DUKE BACTERIOLOGY
RESEARCH UNIT
Faculty and Research
Raphael Valdivia, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
lab members
• publications
• website
Biography:
Raphael Valdivia received his B.S. in Microbiology from Cornell University in
1991. After a year stint as a mountainguide and high school teacher, he moved to
California to begin graduate studies with Stanley Falkow in the Department of
Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University. In Dr. Falkow's laboratory Dr.
Valdivia devised a fluorescence-based screen to identify virulence factors that are
induced when pathogens enter a host cell and which are involved in remodeling the
host cell's endosomal compartments.
In 1998, Dr. Valdivia received a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fellowship and moved
to the University of California, Berkeley to study endosome dynamics and biogenesis in
the laboratory of Randy Schekman. At Berkeley, Dr. Valdivia used the formidable tools
of genetics and biochemistry of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to uncover novel
transport pathways between endosomal compartments.
In his current work, Dr. Valdivia is taking advantage of the well-characterized cell
biology, genetics and biochemistry of model eukaryotes, such as yeast, to understand the
function of virulence factors from the intracellular pathogens Chlamydia and Salmonella.
