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Micah Thomas McClain

Associate Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Infectious Diseases
Duke Box 102359, Durham, NC 27710
Room 161 Hanes House, Trent Drive, Durham, NC 27710

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Associate Professor of Medicine · 2020 - Present Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Medicine
Member of Duke Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine · 2014 - Present The Precision Medicine Program, Medicine

In the News


Published March 29, 2024
Center for Precision Health Welcomes New Faculty Leaders
Published September 25, 2020
Duke-Developed Test Identifies Common Viral Infections Before Symptoms Appear
Published March 16, 2016
New Collaborative Seed Grant Program Gives Eight Awards

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Recent Publications


Age-associated differences in mucosal and systemic host responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Journal Article Nat Commun · March 10, 2025 Age is among the strongest risk factors for severe outcomes from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here we describe upper respiratory tract (URT) and peripheral blood transcriptomes of 202 participants (age range of 1 week to 83 years), including 137 non-hospitalized ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

A Rapid Host Response Blood Test for Bacterial/Viral Infection Discrimination Using a Portable Molecular Diagnostic Platform.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · January 2025 BACKGROUND: Difficulty discriminating bacterial versus viral etiologies of infection drives unwarranted antibacterial prescriptions and, therefore, antibacterial resistance. METHODS: Utilizing a rapid portable test that measures peripheral blood host gene ... Full text Link to item Cite

Harnessing the host response for precision infectious disease diagnosis.

Journal Article Clin Microbiol Rev · December 10, 2024 SUMMARYDetection of the presence of infection and its etiology must be accurate and timely to facilitate appropriate antimicrobial use. Diagnostic strategies that rely solely on pathogen detection often are insufficient due to poor test characteristics, in ... Full text Link to item Cite
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Recent Grants


Novel Host-Response Biomarker Diagnostics for Invasive Aspergillosis

ResearchMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2029

Host-Pathogen Dynamics in Leptospirosis - P4

ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by University of California - Los Angeles · 2023 - 2028

Single Dose Texas 2017 (H3N2) Challenge Study

ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by Darwin Biosciences · 2024 - 2027

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Education, Training & Certifications


University of Oklahoma · 2004 M.D.
University of Oklahoma · 2002 Ph.D.