Antifungal Activity in Galleria mellonella textGordon, ShellyhancreatorBelenky, PeterReaderSello, JasonReaderMylonakis, EleftheriosAdvisorBrown University. Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnologysponsor2017vii, 33 p.born digitalThesis (Sc. M.)--Brown University, 2017thesesCryptococcosis infection from Cryptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans) remains a global health threat. It is an encapsulated yeast saprophyte that mainly afflicts individuals with compromised immune systems. As current treatments require several months for clearance, and have toxicity and microbial resistance issues, there is a need for new antifungal treatments. This research employs the concept of Galleria mellonella (G. mellonella) as a useful model to understand host-pathogen interactions. Previous research (Mylonakis et al., 2005; Firacative et al., 2014; Trevijano-Contador et al., 2015; Tsai et al., 2015; García-Rodas et al., 2011) has already determined G. mellonella as a valuable model system to study C. neoformans pathogenesis as well as the pathogenesis of other microbes. This study expands on that idea and seeks to take advantage of this model system to study antifungal activity of novel compounds as well as their toxicity. This study investigates the behavior of G. mellonella in response to infection and compound doses as well as consistency in survival experiments when incorporating the anti-bacterial ampicillin.cryptococcosiscryptococcus neoformansGreater wax mothAntifungal agents--Therapeutic useEnglishRPB2017061610.7301/Z0HX1B4BIn CopyrightCollection is open for research.