Joseph Heitman
Chair, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Overview
Joseph Heitman was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago (1980-1984), graduating from the BS-MS program with dual degrees in chemistry and biochemistry with general and special honors. He then matriculated as an MD-PhD student at Cornell and Rockefeller Universities and worked with Peter Model and Norton Zinder on how restriction enzymes recognize specific DNA sequences and how bacteria respond to and repair DNA breaks and nicks. Dr. Heitman moved as an EMBO long-term fellow to the Biocenter in Basel Switzerland where, in studies with Mike Hall and Rao Movva, pioneered the use of yeast as a model for studies of immunosuppressive drug action. Their studies elucidated the central role of FKBP12 in forming complexes with FK506 and rapamycin that inhibit cell signaling and growth, discovered Tor1 and Tor2 as the targets of rapamycin, and contributed to the appreciation that immunosuppressive drugs inhibit signal transduction cascades that are conserved from yeasts to humans.
Dr. Heitman moved to Duke University in 1992, and is a member of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology where his studies focus on microorganisms addressing fundamental biological questions and unmet medical needs. Dr. Heitman and colleagues focus on model and pathogenic yeasts including Cryptococcus neoformans and other diverse species from the fungal kingdom. Their studies with fungi as genetic models have revealed biological and genetic principles that can be generalized as models for eukaryotic cell and organism function. These include discovering FKBP12 and Tor1/2 as the targets of the immunosuppressive anti-proliferative natural product rapamycin, elucidating central roles of the calcium activated phosphatase calcineurin governing fungal virulence and morphogenesis and antifungal drug action, deciphering how cells sense and respond to nutrients via permeases, G protein coupled receptors, and the Tor signaling cascade, and illustrating how both model and pathogenic fungi sense both the environment and the infected host. In parallel, their studies address the evolution, structure, and function of fungal mating type loci as models for gene cluster and sex chromosome evolution. The discovery of an ancestral sex determining locus in the basal fungal lineages involving two HMG domain proteins, SexM and SexP, homologous to the mammalian Sry sex determinant provides insights into both the origins of sex specification and its plasticity throughout the radiation of the fungal and metazoan kingdoms from their last shared common ancestor. Their discovery of unisexual mating in fungi and subsequent analysis of its impact on the evolution of eukaryotic microbial pathogens provides insights into both microbial evolution and pathogenesis and how sexual reproduction may have first evolved. Recent studies have unveiled novel mechanisms of antimicrobial drug resistance involving epimutations that silence drug-target genes via RNAi, functions of RNAi in genomic integrity of microbial pathogens, and loss of RNAi in hypervirulent outbreak lineages.
Dr. Heitman is a recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Scholar Award in Molecular Pathogenic Mycology (1998-2005), the 2002 ASBMB AMGEN award for significant contributions using molecular biology to our understanding of human disease, and the 2003 Squibb Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) for outstanding contributions to infectious disease research, the 2018 Korsmeyer Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the 2018 Rhoda Benham Award from the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas. He is the recipient of an NIH/NIAID MERIT award 2011-2021 in support of studies on fungal unisexual reproduction in microbial pathogen evolution, a Duke University translational research mentoring award in 2012, and a Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring from the Duke Graduate School in 2018. He has served as an instructor in residence since 1998 for the Molecular Mycology Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, MA. Dr. Heitman is an editor for the journals PLOS Genetics, Genetics (2012-2017), PLOS Pathogens (Pearls review editor), Current Genetics (2001-2014), mBio, and Fungal Genetics and Biology; a member of the editorial boards of PLOS Biology, Current Biology, Cell Host and Microbe, and PeerJ; former editor for PLOS Pathogens (mycology section editor, 2008-2011) and Eukaryotic Cell (2002-2012); an advisory board member for the Fungal Genome Initiative at the Broad Institute, the Fungal Kingdom Genome Project at the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, the NIAID Genomic Sequencing Centers for Infectious Diseases, and for the Integrated Microbial Biodiversity Program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR); co-chair for the Duke Chancellor’s Science Advisory Council (2009-2010); and co-chair/chair for the FASEB summer conference on Microbial Pathogenesis: Mechanisms of Infectious Disease (2011, 2013). He was elected a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) in 2003, a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) in 2003, a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2004, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2004, a member of the Association of American Physicians (AAP) in 2006, and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2020. Dr. Heitman was an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1992 to 2005. Dr. Heitman served as the director for the Duke University Program in Genetics and Genomics (UPGG) from 2002-2009 (including writing two funded competitive renewals for the T32 NIH training grant and establishing the annual program retreat). He was the founding director for the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis (now called the Center for Host-Microbial Interactions, CHoMI) and served in this capacity January 2002-October 2014. He is currently the director of the Tri-institutional (Duke, UNC-CH, NC State) Molecular Mycology and Pathogenesis Training Program (MMPTP) (since July 1, 2012), and Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology (since September 1, 2009).
