ICAAC (San Diego 19-21/9/15)

Professor Steve Kelly attended ICAAC in San Diego 19-21/9/15. This is the annual American Society of Microbiology focus meeting on antimicrobial agents and resistance.

In an ongoing collaboration with Viamet Pharmaceuticals, North Carolina a new clinical candidate drug VT-1129 was investigated for mode of action against Cryptococcus neoformans a major cause of HIV related mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Efficacy and selectivity for inhibiting the fungal CYP51 was reported and this compound is proceeding to clinical trials.

Two posters were also presented concerning collaborative research with UTHC in Memphis, Tennessee supported by a NIH (USA) program grant. The first concerned novel mechanisms of azole drug resistance in Candida albicans associated with sterol biosynthesis and the second on azole drug resistance mechanisms in Candida tropicalis.

Link to Poster 1

Link to Poster 2

http://www.icaac.org/