Heitman Lab Members

Sujal Phadke Postdoctoral Fellow 320 CARL Building Box 3546 DUMC Durham, N.C. 27710 Phone: 919.684.3036 Fax: 919.684.5458 Email: sujal.phadke@duke.edu

I am interested in understanding the dynamics and underlying mechanisms of speciation, adaptation and sexuality in microbial eukaryotes.

My doctoral research was centered on ciliates, a group of unicellular eukaryotes. I used phylogenetic analyses, population genetic techniques and experimental evolution to study sex ratios, mate choice and diversification in multi-sex systems of ciliates.

As a postdoctoral fellow in Joseph Heitman's lab at Duke University Medical Center, I have continued studying mating systems of microbial eukaryotes. Specifically, I am hoping to answer the following questions: 1) How does sex contribute to virulence of certain genotypes of Crypotococcus gatti? 2) Which genomic region(s) qualifies as the mating type locus in Phytophthora? and 3) Which genes contribute to sex determination and anisogamy in Allomyces?

For more information, please visit:
https://sites.google.com/site/phadkesujal/