Melanie Wu– UMass Fellow 2024-2025

Research Progress: I am a third year PhD student in Dr. Li-Jun Ma’s lab, where we study the Fusarium oxysporum species complex, a group of host-specific fungal pathogens that can cause severe vascular diseases in plants and infections in humans, raising concerns over agriculture and public health. Specifically, the human pathogenic strains are known to infect through the eye or infect opportunistically, leading to invasive infection in immunocompromised patients. One of my research interests focuses on developing effective anti-Fusarium treatments. Current antifungal treatment methods, such as amphotericin B and azole drugs, usually target the fungal sterol component, ergosterol. However, due to the intrinsic multidrug resistance, common fungal treatments have proved to be ineffective against Fusarium infection. Moreover, effective doses of anti-Fusarium drugs can induce severe cytotoxicity in human cells. Thus, developing novel anti-Fusarium therapeutics that increase effectiveness while reducing human cell cytotoxicity is crucial. During the past year, I have developed a high-throughput assay to assist in characterizing for antifungal drug efficiency. Through collaboration, I have identified Carvacrol-Gelatin Nanoemulsion (C-GNE), an all-natural antibacterial agent developed by Dr. Vincent Rotello’s lab, is a potential novel anti-Fusarium agent. We found that C-GNE is effective at inhibiting growth and fungal spore germination of multiple F. oxysporum strains, including the human pathogenic strains that can cause eye and blood infections. In addition, it induces limited cytotoxicity to human cells. Mechanistically, I am investigating a potential inhibition of fungal proliferation through inhibiting the target of rapamycin (TOR) pathway. My other research projects involve computationally analyzing omics data (transcriptomics, proteomics) to understand F. oxysporum virulence and host specificity, as well as host-fungal interactions.