Joseph Heitman

Joseph Heitman is an American physician-scientist focused on research in genetics, microbiology, and infectious diseases. He is the James B. Duke Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University School of Medicine.[1]

Joseph Heitman
NationalityAmerican
Occupationgeneticist, microbiologist, and molecular biologist
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Chicago, Cornell and Rockefeller Universities
Doctoral advisorPeter Model, Norton Zinder
Other academic advisorsMichael N. Hall
Academic work
DisciplineMicrobiology
Sub-disciplineMycology, Cell Biology
InstitutionsDuke University School of Medicine
Notable studentsChristina M. Hull (postdoc 2000-2003)

Education and career

Joseph Heitman grew up in southwestern Michigan and attended Portage Northern High School.[2] He completed a dual Bachelor of science-Master of science program in chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Chicago from 1980 to 1984.[3] There he began his research career, working in the laboratories of organic chemist Josef Fried, biochemist Kan Agarwal, and bacteriologist Malcolm Casadaban.[2][4] In 1984, he began a dual MD–PhD program at Cornell Medical College and Rockefeller University, working on DNA repair in bacteria with Peter Model and Norton Zinder.[3] In 1989, after receiving his PhD from Rockefeller University, Heitman took a leave of absence from medical school to serve as an EMBO-sponsored long-term fellow at the Biozentrum University of Basel working with Michael N. Hall and Rao Movva applying yeast genetics to understand the mechanisms of action of immunosuppressive drugs.[3][5] This work led to the discovery of the cellular growth regulator TOR for which Michael Hall was awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2017.[6][7] In 1992, Heitman finished medical school and moved to Duke University to set up his own laboratory in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.[3][4] He was an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1992-2005.[8] He became Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in 2009.[3] Since 2019, Heitman has been co-director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research's Fungal Kingdom program along with co-director Leah E. Cowen.[9]

Heitman's research has been recognized with prestigious awards and funding opportunities, including funding by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1992-2005, and an National Institutes of Health MERIT Award since 2011.[8][10] Several awards have recognized his research accomplishments, including the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award (2018), Edward Novitski Prize (2019), and the American Society for Microbiology's Award for Basic Research.[11][12][13] Heitman is an elected fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (2003), American Society for Clinical Investigation (2003), American Academy of Microbiology (2004), American Association for the Advancement of Science (2004), the Association of American Physicians (2006), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020).[14][15]

Research

Heitman's research has largely focused on the cell biology and sexual cycle of the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus.[3] His group described a previously unknown form of sexual reproduction in Cryptococcus species that allows sexual recombination between individuals of the same mating type.[16][17] Heitman's group has also had a long-standing interest in fungal evolution, describing how cellular processes such as sexual recombination and RNA interference are changed in different fungal lineages, as well as the expansion of the geographic range of the emerging pathogen Cryptococcus gattii.[3][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]

gollark: The chance of getting a number code is, according to my calculations, about 0.01%.
gollark: It's, what, 10/62^5?
gollark: The chance is quite low.
gollark: Madness.#
gollark: Also, an aeon and thalassa, come to think of it.

