Grant: Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Program

Fungal infections are a grossly neglected burden on public health, affecting over a billion people worldwide and killing more than 1.5 million patients annually. Approximately 20-50% of patients with invasive fungal infections die, despite treatment. Of great concern, the number of life-threatening, invasive fungal infections has risen dramatically over the last 20 years. This growing danger has recently been acknowledged by the World Health Organization, which has drawn up the first-ever list of fungal pathogens posing the greatest threat to human health. Treatments for invasive fungal infections remain unsatisfactory. There are only a handful of established antifungal drugs on the market used to treat systemic fungal infections and many have serious side-effects and limitations. Of increasing concern, resistance to the existing drugs is rapidly emerging in the clinic. Acknowledging the seriousness of the current situation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a report on antibiotic resistance threats in the U.S., warning that drug-resistant fungi have become a major public health problem. To address this acute problem, we have formed an interdisciplinary team of leading scientists from Canada, Israel, and Brazil. Combining our complementary skills, we will harness cutting-edge approaches to discover how antifungal resistance develops in Aspergillus fumigatus. This common mold is a major pathogen in humans, and one of the deadliest. We will also identify and develop potential drugs that can kill drug-resistant fungi or enhance the activity of existing antifungal drugs. Our international team is uniquely positioned to increase our understanding of how antifungal resistance emerges and to develop novel resistance-evasive therapeutics. This program will catalyze collaboration and knowledge mobilization between researchers and trainees in Canada, Israel and Brazil, building critical capacity in global health.