Dr. Margaret Kendrick Hostetter

The focus of the Hostetter laboratory is to understand how pathogenic organisms evade host defenses to cause infection and injury. One organism of interest, the yeast Candida albicans, is a benign commensal in immunologically competent hosts, yet is the most frequent cause of life-threatening fungal infection in patients with compromised immune systems. Premature newborns, patients recovering from abdominal surgery, burn patients, neutropenic hosts, and transplant patients are all at increased risk of candidemia. These infections are set in motion when yeast cells attach to the epithelium lining the gastrointestinal or genitourinary tract or to the polymerized materials of intravascular catheters and then invade the bloodstream. The gene INT1, identified in our laboratory, is unique to Candida albicans and is the first gene reported to link epithelial attachment, formation of invasive hyphae, and virulence. We have also characterized two metabolic genes, PDX1 and NDH51, that demonstrate the requirement for energy production (e.g. generation of ATP) in morphogenesis. Recent work has led to the discovery of candidal and human proteins involved in candidal invasion across the gastrointestinal epithelium and to a better understanding of the toxic properties of C. albicans. These studies may lead to new strategies for the interruption of Candida colonization and invasion in a spectrum of immunocompromised patients.

Medical and developmental evaluation of internationally adopted children.