Influenza associated pulmonary aspergillosis (IAPA)

Aspergillus fumigatus is a fungus that is ubiquitous in the environment and conidia are commonly inhaled into the respiratory tract. A. fumigatus can cause a spectrum of clinical syndromes ranging from chronic colonization to invasive disease. Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a severe, life-threatening disease that occurs when aspergillus conidia are inhaled into the respiratory tract and invade airways or lung tissue. A risk factor for IPA in critically ill patients is influenza infection. Our lab studies how influenza infection increases susceptibility to secondary IPA. Specifically, this project focuses on transcriptomics and metabolomics of post-influenza IPA in the IAPA mouse model. We have existing datasets that include metabolomics, proteomics and transcriptomics that will be paired for analysis to determine how influenza impairs host defense allowing for the development of secondary IPA. We can use mouse and in vitro cell models to complement the findings of these large datasets.