News

An international research initiative co-led by Joe Heitman, MD, PhD, has secured a five‑year renewal to advance scientific understanding of fungi and their global impact. The CIFAR-funded program, Fungal Kingdom: Threats and Opportunities, brings together experts from multiple disciplines to investigate the complex roles of fungi as both emerging threats to human health and vital contributors to environmental and technological systems.

Researchers have uncovered a set of bacterial survival genes activated only inside TB’s hard‑to‑study granulomas, revealing new clues to how the pathogen endures our immune defenses.

Antifungal drug effort springs from Heitman‑led Fungal Kingdom program.

Stephanie Diezmann, PhD, who received her doctoral degree from Duke in 2009,

Two faculty in the Duke University School of Medicine have been elected as fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology. Ed Miao, MD, PhD, Duke Health Distinguished Professor of Integrative Immunobiology, and Emily Derbyshire, PhD, Eads Family Professor of Chemistry, who has a secondary appointment in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, are among 63 new fellows elected for 2026.

Congratulations to Matt Scaglione, PhD, who is among recently tenured faculty at the associate professor rank.

Molecular Genetics and Microbiology graduate student Aaron Koh

Aravind Asokan, a professor of surgery and of molecular genetics and microbiology, was among two Duke inventors selected to join this prestigious organization.

Joseph Heitman, MD, PhD, was honored on November 6, 2025, at the Duke Medical Alumni Association awards celebration as the recipient of a 2025 Distinguished Faculty Award.