Kevin Fuller, PhD

My graduate and postdoctoral training was thematically connected through the exploration of environmental signaling pathways (e.g. nutrient or light) that regulate the growth and virulence of pathogenic fungi. Although my work was primarily focused on pulmonary infections caused by Aspergillus fumigatus, collaborations developed during my postdoc led to an interest in corneal infections caused by this and other molds, which are important for several reasons. First and foremost is the clinical importance of these infections (fungal keratitis), which affect 1-2 million patients annually and results in long-term vision loss in 70% of cases.  The global burden of these quality-of-life threatening infections is not reflected, however, in the number of investigators dedicated to studying them, particularly by those with the expertise in fungal molecular genetics needed to dissect novel pathogenic mechanisms.  My research program, first established at the University of Oklahoma, seeks to fill this gap and has done so through the development of a robust infection models that we have used to identify fungal signaling and metabolic pathways that are required to establish or maintain corneal infection. Second, we believe the eye is an underappreciated experimental system that provides key advantages over systemic /visceral organ infection models.  The accessibility of the eye, for example, allows for the longitudinal assessment of tissue pathology and function with non-invasive techniques such as slit-lamp microscopy, optical coherence tomography and electroretinography.  For these reasons, the cornea is also the perfect setting to assess the antifungal, anti-inflammatory and toxicity profiles of novel therapeutics, which we have explored through various collaborations across the world.  We are continuing these lines of investigation at the University of Pittsburgh while expanding into exciting new ones, e.g. immunopathogenesis and drug formulation, through the expertise of our colleagues within the Department of Ophthalmology (UMPC Vision Institute) and across campus.