A comparative study of Candida species clearance by primary phagocytes using Correlative Light and X-ray Microscopy

Candida glabrata (‘C’) is an opportunistic pathogenic yeast and common member of the human microbiota gastrointestinal flora. It is a commensal microorganism, however under specific conditions like in immunocompromised individuals, it can become pathogenic, escaping from gut tissues and invading the blood. Blood cells are the first line of defence and they eliminate C glabrata cells by engulfing and consequently digesting them, following a dynamic process of phagocytosis. Although listed as the second most virulent yeast after Candida albicans, this fungus is becoming increasingly resistant to common treatments like fluconazole.

In this project you will study and characterise the clearance process of C glabrata using an established infection model of heamocytes derived from Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly. The innate immunity pathways between this organism and humans are very similar and therefore it can serve as a robust homologous system.

You will collect imaging data on cellular responses to pathogenic challenges in 3D using state-of the art super resolution microscopy (both X-ray and fluorescence imaging) at beamline B24 and will correlate your findings to allow the delineation of cellular remodelling events during pathogen clearance which will allow us to better understand the role of responsive cellular organelles in this process.