Dorrian Cohen
Major: Biological Sciences
Research Location: The University of Notre Dame
Dorrian studied a series of synthetic peptides that were effective against several strains of bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus as well as the parasite Leishmania donovani. He screened the entire library of peptides against three fungal strains. Eleven of the peptides were shown to be effective against C. neoformans, while no peptides were shown to be effective against either C. albicans or C. auris.
Dorrian says, "I chose to test a synthetic peptide library against fungi because fungal infections kill millions each year. The three specific strains that I screened against contribute significantly to that number. As antimicrobial treatments such as antibiotics decrease in efficacy and quantity, innovative treatments such as antimicrobial peptide drugs will be necessary to combat microbial threats."