Black Fungi in Energy Transduction, Radioprotection and in Melanoma Therapy

Friday, March 23, 2012, 6:30 - 8:30pm

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Ekaterina Dadachova of the Rockefeller Institute will deliver a lecture exploring various aspects of this fungus in her address:

Black Fungi in Energy Transduction, Radioprotection and in Melanoma Therapy

Friday, March 23 at 6:30
Room 215, Foundation Building
7 East 7th Street

Melanin pigment in black fungi, both microscopic and macroscopic ones (mushrooms) interact with the ionizing radiation in a unique way. Such interaction allows black fungi to thrive in high radiation areas inside the nuclear reactors including the damaged Chernobyl reactor. Simultaneously, melanin can be utilized as a radioprotector for bone marrow and other organs in patients during the radiation therapy of cancer. Lastly, the radiolabeled antibody to fungal melanin was successfully used in the clinical trial for therapy of patients with metastatic melanoma.

Sponsored by

The New York Mycological Society
&
The Institute for Sustainable Design

              

 

 

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