Cross-talk of Aspergillus fumigatus with neutrophilic granulocytes (A01)

• Subject Area: Medical Microbiology and Mycology, Hygiene, Molecular Infection Biology
• Term: since 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 210879364

Project A1 aims to understand the mechanisms by which neutrophils control A. fumigatus and how the fungus responds to their activity. In the second funding period, we discovered that A. fumigatus triggers the production of antifungal extracellular vesicles (afEVs) by neutrophils. A1 will now investigate the biogenesis of afEVs, how they enter fungal hyphae and how afEVs interfere with the viability of A. fumigatus. To translate these findings into a clinical context, we will apply our in vivo-like aspergillosis-on-chip model, analyze the antifungal activity of EVs of patients highly susceptible to infection and examine the therapeutic potential of afEVs to treat invasive aspergillosis in mouse infection models.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 124: Pathogenic Fungi and their Human Host: Networks of Interaction - FungiNet
• Applicant Institution: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Axel Brakhage; Dr. Marie von Lilienfeld-Toal