Final version of our paper on discovery of pseudosexual reproduction in #Cryptococcus is now out @eLife. Makes me wonder what all this fantastic #fungus is hiding in its #cell #biology - something I plan to keep on exploring in my own arena. @DukeHeitman https://t.co/6l5KnJZTpm

Extremely excited to present our paper in which we mapped a thermoregulation network that governs virulence in a human fungal pathogen through genetic suppressors, TurboID proximity ligation assay, and functional regulation via domain-truncation alleles. https://t.co/AonjtwcvSs

Elated to share that this story about an unexpected and important finding is now published @PNASNews. https://t.co/dfd7cfpdCo These findings have laid a strong foundation for us to now identify proteins critical for cell proliferation at 37°C in a human fungal pathogen.

Calcineurin controls the cytokinesis machinery during thermal stress in Cryptococcus deneoformans https://t.co/Bp4U8sqMgZ #biorxiv_genetic

Finally, this marks a significant advancement and description of a protein complex that is essential for high-temperature growth in a critical human fungal pathogen.

Using genetics, we then found that they indeed are interdependent on each other, and alphafold modeling showed a nice complex formation.

As we looked at these in more depth, things started to become clearer, and we found that they were all involved in cell division. A deep dive into the literature revealed they were all part of a single complex that regulates cytokinesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

I then obtained >50 additional isolates and sequenced all of them. Interestingly enough, We kept on finding dominant amino acid change mutations in three proteins that did not seem related to each other in any way at first glance.

This story in some way started >30 years ago when Joe and Audrey Odom, an undergrad at that time, isolated some mutants that were resistant to calcineurin inhibitors. A dozen of these were frozen and forgotten until about a couple of years ago when I revived and sequenced them.

Excited to share my latest paper on the role of calcineurin in cytokinesis in a critical human pathogen. It started with a genetic screen to identify mutants that are resistant to calcineurin inhibitors, which led us to a very unexpected place. A short 🧵 https://t.co/ecs2ZX08PV

In our latest #PLOSGenetics paper, @SatyaDev2064 and coauthors report that the dependence of shugoshin on Bub1-kinase activity is dispensable for the maintenance of spin ... https://t.co/zb0PLu35b2 @jncasr @bose_institute @IndiaDST @EdinburghUni @KaustuvSanyal

A postdoc position in fungal pathogenesis and drug resistance mechanisms is available at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in the labs of Bill Steinbach and Praveen Juvvadi. Details here:

A new study from the lab @DukeHeitman reports an advance in designing FK506/FK520 analogs that target calcineurin on the path toward new antifungal drugs. https://t.co/qAvyqgrlOl

Excited to share our latest discovery on distinct evolutionary trajectories following RNAi loss in Cryptococcus, now published in @PNASNews! Huge thanks to @Cojola429, @VikasYadavSci, @magwenelab, @DukeHeitman and everyone who supported this work!

Related: This is how micromanaging bosses destroy team morale. Focusing on the minutiae instead of trusting and empowering employees means that everyone gets exhausted and can’t perform at their highest level. The boss wastes time on these details and fails to develop a vision.

https://t.co/Ja4gn1dj9Z is back online!

This time, the CS 2024 Meeting will be held at the elegant AMRL Conference Hall @jncasr campus. Here are some pictures of the aesthetic beauty of JNCASR, Bengaluru. https://t.co/znlnlWDiP0 #chromosome #biology #AcademicChatter

New Job Alert! We are hiring a Research Assistant I/II. Please share. @UTHealthHouston @UTHealthMMG @McGovernMed https://t.co/PlLpjFO0my

Registration is open for the Chromosome Stability 2024 to be held from 13-16 December @jncasr in Bangalore w/ @tvmiiser. Excellent opportunities to present your work and interact with top scientists in the field. https://t.co/YAPbNTBh7P

I’m ✨yeast-static✨ to share that my first first-author research paper is officially out in @CellReports! 📚 Huge thank you to my incredible co-authors and mentors for their hard work and support in making this research possible. 🔬Check it out here:

#Duke scientists mapped an enzyme crucial for fungal pathogens, revealing a new target for treatment. “If we can disrupt this pathway, we can potentially prevent fungal infections,” said lead investigator Dr. @erica_washi. @PNASNews @DukeMGM @dukebiochem https://t.co/ctsjzNLBZC