Trust Achievements

Since 1991 the FIT has made a unique contribution to advancing the Science and Medicine of all types of Fungal diseases.
It has donated over £3,500,000 to research and education, primarily in the UK, with internal costs kept below 5%. 

It supports the Aspergillus Website which is the world’s most comprehensive, dynamic and interactive portal for all aspects of Aspergillus and the diseases it causes. This is also a huge resource for patients and carers, with support groups, newsletters and blogs.  

In 2009 the first centre of excellence for fungal disease was opened in Manchester under the NHS -- The National Aspergillosis Centre.
The Aspergillus Website continues to underpin the National Aspergillosis Centre supporting patients, providing meetings and consultations, encouraging international involvement from Scientists and Doctors worldwide.
The ongoing support for this resource is essential for continuing education and research in a quest to provide the best treatments for patients who are unfortunate enough to be affected by Aspergillus.

The FIT has supported 25 researchers and medical practioners resulting in more than 145 research publications on fungi and fungal diseases. Funding has also been donated to  4 major scientific conferences in the UK and Europe.

Highlights of the last year include:

• Showing a link between chronic Candida infection of the oesophagus and cancer
• Finding important genetic variations in a group of cell attachment proteins for fungi and bacteria, called Toll-like receptors' that differ in patients with different Aspergillus diseases
• Showing the extreme variation in blood levels of voriconazole (the powerful first-line treatment of life threatening aspergillosis) in children, requiring dosage adjustment
• Major findings related to the remarkable differences and similarities in genomes and genes between different members of the Aspergillus genus
• Improvements in standardisation of susceptibility for Candida and filamentous fungi, by supporting the work of the European Committee on Antifungal Susceptibility Testing
• Contributing to remarkable new findings in chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis showing that these patients have auto-antibodies against type 1 interferons, and this may be a useful diagnostic test and diagnostic criterion.
  
  

2012 View Progress Report from 3rd year PhD scholar Laszlo Nagy.

Included in the research funding granted by the Trust during the year 2011 were:-

• A three year research grant to a PhD student at the University of Szeged in Hungary.
• A two year grant to a doctor at the International Centre for Eye Health, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for research into reducing avoidable blindness in developing countries by improving the diagnosis of corneal infections.
• A reseach grant to a doctor at the School of Pharmacy, The Queens University of Belfast, for research into the treatment of severe fungal infection of the human nail.

Publications arising from FIT funded Research

2011-2012

view here

2010-2011

1: Nagy LG, Urban A, Orstadius L, Papp T, Larsson E, Vágvölgyi C. The evolution of autodigestion in the mushroom family Psathyrellaceae (Agaricales) inferredfrom Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian methods. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2010
Dec;57(3):1037-48.
                     
2: Felton TW, Baxter C, Moore CB, Roberts SA, Hope WW, Denning DW. Efficacy and safety of posaconazole for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. Clin Infect Dis 2010 Dec 15;51(12):1383-91.

3: Ann Chai LY, Denning DW, Warn P. Candida tropicalis in human disease. Crit Rev Microbiol 2010 Nov;36(4):282-98

4: Bueid A, Howard SJ, Moore CB, Richardson MD, Harrison E, Bowyer P, Denning DW. Azole antifungal resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus: 2008 and 2009. J Antimicrob Chemother 2010 Oct; 65(10):2116-8.

5: Lestner JM, Howard SJ, Goodwin J, Gregson L, Majithiya J, Walsh TJ, Jensen GM, Hope WW. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of amphotericin B deoxycholate, liposomal amphotericin B, and amphotericin B lipid complex in an in vitro model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2010 Aug;54(8):3432-41.

6: Dannaoui E, Schwarz P, Slany M, Loeffler J, Jorde AT, Cuenca-Estrella M,Hauser PM, Shrief R, Huerre M, Freiberger T, Gaustad P, Rodriguez-Tudela JL,Bille J, Denning DW, Bretagne S, Lortholary O. Molecular detection andidentification of Zygomycetes species from paraffin-embedded tissues in a murine model of disseminated zygomycosis: a collaborative European Society of ClinicalMicrobiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Fungal Infection Study Group(EFISG) evaluation. J Clin Microbiol 2010 Jun;48(6):2043-6.

7: Takó M, Tóth A, Nagy LG, Krisch J, Vágvölgyi C, Papp T. A new β-glucosidase gene from the zygomycete fungus Rhizomucor miehei. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. J Microbiol 2010; 97: 1-10.

8: Carvalho A, Cunha C, Pasqualotto AC, Pitzurra L, Denning DW, Romani L. Genetic variability of innate immunity impacts human susceptibility to fungal diseases. Int J Infect Dis 2010 Jun;14(6):e460-8.

9: Howard SJ, Pasqualotto AC, Denning DW. Azole resistance in allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and Aspergillus bronchitis. Clin Microbiol Infect 2010 Jun;16(6):683-8.

10:Zhao Y, Park S, Warn P, Shrief R, Harrison E, Perlin DS. Detection of Aspergillus fumigatus in a rat model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis by real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification. J Clin Microbiol 2010 Apr;48(4):1378-83.

11. Warn PA, Sharp A, Morrissey G, Denning DW. Activity of aminocandin (IP960; HMR3270) compared with amphotericin B, itraconazole, caspofungin and micafungin in neutropenic murine models of disseminated infection caused by itraconazole-susceptible and -resistant strains of Aspergillus fumigatus. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2010 Feb;35(2):146-51.

 

 

1992-2009 view here