Milena Kordalewska, Ph.D.
Milena Kordalewska, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Member at the Center for Discovery and Innovation.
Dr. Kordalewska has a broad background in biotechnology and medical mycology with specific training and expertise in antifungal susceptibility testing, molecular diagnostic assay development, and discovery of molecular resistance determinants. Dr. Kordalewska’s research goal is to understand why and how certain microorganisms emerge to cause outbreaks and to develop tools to help quickly identify and fight them. Her research program is built on studies of Candida auris, which has recently emerged and rapidly expanded as a nosocomial pathogen.
Discovery of drug resistance mechanisms in Candida spp.
In addition to increasing incidence rates of Candida spp. infections, a trend of increasing cases of infection with non-albicans Candida species has been observed. Strikingly, non-albicans Candida species have been associated with higher mortality and propensity to cause outbreaks, and greater antifungal drug resistance than those seen with C. albicans. Recent worldwide emergence of drug-resistant C. auris heightened public health relevance of studies on mechanisms of antifungal drug resistance in order to develop diagnostic tools and effective therapies. In her research, Dr. Kordalewska has been dissecting antifungal drug resistance mechanisms in Candida spp. by conducting comprehensive analysis of correlations between gene mutation and expression, enzyme kinetic inhibition, minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values, pharmacodynamics and clinical outcomes.
Molecular diagnostics platforms for detection/identification of fungi and drug resistance markers
Precise and timely identification of fungal isolates to the species level is extremely important, especially when recovered from high-risk patients, as fungal infections in these patients can be serious, difficult to treat and rapidly fatal. However, traditional diagnostic procedures are often tedious and time consuming, delaying implementation of adequate therapy. Nucleic acid amplification-based methods enable shortening of the time required for analysis to be completed and are almost entirely independent from the diagnostician’s experience. Moreover, molecular resistance determinants detection assays can be applied for high-throughput screening and provide information on isolates susceptibility much quicker than standard methods (especially when performed with DNA isolated directly from clinical specimens). Dr. Kordalewska has developed novel molecular platforms for fast, robust, easy to perform and interpret detection/identification of fungal (yeast and mold) pathogens. She created the first molecular test for rapid and accurate detection and identification of C. auris, which was later validated on a panel of clinical skin swabs and implemented at the CDC.
Selected Publications
- Kordalewska M, Cancino-Prado G, Nobrega de Almeida Júnior J, Brasil Brandão I, Tigulini de Souza Peral R, Colombo AL, Perlin DS.
Novel Non-Hot Spot Modification in Fks1 of Candida auris Confers Echinocandin Resistance.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2023
PMID: 37222585 - Kordalewska M, Guerrero KD, Garcia-Rubio R, Jiménez-Ortigosa C, Mediavilla JR, Cunningham MH, Hollis F, Hong T, Chow KF, Kreiswirth BN, Perlin DS.
Antifungal Drug Susceptibility and Genetic Characterization of Fungi Recovered from COVID-19 Patients.
J Fungi (Basel). 2021
PMID: 34356931 - Kordalewska M, Lee A, Zhao Y, Perlin DS.
Detection of Candida auris antifungal drug resistance markers directly from clinical skin swabs.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2019
PMID: 31591112 - Kordalewska M, Lee A, Park S, Berrio I, Chowdhary A, Zhao Y, Perlin DS.
Understanding Echinocandin Resistance in the Emerging Pathogen Candida auris.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2018
PMID: 29632013 - Kordalewska M, Zhao Y, Lockhart SR, Chowdhary A, Berrio I, Perlin DS.
Rapid and Accurate Molecular Identification of the Emerging Multidrug-Resistant Pathogen Candida auris.
J Clin Microbiol. 2017
PMID: 28539346
Book Chapters
- Kordalewska M, Perlin DS.
Deciphering Candida auris Paradoxical Growth Effect (Eagle Effect) in Response to Echinocandins.
Methods Mol Biol. 2022
PMID: 35674946 - Kordalewska M, Perlin DS.
Detection and Identification of Candida auris from Clinical Skin Swabs.
