From all the bits of information my mentor has shared with me, some going over my head and some pasted on my head after mentally repeating it over and over, I know my project is about measuring the drug tolerance and resistance of Cryptococcus neoformans to different concentrations of Fluconazole (FCN). We’re using several strains of Crypto. to effectively take account of all possible outcomes.
At this point, I’ve grown the different strains of Crypto. in solid media (YPD + NAT 100 + CM 100) and liquid media (Liquid YPD + 1X Hogness), which took 3 days for each, and have inoculated the fungi cells in the solid media onto a new liquid media plate, which, after growth, will then be inoculated again onto the plates with different concentrations of FCN. I have only done this for the 96 well plates and plan to repeat this process with the 364 well plates. Once the inoculation onto the FCN concentrated plates begins, I will need to record the growth with a scanner for several days.
With the recent increase in Cryptococcus meningitis in several countries, this research will be a valuable contribution in discovering the most suitable method in treating Crypto. meningitis. It has already been found that the capsule size of the FCN-resistant isolates is not largely impacted by fluconazole in comparison to the sensitive isolates; thereby, sustaining its virulence. Still, in a 2016 study, the growth of those same FCN-resistant isolates at 37°C was observed to be reduced. This means that although the fungi is resistant to the drug, the isolates’ growth and its morphology is impacted by its Fluconazole resistance (Rossi 2016) . With this in mind, I plan to observe the severity of the changes in capsule size and morphology with the scans I get day after day.