bio-america-2016_scientifictracks-workshop

3 / 21

Page 24
Notes:
conferenceseries.com
Volume 6, Issue 8 (Suppl) J Biotechnol Biomater
ISSN: 2155-952X JBTBM, an open access journal Bio America 2016
November 28-30, 2016
November 28-30, 2016 San Francisco, USA
13th Biotechnology Congress
Chemobiological approaches for enhancing the efficacy of antifungal intervention
Jong H Kim, Kathleen L Chan and Luisa W Cheng
United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, USA
C ontrol of fungal pathogens, such as causative agents for aspergillosis, candidiasis, cryptococcosis or producers of mycotoxins
is problematic since effective antifungal agents are often very limited. Also, the expansion of fungal resistance to conventional
drugs or fungicides is a global health or food safety/security issue. Therefore, there is persistent need to improve the drug efficacy or
to develop new intervention strategies. Fungal drug resistance frequently involves mutations caused by environmental stressors. In
fungi, stress signals resulting from oxidative or cell wall stress are integrated into mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) systems
that regulate defense genes countering the stress. Of note, mutations in MAPK signaling system could result in tolerance to antifungal
agents. Many natural compounds are promising antifungals or leads due to their ability to disrupt fungal defense systems such as
antioxidant pathway. Natural compounds could also serve as chemical probes for identifying new antifungal targets. To enhance
drug susceptibility of fungi, the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used as a tool for identifying cellular targets of natural
compounds, where targeting vulnerable components such as antioxidant system effectively disrupted pathogen growth, overcame
antifungal tolerance or inhibited mycotoxin production. Finally, chemo-biological approaches enabled the development of novel
antifungal chemosensitization which significantly improved the drug susceptibility of fungal pathogens.
Biography
Jong H Kim is a Researcher in the Food-borne Toxin Detection and Prevention Research Unit, Western Regional Research Center, US Department of Agriculture,
Albany, California. His research focuses on the development of intervention strategies for control of pathogenic fungi. He provides chemo-biological expertise,
particularly in the identification of cellular targets and compound interaction and participates in resistance management in collaboration with industry and academia.
Jong H Kim et al., J Biotechnol Biomater 2016, 6:8(Suppl)