Education
B.S. cum laude, Biology, University of Texas-Permian Basin
Research Description
Lysine acetylation has come on the scene in the area of posttranslational modification with recent studies mapping the mitochondrial acetylome. While the enzymes responsible for deacetylation in the mitochondria have been characterized, not much is known about the mechanism of acetylation. My research interest is focused on identifying this mechanism and I plan to use chemical and biochemical tools to study how protein acetylation is regulated in the mitochondria and how changes in acetylation affect metabolism.
Past Research Experience:
UTPB undergraduate research student in the lab of Dr. Tracie Gibson studying the mechanism of human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) trafficking in cells.
NIH summer and postbac internship in the lab of Dr. Shyam Kottilil studying the evolution of non structural proteins of hepatitis c virus in response the therapy.
Honors
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP), July 2012
- Molecular Biosciences Training Grant (MBTG), Aug 2011
- UW-Madison Science and Medicine Graduate Research Scholars (SciMed GRS), Aug 2011
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Intramural NIAID Research Opportunities (INRO), Feb 2010,
- Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), June 2009
Selected Publications
* Denotes co-first author
- Baeza J.*, Smallegan M.J.*, Denu J.M. (2015) Site-specific reactivity of nonenzymatic lysine acetylation. ACS Chemical Biology. 10(1):122-128
- Baeza J., Dowell J.A., Smallegan M.J., Fan J., Amador-Noguez D., Khan Z., Denu J.M. (2014) Stoichiometry of site-specific lysine acetylation in an entire proteome. J. Biol. Chem. 289(31), 21326-21338 [Featured as a JBC Paper of the Week.]
- Feldman, J.L., Baeza, J., Denu, J.M. (2013) Activation of the protein deacetylase SIRT6 by long-chain fatty acids and widespread deacylation by the mammalian sirtuins. J. Biol. Chem. 288(43), 31350-31356 [Featured as a JBC Paper of the Week.]
- Zhang, X., Daucher, M., Kim, C., Baeza, J., Kottilil, S. (2012) HIV-1 enhances HCV replication in an HCV continuous cell culture system expressing CD4 by regulating IFN and TGFβ family genes. J Med Virol 84(9):1344-1352.
- Ho, J. Y., Cira, N. J., Crooks, J. A., Baeza, J., Weibel, D.B. (2012) Rapid identification of ESKAPE bacterial strains using an autonomous microfluidic device. PLoS One 7(7):e41245. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041245