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Ph.D. Mendoza teaches the infectious microbiology component of the undergraduate program (MGI 365L, MGI 465L). His research focuses on infections caused by fungi and fungal-like organisms, particularly Lagenidium sp. and Rhinosporidium. He studies individuals suffering from debilitating diseases where immunosuppressive therapy may dramatically increase the risk of these infections. Common drugs used to treat fungal infections have notable toxicity, highlighting the need for new strategies to improve the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of infections caused by pathogenic fungi and emerging opportunistic fungi. Over the past ten years, he has investigated the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and life cycle of fungi-like organisms. He has developed a serologic test for diagnosing infections caused by these organisms and is working on an immunotherapeutic vaccine for treatment. Currently, he is dissecting the components of P. insidiosum immunotherapy to identify and characterize genes that encode proteins with immunotherapeutic properties, and is also involved in developing techniques to diagnose and monitor infections caused by traditional pathogenic fungi. Additionally, he is studying the link between Rhinosporidium seeberi and historically studied fungi.
Department of Psychology