The Basque company Vacunek recently signed a collaboration agreement with the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) to conduct a research project on candidiasis, a fungal infection caused by yeasts.

With this project, developed jointly with the Invasive Fungal Infection Research Group of the Nursing School at Vacunek, UPV/EHU seeks to extend its product portfolio (for diagnosis of animal health diseases) towards human healthcare, by means of a system capable to quickly and accurately identify Candida species and their role in clinical patterns, and to select the most adequate antifungal treatment for each case.

The project aims to obtain new diagnostic methods (based on multiplex technology) for the detection and prompt identification of Candida species associated to vulvovaginal and oral candidiasis in humans, and to promote a similar development for certain Candida species associated with certain veterinary diseases.

Candida species are common in standard microbiotas, and Candida albicans is the most frequently isolated one. Lately, there has been an increase in other species such as Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis and, more recently, Candida dubliniensis, especially in HIV patients. Some of these species are associated to antifungal resistance phenomena.

This project falls under the collaboration agreement between the Department for Innovation and Promotion of the Bizkaia Provincial Council and the Bizkaia Innovation Agency Beaz with the UPV/EHU, under the call Proyectos de Investigación Focalizada Bizkaia 2009 (Focused Research Projects Bizkaia 2009).