Methods Mol Biol. 2022
PMID: 36008670.
Nadine Alvarez, Ph.D.
The selected publications need some reformatting and updating. You can replace the entire section with this.
- Alvarez N, Adam GC, Howe JA, Sharma V, Zimmerman MD, Dolgov E, Rasheed R, Nizar F, Sahay K, Nelson AM, Park S, Zhou X, Burlein C, Fay JF, Iwamoto DV, Bahnck-Teets CM, Getty KL, Lin Goh S, Salhab I, Smith K, Boyce CW, Cabalu TD, Murgolo N, Fox NG, Mayhood TW, Shurtleff VW, Layton ME, Parish CA, McCauley JA, Olsen DB, Perlin DS.
Novel Pan-Coronavirus 3CL Protease Inhibitor MK-7845: Biological and Pharmacological Profiling.
Viruses. 2024
PMID: 39066320 - Shurtleff VW, Layton ME, Parish CA, Perkins JJ, Schreier JD, Wang Y, Adam GC, Alvarez N, Bahmanjah S, Bahnck-Teets CM, Boyce CW, Burlein C, Cabalu TD, Campbell BT, Carroll SS, Chang W, de Lera Ruiz M, Dolgov E, Fay JF, Fox NG, Goh SL, Hartingh TJ, Hurzy DM, Kelly MJ 3rd, Klein DJ, Klingler FM, Krishnamurthy H, Kudalkar S, Mayhood TW, McKenna PM, Murray EM, Nahas D, Nawrat CC, Park S, Qian D, Roecker AJ, Sharma V, Shipe WD, Su J, Taggart RV, Truong Q, Wu Y, Zhou X, Zhuang N, Perlin DS, Olsen DB, Howe JA, McCauley JA. 2024.
Invention of MK-7845, a SARS-CoV-2 3CL Protease Inhibitor Employing a Novel Difluorinated Glutamine Mimic.
J Med Chem. 2024
PMID: 38365209 - Mane V, Mehta R, Alvarez N, Sharma V, Park S, Fox A, DeCarlo C, Yang X, Perlin DS, Powell RLR.
In Vivo Antiviral Efficacy of LCTG-002, a Pooled, Purified Human Milk Secretory IgA product, Against SARS-CoV-2 in a Murine Model of COVID-19.
Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2024
PMID: 38251677 - Stampolaki M, Malwal SR, Alvarez-Cabrera N, Gao Z, Moniruzzaman M, Babii SO, Naziris N, Rey-Cibati A, Valladares-Delgado M, Turcu AL, Baek KH, Phan TN, Lee H, Alcaraz M, Watson S, van der Watt M, Coertzen D, Efstathiou N, Chountoulesi M, Shoen CM, Papanastasiou IP, Brea J, Cynamon MH, Birkholtz LM, Kremer L, No JH, Vázquez S, Benaim G, Demetzos C, Zgurskaya HI, Dick T, Oldfield E, Kolocouris AD.
Synthesis and Testing of Analogs of the Tuberculosis Drug Candidate SQ109 against Bacteria and Protozoa: Identification of Lead Compounds against Mycobacterium abscessus and Malaria Parasites.
ACS Infect Dis. 2023
PMID: 36706233 - Kaya F, Ernest JP, LoMauro K, Gengenbacher M, Madani A, Aragaw WW, Zimmerman MD, Sarathy JP, Alvarez N, Daudelin I, Wang H, Lanni F, Weiner DM, Via LE, Barry CE 3rd, Olivier KN, Dick T, Podell BK, Savic RM, Dartois V.
A Rabbit Model to Study Antibiotic Penetration at the Site of Infection for Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Lung Disease: Macrolide Case Study.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2022
PMID: 35099272 - Malwal SR, Zimmerman MD, Alvarez N, Sarathy JP, Dartois V, Nacy CA, Oldfield E.
Structure, In Vivo Detection, and Antibacterial Activity of Metabolites of SQ109, an Anti-Infective Drug Candidate.
ACS Infect Dis. 2021
PMID: 34279904