Developing new antifungal drugs in a specialized lab
Official title: BSL3 Drug Screening Core
Funded at University of Texas San Antonio · NIH-11004651 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This study is working on a special lab to quickly test many new medicines to find out which ones can help fight harmful fungi that cause infections, with the hope that patients will have better treatment options in the future.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Texas San Antonio NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Antonio, United States) |
| Project start | January 1, 2022 |
| Project end | December 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $271,400 |
| NIH project number | 5U19AI166761-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11004651 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates for this research are individuals suffering from infections caused by Coccidioides spp. or other severe fungal infections.
✕Less likely to help
Patients with non-fungal infections or those who do not have a history of severe fungal infections may not benefit from this research.
What this research studies
This research focuses on creating a high-throughput screening (HTS) facility that operates under strict biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) conditions to test thousands of compounds for their effectiveness against harmful fungi, specifically Coccidioides spp. The goal is to establish methods for quickly and efficiently identifying new antifungal agents that can combat these pathogens. By using advanced techniques like imaging flow cytometry, the research aims to understand how these new drugs work and their potential effectiveness. Patients may benefit from new treatment options that arise from this innovative drug discovery process.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this research could lead to the development of new antifungal medications that are more effective against serious fungal infections.
How similar studies have gone: Other research has successfully utilized high-throughput screening in similar contexts, indicating a promising approach for drug discovery in this area.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Texas San Antonio
San Antonio, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lopez-Ribot, Jose L. — University of Texas San Antonio
- Study coordinator: Lopez-Ribot, Jose L.
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Sex differences in brain injury biomarkers after repeated head impacts
This project looks at how sex hormones affect blood biomarkers after repeated head impacts, helping to understand why women may have different symptoms after brain injuries.
-
Auditory aging and serotonin: how mood-signaling chemicals influence hearing in older adults
A study will explore how the brain chemical serotonin affects hearing and brain circuits in aging, with the aim of helping older people understand speech in noisy settings.
-
Forced-dimer photoacoustic probes for deep tissue molecular imaging
A new type of dye-based sensor will detect molecular changes inside deep tissues using painless sound-based imaging instead of light alone.
-
How lipids and helper enzymes influence how TRP channels work
A study exploring how fat molecules and cellular helpers affect TRP ion channels that influence pain, diabetes, and heart conditions, with potential implications for safer pain treatment and cardiovascular health.
-
Molecular control of abnormal adult-born brain cells in epilepsy
Researchers are studying how new brain cells formed after a severe brain injury or seizure might contribute to epilepsy, with the goal of understanding how to prevent this mayhem in the hippocampus.
-
Turning harmful shoulder fat into healing beige fat with targeted nanomedicine
This project uses tiny medicine-filled nanoparticles to turn the harmful fat that builds up in torn shoulder muscles into healing, energy-burning fat to help people recover after rotator cuff tears.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.