Professor Dr. Richard Bennett

Biography

Richard J. Bennett is the Charles Helen B. Stuart Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Brown University, where he also serves as the Chair of the Department. His research focuses on the biology of the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, particularly its mechanisms for generating phenotypic diversity. He investigates epigenetic switching and genetic changes that arise in naturally recombining populations. Bennett completed his undergraduate studies at Cambridge University before earning his PhD from Imperial College, London. He has conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University and the University of California, San Francisco, prior to establishing his own laboratory at Brown. His lab aims to understand how C. albicans adapts to various niches within the human body using genetic and epigenetic mechanisms to generate diversity. Significant contributions include exploring the sexual lifecycle of C. albicans and its unique parasexual cycle, leading to new insights into virulence and adaptation of this pathogen.

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Experience

Awards