Recent Trends in Antifungal Agents and Antifungal Therapy

Fungal infections have taken a new spectrum due to the increased incidence of multi-drug resistant fungal pathogens. Freedom of choice for drugs to treat fungal infections is also narrow because of lesser probability of discovering drugs that would bypass affecting human cells and target fungal cells producing fewer side effects in patients. An approach has gained prominence in research is to look for bioactive antifungal compounds from natural to synthetic sources. It is necessary to discover new classes of antifungals to control the recent emergence of multi-drug resistant fungal infections. This book proposed a details top to bottom outline of antifungal compounds derived naturally or synthetically. The details of their modifications or synthetic analogues have been described, helpful to understand the structure-activity relationship which leads to new compound development in antifungal chemotherapy. Each chapter begins with a comprehensive, top-bottom in-depth discussion of antifungal agents with updated bibliographic references. This compendium will serve as a companion not only for Scientists, Researchers, and Professors, Medical Practitioners but also a valuable reference text for the university students. 

Amit Basak, currently Professor of Chemistry and Chairman, School of Bioscience, IIT Kharagpur,obtained his Ph.D. (natural product chemistry) from Calcutta University and D. Phil. (penicillin biosynthesis) from University of Oxford. He then worked on clavulanic acid biosynthesis as a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University. His research interests involve understanding the mechanism of diradical generating reactions and their applications, development of enzyme inhibitors as antimicrobial agents and molecular capture chemistry. He has received several prestigious awards and fellowships for his research contribution.

Ranadhir Chakraborty was born in Darjeeling. He has worked for Ph.D in the Department of Microbiology, Bose Institute, Kolkata, India. He is at present serving the Department of Biotechnology, University of North Bengal, in the capacity of Professor and Head. He maintained a perfect blend of classical and modern microbiology in his ongoing journey of Science. He probes some basic scientific problems including antimicrobial resistance with cutting edge technology of every passing time period.

Santi M. Mandal obtained his Ph D in the field of Molecular Microbiology and continuing research with major focus in Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. He visited UTMB-USA and NUS-Singapore for his postdoctoral training. Recently, he is working as an Assistant Professor of Microbiology at Vidyasagar University, India. He has published more than 90 research papers in reputed journals and conferred upon several prestigious awards for his research contribution.