Positions
Chair, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the School of Medicine
2009 School of Medicine
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the School of Medicine
2004 School of Medicine
Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the School of Medicine
2002 School of Medicine
Professor of Cell Biology in the School of Medicine
2022 School of Medicine
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute in the School of Medicine
1992 School of Medicine
Professor in Medicine in the School of Medicine
2003 School of Medicine
Professor in Pharmacology & Cancer Biology in the School of Medicine
2003 School of Medicine
Education
Ph.D. 1989
1989 Rockefeller University
M.D. 1992
1992 Cornell University
Publications, Grants & Awards
- Grants (54)
- Awards (31)
- Academics Articles (585)
- Conference Pages (16)
- Book Sections (14)
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
Quercus Molecular Design
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
Canada Institute for Advanced Research
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
Broad Institute
University of Iowa
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
National Institutes of Health
Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
National Cancer Institute
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
Mycological Society of America
German National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
American Society for Microbiology
Genetics Society of America
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research program
Duke University
Faculty of 1000
Medical Mycological Society of the Americas
American Society for Clinical Investigation
Faculty of 1000
Faculty of 1000
Ruhr University, Germany
Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA)
Faculty of 1000
Faculty of 1000
Faculty of 1000
National Institutes of Health
Duke University
Association of American Physicians
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Academy of Microbiology
Infectious Diseases Society of America
American Society for Clinical Investigation
Infectious Diseases Society of America
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Cornell University Medical College
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Microorganisms
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
J Clin Invest
Plos Pathog
Methods Mol Biol
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
Nature Microbiology
Brain, Behavior, & Immunity Health
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Journal of Fungi (Basel, Switzerland)
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Curr Biol
Microbiol Mol Biol Rev
Appl Environ Microbiol
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
Fungal Diversity
Curr Biol
Nature Communications
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Mycopathologia
Nature Communications
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
Annu Rev Genet
Fungal Genet Biol
Cell Host Microbe
Curr Opin Genet Dev
Nature Communications
Curr Protoc Microbiol
Fungal Genet Biol
Frontiers in Microbiology
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
Antimicrob Agents Chemother
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
Scientific Reports
J Invest Dermatol
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
Fungal Genet Biol
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
Genome Res
Nucleic Acids Res
Virulence
Mycopathologia
Nature Communications
Hum Mol Genet
Fungal Biology Reviews
Fungal Biology Reviews
Mbio
Pediatr Infect Dis J
Fungal Genet Biol
Nature Communications
Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice
Scientific Reports
Mycoses
Fungal Genet Biol
Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine
Eukaryot Cell
Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology
The New Phytologist
Advances in Genetics
Chromosome Research : an International Journal on the Molecular, Supramolecular and Evolutionary Aspects of Chromosome Biology
Mbio
Bioorg Med Chem Lett
Eukaryot Cell
Cell Host Microbe
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
Mbio
Eukaryot Cell
Mycologia
Nature Communications
Mbio
Plos Genet
Current Fungal Infection Reports
Science
Eukaryot Cell
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
Communicative & Integrative Biology
Eukaryot Cell
Fems Microbiol Rev
G3 (Bethesda, Md.)
Plos One
Plos Pathog
Plos Pathog
Curr Opin Microbiol
Pediatr Infect Dis J
Eukaryot Cell
Plos Pathog
Bmc Biology
Eukaryot Cell
Fungal Biology Reviews
Annu Rev Genet
Genome Biology
Current Fungal Infection Reports
Bmc Genomics
Microbiology
Microbiol Mol Biol Rev
Plos Pathog
Fungal Genet Biol
Mol Microbiol
Eukaryot Cell
Plos Pathog
Communicative & Integrative Biology
Emerging Infectious Diseases
Curr Biol
The Embo Journal
Curr Biol
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
The Journal of Infectious Diseases
Eukaryot Cell
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Cell Microbiol
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation : Official Publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc
Curr Opin Microbiol
Current Biology : Cb
Fems Microbiology Reviews
Eukaryot Cell
Eukaryot Cell
Mol Microbiol
Transplantation
Current Opinion in Investigational Drugs (London, England : 2000)
Eukaryot Cell
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Infect Immun
Faseb Journal
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Fungal Biology Reviews
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Eukaryot Cell
Eukaryot Cell
Fungal Genet Biol
Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Yeast as a Tool in Cancer Research
Faseb Journal : Official Publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Plos Pathog
Cell Host Microbe
Plos Pathogens
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Infection and Immunity
Cell Host Microbe
Current Biology : Cb
Nat Rev Microbiol
Eukaryotic Cell
Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta
The Journal of Infectious Diseases
Current Genetics
Current Biology : Cb
Anti Infective Agents in Medicinal Chemistry
Nat Rev Microbiol
Eukaryotic Cell
Advances in Genetics
Current Opinion in Microbiology
Plos Genetics
