Thesis supervisor: László Norbert Galgóczi
Location of studies (in Hungarian): University of Szeged, Faculty of Science and Informatics, Department of Biotechnology Abbreviation of location of studies: SzTE
Description of the research topic:
In spite of the emerging number of life-threatening fungal infections with high mortality rate caused by drug-resistant strains, and the fact that the recently applied prolonged antifungal therapies can seriously damage the host’s organs, the initiation to develop effective and safely applicable new antifungal drugs is still neglected for human welfare. The already intensively studied antifungal proteins from filamentous Ascomycetes and their functional peptide derivatives show high fungal-specificity and antimicrobial efficacy, thus they represent promising models to develop fundamental new antifungal therapeutic strategies to overcome global antifungal challenges. Although the knowledge about their antifungal mechanism and structure is continuously increasing; their fungal-specific molecular targets are still unknown. These targets could serve as potential templates to find or design new antifungal molecules for the medicine possessing better pharmacokinetic properties than the native proteins and peptide derivatives. The announced PhD project focuses to this aspect, identification and investigation of molecular antifungal targets in sensitive human pathogenic fungi and native producer for rational drug design. This goal will be achieved with a multidisciplinary approach that integrates transcriptome meta-analysis, molecular target screenings, virtual structure- and ligand-based screenings, in silico protein-protein docking experiments, recombinant protein expression, protein and peptide synthesis, protein and peptide design, structural analysis, antifungal and toxicity validation. The accomplishment of present project provides the first step toward new fungal-specific drug development not just in the medical treatment, but also in the pest control and food preservation with worldwide economic and societal impact.
Required language skills: English Recommended language skills (in Hungarian): English Further requirements: Basic knowledge in microbiological and protein works. Basic bioinformatics knowledge.
Number of students who can be accepted: 2
Deadline for application: 2021-09-01
2024. IV. 17. ODT ülés Az ODT következő ülésére 2024. június 14-én, pénteken 10.00 órakor kerül sor a Semmelweis Egyetem Szenátusi termében (Bp. Üllői út 26. I. emelet).
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