ORONO — A North Carolina research foundation is awarding a University of Maine professor $500,000 to study how common pathogens become potentially deadly.
The university said Wednesday that the Burroughs Wellcome Fund is awarding Robert Wheeler the five-year grant. Wheeler is an assistant professor of microbiology at the university.
He will study how Candida albicans, the most common human fungal pathogen, transforms into a potentially fatal fungus in the vital organs of people with compromised immune systems. Wheeler said in a statement that the goal of his work will be to improve diagnosis and therapy of fungal infection.
The university described Candida albicans as the leading cause of hospital-acquired infection and the cause of several thousand annual deaths in the United States.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.