.

Research

I will study how the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans subverts host cells to propagate infection. Cryptococcal infection can be deadly in a range of species from mammals to amoeba, and the fungus likely deploys similar molecular mechanisms in these diverse hosts to escape detection and exert its lethal effects. In humans, disease severity correlates with the ability of Cryptococcus to replicate inside macrophages, immune cells that clear infections by engulfing microbial marauders. Now, using advanced techniques in molecular immunology, protein analysis, and computational biology, I will identify the proteins produced by Cryptococcus as they infiltrate human and mouse macrophages and amoebas and characterize the factors that the infected cells produce in response. I will also isolate and characterize cryptococcal mutants that fail to produce the proteins needed to colonize macrophages—work that could lead to new targets for anti-fungal therapies.