Lucas Dos Santos Dias, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, Infectious Diseases, received a two-year, $140,752 American Heart Association (AHA) postdoctoral fellowship for his proposal, “Vaccine prevention of cardiovascular fungal infections.” The project is co-sponsored by mentors Marcel Wüthrich, PhD, distinguished scientist, and Bruce Klein, MD, professor. The goal of the research is to investigate whether a fungal protein, DN Bl-Eng2, can be used as vaccine for patients at risk of cardiovascular fungal infections. Because patients with a heart transplant, heart infection, or with catheters placed in their veins are at risk for Candida species infections, and there are currently no anti-fungal vaccines, this study has the potential to lead to the development of vaccines that prevent and treat fungal infections in at-risk patients.