Deadline: March 16, 2012
Interaction of the human fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus with macrophages resultingin modulation of the endocytosis pathway
Aspergillus fumigatus is the most important air‐borne fungal pathogen of humans. In the lung, alveolar macrophages belong to the first line of defense against inhaled conidia. Effective elimination of the fungus requires phagocytosis and the localization of conidia in acidified phagolysosomes, which leads to the killing of conidia.
However, the grey‐green wild‐type conidia of A. fumigatus prevent degradation in phagolysosomes by inhibition of phagolysosomal acidification. It is evident that the conidial pigment dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) melanin is responsible for this inhibition as non‐pigmented pksP mutant conidia fail to prevent phagolysosomal acidification and are effectively eliminated by macrophages. Consistently, white pksP conidia show reduced virulence in a mice infection model.
This project aims at the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms by which DHN melanin or melanin precursors interfere with the endocytosis pathway and to understand the cross‐talk at the molecular level between A. fumigatus and macrophages. By means of confocal laser scanning microscopy, the interaction of A. fumigatus conidia with macrophages will be monitored with special focus on the vATPase as well as intracellular changes in patterns of various metabolites and proteins, which are involved in the regulation of the pH of phagolysosomes.
Application Guidelines
For the first stage of the application procedure (submission of the “Statement of Interest” form):
- Please acquaint yourself with the open projects being offered within the 9th JSMC Recruitment Call
- Download and complete the “Statement of Interest” form (see download link to the right)
- Save the completed “Statement of Interest” on your computer (filename: JSMC–.PDF)
- Submit this pdf document as an email attachment to apply-jsmc(at)uni-jena.de
Please note:
- Applications can ONLY be considered if the COMPLETED “Statement of Interest” form is received on time.
- DO NOT submit any unrequested additional documents (e.g., CV, certificates, etc.) until asked to do so.
- You are welcome to contact the corresponding project supervisor(s) if you have specific scientific questions on a research project. However, DO NOT send any application material directly to the project supervisors.
If you have questions on the recruitment procedure, please refer to the FAQ first. If your questions persist, please contact apply-jsmc(at)uni-jena.de.
