Dr. Eva Helmerhorst to Study Oral Fungal Infections through First NIH Grant

Dr. Eva Helmerhorst, assistant professor in the Department of Periodontology and Oral Biology, has received $162,500 in National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) funding for her study "Oral Yeast Carriage and Salivary Antifungal Activity."

The two-year grant marks the first award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for Helmerhorst, who is well-known in the field of oral biology for her biochemical and microbiological studies of oral fungal infections.

Helmerhorst will look at how the oral pathogen Candida albicans causes infections. She will study the role of naturally-occuring antifungal proteins with the goal of developing new treatment options.