About the Seminar

Fungal infections have a wide variety of impacts on the lives of everyday people. Dermatological fungal infections are incredibly common, and immunocompromised individuals can contract other, rarer fungal infections that have mortality rates upwards of 70%. Broad screening methods for fungal infections are desirable because current methods, like cultures, take a considerable amount of time to yield results. My work seeks to use small molecules as biomarkers for fungal infection by utilizing Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). Current results suggest the viability of such a method for multiple genera of fungi. In this presentation, two specific examples will be discussed: glucosamine to detect Aspergillus niger, a cause of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in humans, and S-sulfocysteine to detect Microsporum canis, the main cause of dermatophytosis in cats.