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Hunter Gage

Hunter Gage

Research Interests

  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Nanomedicine
  • Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

At the Bench

Hunter received his BS in Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He became interested in infectious disease research while working in the Hull lab, where he studied the processes of sexual development and spore germination in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. He also participated in a summer research program in Cambridge, England, where he completed a bioinformatics project investigating the role of DNA secondary structures in promoting the diversification of virulence gene families in Plasmodium parasites. Hunter started his MD-PhD training at UCSD in 2021 and joined the Nizet lab in 2023. He is currently studying the immunomodulatory effects of macrophage membrane-coated nanoparticles on neutrophils, and their therapeutic potential for acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Out of Lab

Hunter enjoys running, golfing, trying new restaurants in San Diego, and cheering for Wisconsin sports teams.

Academic Appointments

Year Position
2022-2023 Director of Academic Interests, UCSD School of Medicine Student Council

Education

University Degree Year Field
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI B.S. 2020 Biology

Honors

Year Honor/Award
2019 Hilldale Undergraduate Research Fellowship
2019 Zillman Summer Research Scholarship
2019 Study Abroad Scholars Scholarship
2016 Wisconsin Academic Excellence Scholarship

Publications

Ortiz SC, McKeon MC, Botts MR, Gage H, Frerichs A, Hull CM. Spores of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus exhibit cell type-specific carbon source utilization during germination. bioRxiv. 2023. DOI https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.01.560341

Wang Y, McKeon MC, Elmore H, Hess J, Golan J, Gage H, Mao W, Harrow L, Goncalves SC, Hull CM, Pringle A. Invasive Californian death caps develop mushrooms unisexually and bisexually. Nature Communications. 2023. PMID 37875491.

Coonahan E*, Gage H*, Chen D, Noormahomed EV, Buene TP, Mendes de Sousa I, Akrami K, Chambal L, Schooley RT, Winzeler EA, Cowell AN. Whole genome surveillance identifies markers of Plasmodium falciparum drug resistance and novel genomic regions under selection in Mozambique. mBio. 2023. PMID 37750720. *Co-first authorship.

Gage, HL, Merrick, CJ. Conserved associations between G-quadruplex-forming DNA motifs and virulence gene families in malaria parasites. BMC Genomics. 2020. PMID 32183702.