EU-Funded Project on Invasive Fungal Disease Detection

Immuno-compromised individuals, including cancer and bone-marrow or organ transplant patients are particularly vulnerable to invasive fungal disease (IFD) which causes severe morbidity with a high rate of mortality. Major fungal pathogens belong to Candida and Aspergillus species, but other yeast, mould and zygomycetes species are increasingly observed in clinics. Diagnosis by culturing is problematic, because fungal growth often takes several days or cultures even stay negative despite an infection. Therefore, rapid methods are demanded that can detect fungal pathogens within hours instead of days.

Six scientific institutions and companies from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland and Germany, among them Molzym, joined in a FP7 project to develop, evaluate and market innovative tools for rapid IFD diagnosis. So far, efforts led to specific sets of novel molecular diagnostic tests targeting fungal DNA and protein markers as well as enzymatic activity of fungal pathogens. The establishment and implementation of specific sets of assays supported by Sanger and Next-Generation Sequencing and a bioinformatics service platform shall facilitate optimised treatment strategies adapted to individual patient requirements. Currently, the project is in the state of clinical evaluation including immuno-compromised patients.

Please visit the project’s website for more detailed information.

The research leading to results in this project receives funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement n° 602125.