Raymond St. Leger

Who is Raymond St. Leger?

Raymond J. St. Leger is an American mycologist, entomologist and molecular biologist who currently holds the rank of Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland, College Park. He was the recipient of the Universities 2009 Distinguished Scholar Teacher Award and in 2013 he joined Dr. Tammatha O’Brien in teaching a massive open online Coursera course called Genes and the Human Condition. St. Leger has published almost 150 scientific papers and book chapters on fungal pathogens of plants, animals and insects, and on the reactions of hosts to infection. St. Leger’s dominating research interest has been directed toward understanding entomopathogenic fungus, and using them as models for understanding how pathogens in general respond to changing environments, initiate host invasion, colonize tissues, and counter host immune responses. These investigations have also addressed the mechanisms by which new pathogens emerge with different host ranges. St. Leger is leading a project to sequence multiple pathogens in collaboration with The Genome Institute and the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences.