Amy Gladfelter, Duke Health Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology and Biomedical Engineering, has spent roughly two decades asking what fungi can teach us about the fundamental workings of cells. Her laboratory studies how fungi switch from harmless environmental organisms into disease-causing pathogens, and how multinucleated fungal cells, which hold many nuclei within a single membrane, build sprawling networks that sense and respond to their surroundings with remarkable speed.
Much of the lab's attention falls on condensates, droplet-like assemblies that form and dissolve inside cells to help them manage stress. Gladfelter's team has traced these structures in fungi, in human neurons and in cancer cells, suggesting organising principles that cut across kingdoms. The parallels extend to the human placenta, whose giant multinucleated cells echo fungal biology; with Duke maternal and fetal medicine specialists, she is probing what that similarity might mean for preeclampsia.
The work carries real urgency. Climate change appears to be favouring fungi that tolerate higher temperatures, potentially easing their path into human hosts, while some species can grow on plastic, complicating infection control in hospitals. Clinicians have very few antifungal drugs to call on. After Hurricane Helene, Gladfelter joined a Duke team studying fungal growth in storm-damaged buildings, a reminder that fungal cell biology is also a pressing public health question.