References
  1. "Joseph Heitman, MD, PhD". Duke University School of Medicine. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  2. Williams, Corinne L. (2018). "Talking TOR: A conversation with Joe Heitman and Rao Movva". JCI Insight. 3 (4). doi:10.1172/jci.insight.99816. PMC 5916239. PMID 29467327.
  3. "Joseph Heitman, MD, PhD - Biography". Duke University School of Medicine. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  4. Jackson, Sarah (2018). "Joseph Heitman receives the 2018 ASCI/Korsmeyer Award". Journal of Clinical Investigation. 128 (4): 1205–1207. doi:10.1172/JCI120588. PMC 5873853. PMID 29608142.
  5. Heitman, Joseph (2015). "On the Discovery of TOR as the Target of Rapamycin". PLOS Pathogens. 11 (11): e1005245. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1005245. PMC 4634758. PMID 26540102.
  6. "2017 Lasker Awards". Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  7. Heitman J, Movva NR, Hall MN (August 1991). "Targets for cell cycle arrest by the immunosuppressant rapamycin in yeast". Science. 253 (5022): 905–9. Bibcode:1991Sci...253..905H. doi:10.1126/science.1715094. PMID 1715094.
  8. "Joseph Heitman, MD, PhD HHMI alumnus investigator". Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  9. "Heitman and Cowen Awarded CIFAR for Research Program "The Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities"". Duke University Medical School. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  10. "duke-physician-scientist-receives-prestigious-nih-merit-award-studies-fungal-unisexual". Duke Health. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  11. "Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award". American Society for Clinical Investigation. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  12. Heitman J (September 2019). "E pluribus unum: the fungal kingdom as a Rosetta Stone for biology and medicine". Genetics. 213 (1): 1–7. doi:10.1534/genetics.119.302537. PMID 31488591.
  13. "ASM Award Recipients". American Society for Microbiology. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  14. "price-kornbluth-and-six-senior-faculty-join-american-academy-arts-sciences". Duke University. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  15. "new-members-2020". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  16. Lin, X, Hull, CM, Heitman J (April 2005). "Sexual reproduction between partners of the same mating type in Cryptococcus neoformans". Nature. 434 (7036): 1017–21. Bibcode:2005Natur.434.1017L. doi:10.1038/nature03448. PMID 15846346.
  17. "2019 Edward Novitski Prize awarded to Joseph Heitman". Genetics Society of America. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  18. Calo S, Shertz-Wall C, Lee SC, Bastidas RJ, Nicolás FE, Granek JA, Mieczkowski P, Torres-Martínez S, Ruiz-Vázquez RM, Cardenas ME, Heitman J (September 2014). "Antifungal drug resistance evoked via RNAi-dependent epimutations". Nature. 513 (7519): 555–8. Bibcode:2014Natur.513..555C. doi:10.1038/nature13575. PMC 4177005. PMID 25079329.
  19. Wang, X, Hsueh, YP, Li, W, Floyd, A, Skalskey, R, Heitman J (November 2010). "Sex-induced silencing defends the genome of Cryptococcus neoformans via RNAi". Genes & Development. 24 (22): 2566–82. doi:10.1101/gad.1970910. PMC 2975932. PMID 21078820.
  20. Feretzaki, M, Billmyre, RB, Clancey, SA, Wang, X, Heitman J (April 2005). "Gene network polymorphism illuminates loss and retention of novel RNAi silencing components in the Cryptococcus pathogenic species complex". PLOS Genetics. 12 (3): e1005868. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005868. PMC 4778953. PMID 26943821.
  21. Fraser JA, Giles SS, Wenink EC, Geunes-Boyer SG, Wright JR, Diezmann S, Allen A, Stajich JE, Dietrich FS, Perfect JR, Heitman J (October 2005). "Same-sex mating and the origin of the Vancouver Island Cryptococcus gattii outbreak". Nature. 437 (7063): 1360–4. Bibcode:2005Natur.437.1360F. doi:10.1038/nature04220. PMID 16222245.
  22. Byrnes EJ 3rd, Bildfell RJ, Frank SA, Mitchell TG, Marr KA, Heitman J (April 2009). "Molecular evidence that the range of the Vancouver Island outbreak of Cryptococcus gattii infection has expanded into the Pacific Northwest in the United States". J Infect Dis. 199 (7): 1081–6. doi:10.1086/597306. PMC 2715219. PMID 19220140.
  23. Byrnes EJ 3rd, Li W, Lewit Y, Ma H, Voelz K, Ren P, Carter DA, Chaturvedi V, Bildfell RJ, May RC, Heitman J (April 2010). "Emergence and pathogenicity of highly virulent Cryptococcus gattii genotypes in the northwest United States". PLOS Pathog. 6 (4): e1000850. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000850. PMC 2858702. PMID 20421942.
  • CIFAR program Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities
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