Dr. Fonzi is Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Director of Graduate Programs at the Department.

Summary:

• Ph.D., Texas A & M, 1981
• Contact: (202) 687-1135; fonziw@georgetown.edu

Research:

Identification and characterization of the genes and gene products that contribute to the virulence of Candida albicans using molecular genetic techniques.

The focus of my research is the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans. Via the application of molecular genetic techniques we are attempting to identify and characterize the genes and gene products that contribute to the virulence of this organism. Genetic manipulation of C. albicans is confounded by its diploid genome and asexual life-cycle and this genetic intractability has precluded the genetic definition of virulence determinants. Accordingly, we have developed a means of constructing isogenic strain pairs derived from wild-type isolates, a means of constructing homozygous null mutants, and methods for gene mapping.

While developing the requisite tools, we have also been investigating several genes that may be relevant to pathogenesis. While few attributes of C. albicans have been implicated in virulence, and definitive evidence exists for none, the dimorphic ability of this organism has been repeatedly implicated in the pathogenic process. Using differential hybridization we have isolated a number of genes which are variably expressed in association with the morphological process.

We anticipate that these genes will be found to encode functions which contribute to the distinctive biochemical attributes of the hyphal form of the organism such as increased adherence, cell surface hydrophobicity, or invasiveness, and are currently characterizing these genes.

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