Clare Smith

Assistant Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

The Smith Lab are interested in host genetic diversity, bacterial variation, and how these host-pathogen genetic interactions drive tuberculosis disease states.

Systems Genetics of Tuberculosis: We leverage host diversity in mice and macrophages from wild-derived mouse strains and diverse mouse panels, including the Collaborative Cross and BXD mammalian resources. In parallel, we define the bacterial genetic requirements for growth and adaptation across these diverse host environments through cutting-edge mycobacterial genetic approaches. These combined host and bacterial genome-wide approaches allows the interrogation of each host-pathogen interaction underlying tuberculosis disease, drug treatments and vaccine interventions. 

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Assistant Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
  • Assistant Professor of Cell Biology
  • Member of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute

Contact Information

  • Office Location: 270 Jones BOX3054, 207 Research Drive, Durham, NC 27710
  • Email Address: clare.m.smith@duke.edu
  • Websites:

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Tasmania (Australia), 2012

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Mary Lyon award for outstanding early/mid-career female investigator. International Mammalian Genome Society. 2024
  • NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (DP2). NIH Common Fund . 2021
  • Whitehead Scholar. Duke University; Whitehead Family Fund. 2020

Courses Taught

  • MGM 593: Research Independent Study
  • MGM 293: Research Independent Study I

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Meade, Rachel K., Jarukit E. Long, Adrian Jinich, Kyu Y. Rhee, David G. Ashbrook, Robert W. Williams, Christopher M. Sassetti, and Clare M. Smith. “Genome-wide screen identifies host loci that modulate Mycobacterium tuberculosis fitness in immunodivergent mice.” G3 (Bethesda, Md.) 13, no. 9 (August 2023): jkad147. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkad147.
  • Adefisayo, Oyindamola O., Erin R. Curtis, and Clare M. Smith. “Mycobacterial Genetic Technologies for Probing the Host-Pathogen Microenvironment.” Infection and Immunity 91, no. 6 (June 2023): e0043022. https://doi.org/10.1128/iai.00430-22.
  • Wilburn, Kaley M., Rachel K. Meade, Emma M. Heckenberg, Jacob Dockterman, Jörn Coers, Christopher M. Sassetti, Andrew J. Olive, and Clare M. Smith. “Differential Requirement for IRGM Proteins during Tuberculosis Infection in Mice.” Infection and Immunity 91, no. 2 (February 2023): e0051022. https://doi.org/10.1128/iai.00510-22.
  • Saelens, Joseph W., Mollie I. Sweeney, Gopinath Viswanathan, Ana María Xet-Mull, Kristen L. Jurcic Smith, Dana M. Sisk, Daniel D. Hu, et al. “An ancestral mycobacterial effector promotes dissemination of infection.” Cell 185, no. 24 (November 23, 2022): 4507-4525.e18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.10.019.
  • Smith, Clare M., Richard E. Baker, Megan K. Proulx, Bibhuti B. Mishra, Jarukit E. Long, Sae Woong Park, Ha-Na Lee, et al. “Host-pathogen genetic interactions underlie tuberculosis susceptibility in genetically diverse mice.” Elife 11 (February 3, 2022). https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.74419.
  • Trimarco, Joseph D., Brook E. Heaton, Ryan R. Chaparian, Kaitlyn N. Burke, Raquel A. Binder, Gregory C. Gray, Clare M. Smith, Vineet D. Menachery, and Nicholas S. Heaton. “TMEM41B is a host factor required for the replication of diverse coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2.” PLoS Pathogens 17, no. 5 (May 2021): e1009599. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009599.
  • Bourgeois, Jeffrey S., Clare M. Smith, and Dennis C. Ko. “These Are the Genes You're Looking For: Finding Host Resistance Genes.” Trends in Microbiology 29, no. 4 (April 2021): 346–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2020.09.006.
  • Smith, Clare, Megan Proulx, Rocky Lai, Michael Kiritsy, Timothy Bell, Pablo Hock, Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena, et al. “Functionally overlapping variants control TB susceptibility in Collaborative Cross mice,” 2019. https://doi.org/10.1101/785725.
  • Smith, Clare M., and Christopher M. Sassetti. “Modeling Diversity: Do Homogeneous Laboratory Strains Limit Discovery?” Trends in Microbiology 26, no. 11 (November 2018): 892–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2018.08.002.
  • Smith, Clare M., Megan K. Proulx, Andrew J. Olive, Dominick Laddy, Bibhuti B. Mishra, Caitlin Moss, Nuria Martinez Gutierrez, et al. “Tuberculosis Susceptibility and Vaccine Protection Are Independently Controlled by Host Genotype.” MBio 7, no. 5 (September 20, 2016). https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01516-16.