Adaptation to the host
The most common host-associated Candida species is C. albicans. In predisposed hospitalized patients, Candida albicans can translocate from its commensal niche, the intestine, to the bloodstream. This exchange of a commensal environment to an environment where C. albicans causes systemic disease is paired with a sudden exposure to host serum proteins and the inflammatory response. Similarly, C. albicans can cause infections at mucosal surfaces, which are associated with changes in physiology and particularly initiation of inflammation. The research group, therefore, studies how the encounter of host immune mediators and serum proteins drives fungal adaptations that permit survival in the host and immune evasion or escape.
(2020) I want to break free - macrophage strategies to recognize and kill Candida albicans, and fungal counter-strategies to escape. Curr Opin Microbiol 58, 15-23. PubMed
(2020) The impact of the Fungus-Host-Microbiota interplay upon Candida albicans infections: current knowledge and new perspectives. FEMS Microbiol Rev [Epub ahead of print] PubMed
(2020) The gut, the bad and the harmless: Candida Albicans as a commensal and opportunistic pathogen in the intestine. Curr Opin Microbiol 56, 7-15. PubMed
Sophie Austermeier
Doctoral researcher
Phone: +49 3641 532-1389 Email: sophie.austermeier@leibniz-hki.de
Dr. Mark S Gresnigt
Head - DFG Emmy Noether
Phone: +49 3641 532-1305 Email: mark.gresnigt@leibniz-hki.de
