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Heran Darwin
Born
Santa Monica, California, United States
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Scientific career
FieldsMicrobiology
InstitutionsNew York University

Katerina Heran Darwin (née Hong) is an American microbiologist and professor of microbiology at New York University Grossman School of Medicine.[1] Her research interests include the bacterial proteasome[2] and the antimicrobial effects of host-produced effectors including nitric oxide,[3][4] copper,[5][6][7] and aldehydes[8]

Education and academic career

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Darwin received a bachelor's degree in microbiology and molecular genetics in 1992 and a PhD in microbiology and molecular genetics in 1999, both from the University of California, Los Angeles.[1] Darwin earned her PhD studying type III secretion in Salmonella typhimurium with Virginia Miller,[9] who moved her lab to Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Darwin remained with Miller for postdoctoral training before joining the lab of Carl Nathan at Weill Medical College of Cornell University (now Weill Cornell Medicine) in New York, New York.

Darwin joined the faculty of Microbiology at New York University Grossman School of Medicine in 2004.[1] Darwin is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology[10][11] since 2016 and was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2024.[12]

Research

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Darwin has dedicated her career to studying infectious bacteria, in particular, Mycobacterium tuberculosis,[13] the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis in humans. Darwin focuses on the characterization of the M. tuberculosis proteasome,[2] a protease complex that is key to lethal infections by M. tuberculosis and helps protect the bacterium from the innate immune defenses of the host. While characterizing the mycobacterial proteasome, Darwin's group identified the first known protein-on-protein, post-translational modification in prokaryotes called Pup (prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein).[14] While functionally similar to eukaryotic ubiquitin, Pup's distinct biochemistry makes it a potentially attractive drug target.[15]

Darwin and her collaborators are currently investigating the extent to which host-derived aldehydes may contribute to infection control.[8]

Honors and awards

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  • 2006 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Young Investigator Award
  • 2009 Awardee, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease[16]
  • 2010 Awardee, Irma T. Hirschl Charitable Trust[17]
  • 2012 Kavli / National Academy of Sciences Fellow[18]
  • 2016 Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology[10][11]
  • 2023 NIH Director's Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series (WALS), Bethesda, MD[19]
  • 2024 Samsung Ho-Am Prize for Chemistry and Life Sciences[20]
  • 2024 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, USA[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Heran Darwin". med.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  2. ^ a b Jastrab, Jordan B.; Wang, Tong; Murphy, J. Patrick; Bai, Lin; Hu, Kuan; Merkx, Remco; Huang, Jessica; Chatterjee, Champak; Ovaa, Huib; Gygi, Steven P.; Li, Huilin; Darwin, K. Heran (2015-03-23). "An adenosine triphosphate-independent proteasome activator contributes to the virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (14): E1763-72. Bibcode:2015PNAS..112E1763J. doi:10.1073/pnas.1423319112. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4394314. PMID 25831519.
  3. ^ Samanovic, Marie I.; Tu, Shengjiang; Novák, Ondřej; Iyer, Lakshminarayan M.; McAllister, Fiona E.; Aravind, L.; Gygi, Steven P.; Hubbard, Stevan R.; Strnad, Miroslav; Darwin, K. Heran (March 2015). "Proteasomal Control of Cytokinin Synthesis Protects Mycobacterium tuberculosis against Nitric Oxide". Molecular Cell. 57 (6): 984–994. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2015.01.024. ISSN 1097-2765. PMC 4369403. PMID 25728768.
  4. ^ Darwin, K. Heran; Ehrt, Sabine; Gutierrez-Ramos, José-Carlos; Weich, Nadine; Nathan, Carl F. (2003-12-12). "The Proteasome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Is Required for Resistance to Nitric Oxide". Science. 302 (5652): 1963–1966. Bibcode:2003Sci...302.1963D. doi:10.1126/science.1091176. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 14671303.
  5. ^ Festa, Richard A.; Jones, Marcus B.; Butler-Wu, Susan; Sinsimer, Daniel; Gerads, Russell; Bishai, William R.; Peterson, Scott N.; Darwin, K. Heran (2010-10-29). "A novel copper-responsive regulon in Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Molecular Microbiology. 79 (1): 133–148. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2010.07431.x. ISSN 0950-382X. PMC 3052634. PMID 21166899.
  6. ^ Limón, Gina; Samhadaneh, Nora M.; Pironti, Alejandro; Darwin, K. Heran (2022-10-02). "Aldehyde inactivation of the RicR regulon sensitizesMycobacterium tuberculosisto copper". doi:10.1101/2022.09.30.510424. Retrieved 2024-05-12. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ Shi, Xiaoshan; Festa, Richard A.; Ioerger, Thomas R.; Butler-Wu, Susan; Sacchettini, James C.; Darwin, K. Heran; Samanovic, Marie I. (2014-02-28). "The Copper-Responsive RicR Regulon Contributes to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Virulence". mBio. 5 (1). doi:10.1128/mbio.00876-13. ISSN 2161-2129. PMC 3944814. PMID 24549843.
  8. ^ a b Darwin, K. Heran; Stanley, Sarah A. (April 2022). "The aldehyde hypothesis: metabolic intermediates as antimicrobial effectors". Open Biology. 12 (4). doi:10.1098/rsob.220010. ISSN 2046-2441. PMC 9006002. PMID 35414258.
  9. ^ Darwin, K. Heran; Miller, Virginia L. (July 1999). "Molecular Basis of the Interaction of Salmonella with the Intestinal Mucosa". Clinical Microbiology Reviews. 12 (3): 405–428. doi:10.1128/CMR.12.3.405. ISSN 0893-8512. PMC 100246. PMID 10398673.
  10. ^ a b "American Academy of Microbiology". ASM.org. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  11. ^ a b "K. Heran Darwin, Ph.D." ASM.org. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  12. ^ a b Communications, NYU Web. "Two NYU Faculty Elected to the National Academy of Sciences". www.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  13. ^ "K Heran Darwin". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  14. ^ Pearce, Michael J.; Mintseris, Julian; Ferreyra, Jessica; Gygi, Steven P.; Darwin, K. Heran (2008-11-14). "Ubiquitin-Like Protein Involved in the Proteasome Pathway of Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Science. 322 (5904): 1104–1107. Bibcode:2008Sci...322.1104P. doi:10.1126/science.1163885. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 2698935. PMID 18832610.
  15. ^ Darwin, K. Heran (July 2009). "Prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein (Pup), proteasomes and pathogenesis". Nature Reviews Microbiology. 7 (7): 485–491. doi:10.1038/nrmicro2148. ISSN 1740-1534. PMC 3662484. PMID 19483713.
  16. ^ "Grant Recipients". Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  17. ^ https://research.weill.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/irma_t._hirschl_trust-mwc_-_award_recipients_12-30-19_.pdf
  18. ^ "Heran Darwin". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  19. ^ "NIH Director's Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series 2023-2024 | NIH Office of Intramural Research". oir.nih.gov. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  20. ^ "2024 Laureates - HOAM". www.hoamfoundation.org. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
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