Arturo Casadevall

About

Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD, is a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty member serving as the Chair of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology and holding the titles of Bloomberg Distinguished Professor and Alfred & Jill Sommer Professor. His research focuses on host defense mechanisms, how fungi cause disease, and the development of antibody-based therapies for infectious diseases. His laboratory studies fundamental questions such as how microbes cause disease and how hosts, including humans, protect themselves against microbes. A major focus of his work is on Cryptococcus neoformans, a ubiquitous environmental fungus that causes disease primarily in immunocompromised individuals, including lung infections and fungal meningitis. His research investigates the virulence factors of C. neoformans, such as melanin production, and explores antibody-based treatments, including an antibody to fungal melanin being evaluated for melanoma treatment. Additionally, his lab works with other microorganisms like Bacillus anthracis, aiming to develop countermeasures against biological threats. Dr. Casadevall's extensive background includes education at New York University, where he earned his MD, PhD, and MS, and a distinguished career marked by numerous awards and honors in microbiology and immunology.

Research topics

• Biology
• Virology
• Medicine
• Immunology
• Pathology
• Genetics
• Biochemistry
• Political Science
• Cell biology
• Botany

Selected publications

• The convalescent sera option for containing COVID-19

  Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2020-03-13 · 985 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  As of early 2020, humanity is confronting a pandemic in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 causes coronavirus disease, abbreviated as COVID-19. At the time of this writing, SARS-CoV-2 is spreading in multiple countries, threatening a pandemic that will affect billions of people. This virus appears to be a new human pathogen. Currently there are no vaccines, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), or drugs available for SARS-CoV-2, although many are in rapid developmen…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Deployment of convalescent plasma for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19

  Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2020-04-07 · 863 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Passive antibody therapy has been in use for over a century The active agents are antibodies against the target pathogen of interest. Today, passive antibody therapy relies primarily on pooled immunoglobulin preparations that contain high concentrations of antibodies. In contrast, plasma has been used emergently in epidemics where there is insufficient time or resources to generate immunoglobulin preparations. There are multiple examples, both historical and recent, in which convalescent plasma…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Convalescent Plasma Antibody Levels and the Risk of Death from Covid-19

  New England Journal of Medicine · 2021-01-13 · 553 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Convalescent plasma has been widely used to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) under the presumption that such plasma contains potentially therapeutic antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that can be passively transferred to the plasma recipient. Whether convalescent plasma with high antibody levels rather than low antibody levels is associated with a lower risk of death is unknown. METHODS: In a retrospective study based on a U.S. nationa…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Threats Posed by the Fungal Kingdom to Humans, Wildlife, and Agriculture

  mBio · 2020 · 526 citations

  The fungal kingdom includes at least 6 million eukaryotic species and is remarkable with respect to its profound impact on global health, biodiversity, ecology, agriculture, manufacturing, and biomedical research. Approximately 625 fungal species have been reported to infect vertebrates, 200 of which can be human associated, either as commensals and members of our microbiome or as pathogens that cause infectious diseases. These organisms pose a growing threat to human health with the global incr…

  DOI

• Early Outpatient Treatment for Covid-19 with Convalescent Plasma

  New England Journal of Medicine · 2022 · 266 citations

  BACKGROUND: Polyclonal convalescent plasma may be obtained from donors who have recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). The efficacy of this plasma in preventing serious complications in outpatients with recent-onset Covid-19 is uncertain. METHODS: In this multicenter, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of Covid-19 convalescent plasma, as compared with control plasma, in symptomatic adults (≥18 years of age) who had tested positive for se…

  DOI

Recent grants

• Molecular Characterization of C. neoformans Antibodies

  NIH · $3.9M · 2015–2018

• Biology of Fungal Melanin

  NIH · $533k · 2003–2020

• NIH Grant R21GM071421

  NIH · $251k · 2006

Frequent coauthors

• John R. Perfect

  Duke University

  153 shared

• Ekaterina Dadachova

  University of Saskatchewan

  148 shared

• Joshua D. Nosanchuk

  Albert Einstein College of Medicine

  141 shared

• Ruth E. Stark

  City College of New York

  136 shared

• Shmuel Shoham

  Johns Hopkins Medicine

  126 shared

• Rafael Prados‐Rosales

  Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

  115 shared

• Aaron A.R. Tobian

  109 shared

• Evan M. Bloch

  Johns Hopkins University

  107 shared

Awards & honors

• Stanley Konkol Memorial Award (1979)
• Chemistry Department Service Award (1979)
• Salk Scholarship (1979-1983)
• Medical Scientist Training Program Fellowship (1979-1985)
• Montefiore Fellow of the Year Award (1989)

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