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Current Biology : Cb
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Eukaryotic Cell
Molecular Cell
Fems Yeast Research
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Annual Review of Microbiology
Infection and Immunity
Eukaryotic Cell
Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
Current Biology : Cb
Transplantation
Current Biology : Cb
Nature Reviews. Microbiology
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Medical Mycology
Eukaryotic Cell
Infection and Immunity
Molecular Microbiology
Infection and Immunity
Eukaryotic Cell
Eukaryotic Cell
Infection and Immunity
Eukaryotic Cell
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Eukaryotic Cell
Eukaryotic Cell
Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Eukaryotic Cell
Genome Biology
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Plos Biology
Infection and Immunity
Current Genetics
Eukaryotic Cell
Current Genetics
Eukaryotic Cell
Molecular Microbiology
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Current Biology : Cb
Frontiers in Bioscience : a Journal and Virtual Library
Current Genetics
Infection and Immunity
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Eukaryotic Cell
Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Molecular Microbiology
Eukaryotic Cell
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Current Biology : Cb
Current Biology : Cb
Eukaryotic Cell
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Infection and Immunity
Molecular Microbiology
Molecular Microbiology
Nucleic Acids Res
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Fungal Genetics and Biology : Fg & B
Current Opinion in Investigational Drugs (London, England : 2000)
Genes & Development
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Current Biology : Cb
Eukaryotic Cell
Genome Research
Microbiology
Molecular Cell
Transplantation
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Eukaryotic Cell
Eukaryotic Cell
Faseb Journal
Eukaryotic Cell
Microbiology
Annual Review of Genetics
Microbiology
The Journal of Clinical Investigation
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
Fems Microbiology Reviews
Molecular and Cellular Biology
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
The Embo Journal
Trends in Microbiology
Trends in Microbiology
Molecular Microbiology
Infection and Immunity
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Molecular Microbiology
Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews : Mmbr
Current Opinion in Microbiology
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Nature Genetics
The Embo Journal
The Embo Journal
The Embo Journal
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
Genetics
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Fungal Genetics and Biology : Fg & B
Molecular Microbiology
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Infection and Immunity
Fungal Genetics and Biology : Fg & B
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Contributions to Microbiology
Genes & Development
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Clinical Microbiology Reviews
Fungal Genetics and Biology : Fg & B
Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology
Molecular Microbiology
Current Opinion in Microbiology
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Fungal Genetics and Biology : Fg & B
Fungal Genetics and Biology : Fg & B
Infection and Immunity
Molecular & General Genetics : Mgg
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
Mycopathologia
Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Trends in Biotechnology
Fungal Genetics and Biology : Fg & B
The Embo Journal
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Cell Growth & Differentiation : the Molecular Biology Journal of the American Association for Cancer Research
Naunyn Schmiedeberg'S Archives of Pharmacology
Naunyn Schmiedeberg'S Archives of Pharmacology
Biological Chemistry
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Journal of Molecular Biology
Genes & Development
Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Molecular Biology of the Cell
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Febs Letters
The Embo Journal
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Molecular Pharmacology
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
Genes & Development
The Embo Journal
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
The Embo Journal
Advances in Second Messenger and Phosphoprotein Research
The Embo Journal
Transplantation Proceedings
Perspectives in Drug Discovery and Design
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Molecular Microbiology
Journal of Cellular Biochemistry
Methods (San Diego, Calif.)
The Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Alpha Omega Alpha
Genetic Engineering
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
The New Biologist
Lancet (London, England)
Science (New York, N.Y.)
Journal of Bacteriology
Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
The Embo Journal
Nucleic Acids Research
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Journal of Bacteriology
Fungal Biology
Phytopathology
J Microbiol
Medical Mycology
Medical Mycology
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Cytogenetic and Genome Research
Protein Science : a Publication of the Protein Society
Yeast (Chichester, England)
Yeast (Chichester, England)
Yeast (Chichester, England)
Yeast (Chichester, England)
FUNGAL KINGDOM
Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases: Second Edition
Microsporidia: Pathogens of Opportunity: First Edition
Evolution of Virulence in Eukaryotic Microbes
The Ecological Genomics of Fungi
Hospitality and Health: Issues and Developments
CRYPTOCOCCUS: FROM HUMAN PATHOGEN TO MODEL YEAST
CRYPTOCOCCUS: FROM HUMAN PATHOGEN TO MODEL YEAST
CRYPTOCOCCUS: FROM HUMAN PATHOGEN TO MODEL YEAST
MYCOTA XIV: EVOLUTION OF FUNGI AND FUNGAL-LIKE ORGANISMS
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF FILAMENTOUS FUNGI
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF FILAMENTOUS FUNGI
MOLECULAR PRINCIPLES OF FUNGAL PATHOGENESIS
MOLECULAR PRINCIPLES OF FUNGAL PATHOGENESIS
Offices & Contact
Durham, NC
27710 Duke Box 3546
Durham, NC
27710