With the growing frequency of fungal infections even as resistance to existing antifungal agents increases, methods for finding novel drug targets and evaluating antifungal resistance have become more important than ever. In Antifungal Agents: Methods and Protocols, expert scientists describe in detail the state-of-the-art molecular methods they have optimized for studying antifungal resistance, for discovering and evaluating both new and existing antifungal drugs, and for understanding the host response and immunotherapy of such agents. Many of the protocols were developed in the laboratory and, when a method is limited to specific organisms, include alternative techniques to expand their application. The protocols follow the successful Methods in Molecular Medicine(TM) series format, each offering step-by-step laboratory instructions, an introduction outlining the principle behind the technique, lists of the necessary equipment and reagents, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.

Cutting-edge and highly practical, Antifungal Agents: Methods and Protocols offers clinician-scientists, microbiologists, and molecular biologists the productive tools they need today in order to understand and successfully develop new therapeutic agents for yeast, mold, and fungal infections.

Susceptibility Testing Methods of Antifungal Agents.- Antifungal Resistance.- Deoxyribonucleic Acid Fingerprinting Methods for Candida Species.- CARE-2 Fingerprinting of Candida albicans Isolates.- Targeted Gene Deletion in Candida albicans Wild-Type Strains by MPA R Flipping.- Application of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Microarray Analysis to the Study of Azole Antifungal Resistance in Candida albicans.- Application of Proteomic Analysis to the Study of Azole Antifungal Resistance in Candida albicans.- Techniques for Antifungal Susceptibility Testing of Candida albicans Biofilms.- Antifungal Development and Evaluation.- Natural Products and Antifungal Drug Discovery.- Use of an Animal Model of Disseminated Candidiasis in the Evaluation of Antifungal Therapy.- Murine Model of Invasive Aspergillosis.- Antifungal Combinations.- Postantifungal Effect Methods.- Host Responses and Immunotherapy.- Evaluation of Immunotherapy in Invasive Candidiasis.- Interaction of Histoplasma capsulatum With Human Macrophages, Dendritic Cells, and Neutrophils.- Immunology of Infection Caused by Cryptococcus neoformans.