Investigators and Program Directors

Research Interests

Fungal diseases are a major public health problem as pathogenic fungi often cause fatal hospital-acquired infections and complications in debilitated patients. These infections present an unusual challenge for diagnosis and treatment, because they represent one eukaryotic organism (fungus) parasitizing another (human). Historically, the NYS Department of Health Mycology Laboratory has received wide recognition for its excellence in reference diagnostics, laboratory quality control, and investigational studies. Continuing this tradition, the mycology diagnostics section is engaged in development of new tests for rapid characterization of fungal pathogens and antifungal drugs. The unique laboratory certification program in diagnostic mycology continues to evolve in new directions by focusing on additional analytes/formats for improving mycology proficiency of the clinical laboratories. Additionally, multi-laboratory studies have become the vehicle for standardization of new methodologies before their introduction in routine practice. The current themes of investigational studies include fungal mating, antioxidants and secondary metabolites, as these entities are known to play a crucial role in the infection process. The eventual goals are to characterize the life cycle of pathogenic fungi with an eye to finding either new diagnostic markers or antifungal drug targets. The experimental approaches are multidisciplinary combining mycology with advanced microscopy, classical and molecular genetics, biochemical characterization, phylogenetics, and animal modeling.

Contact Information

Phone (518)474 4177
Fax (518)486 7811
E-mail: vishnu@wadsworth.org