Fungal Extracellular Vesicles: Biological Roles

Marcio Rodrigues is a senior investigator at the Carlos Chagas Institute (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Fiocruz; Brazil). His laboratory is mainly interested in the mechanisms by which fungal cells export biologically active molecules to the extracellular space. In collaboration with Drs. Arturo Casadevall, Leonardo Nimrichter and Kildare Miranda, all authors in this volume, Marcio Rodrigues led the discovery of fungal extracellular vesicles in 2007. His laboratory has been investigating the role of extracellular vesicles in fungal physiology and pathogenesis for the last decade, mainly using the Cryptococcus model of secretion. The group is especially interested in how lipids and glycans participate in secretory processes that are essential for fungi, aiming to connect basic cell biology mechanisms with the identification of cellular pathways that could be targeted by novel antifungal agents.