The goal of this diversity supplement (to parent grant R37 DE022550) is to support the efforts of an under-represented minority graduate student, Ms. Tiffany Taylor, in pursuing graduate work at the University of Pittsburgh on defining the molecular basis of immunity to oral Candida albicans infections. The parent grant focuses on innate immune mechanisms of oral mucosal immunity to candidiasis, and specifically how Type 17/IL-17-based immunity is activated in the oral mucosa. This supplement focuses on the role of an IL-17-induced RNA binding protein, Arid5a, in mediating IL-17-dependent antifungal signals, both in vivo and in vitro.
Oral candidiasis, also known as oral thrush, is an AIDS-defining fungal infection of the oral mucosa. This disease also afflicts individuals on chemotherapy, transplant patients taking immunosuppressive drugs, asthma patients using inhaled corticosteroid drugs or others with compromised immune function such as infants and the elderly. The objective of this project is to understand interactions between Candida albicans and the host immune system. This supplement will support Ms. Tiffany Taylor to work on this project.
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