Christopher Reid Awarded the 2020 NIGMS RI-INBRE & COBRE Administrative Supplement
This one-year Administrative Supplement from the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) is intended to foster collaborations between INBRE and COBRE researchers. Dr. Christopher Reid, Associate Professor of Science and Technology at Bryant University, received RI-INBRE’s 2020 award entitled “Inhibitors of Candida parapsilosis virulence informed by cell wall proteomics” and is collaborating with Dr. Joseph Bliss, MD and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.
Dr Reid, “Invasive candidiasis is the most common fungal infection in the developed world, annually affecting more than 250,000 patients worldwide and leading to a minimum of 50,000 deaths. In the United States, there are an estimated 50,000 cases and 15,000 deaths at a cost of $2 billion per year. These numbers speak not only to the extent of the problem, but also highlight the particular relevance of emerging resistance of Candida species to antifungal drugs.”
“We are developing potential antibiotics against neonatal yeast infections, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in neonatal intensive care units. In our past collaboration we have researched the identification of a surface antigen on Candida sp, a fungal infection caused by yeast. A goal is to identify potential molecules that impair Candida’s ability to remodel their cell wall and explore their efficacy as potential antifungal agents in treating neonatal Candidiasis (yeast infections).”
On the impact the collaboration had on his research, Reid said, “It has allowed for the hiring of a full-time post-bac in the lab (Bryant Point, URI graduate) to synthesize and screen a panel of compounds, and has provided opportunities for undergraduates at Bryant to work on this collaborative project.”
“The collaborative award will allow for the generation of preliminary data for this collaboration to pursue additional funding.”
“This is a great opportunity to explore utility of the glycosyl-triazole and diamide scaffolds to identifying inhibitors of fungal carbohydrate acting enzymes. This has been a great opportunity to continue the collaboration with Dr. Bliss.”