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Zak Baker

@zakbaker

Postdoc in the Pagliarini Lab at WashU. Focusing mitochondria, lipids and everything mass spec.

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16.12.2023
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Latest posts by Zak Baker @zakbaker

Really thrilled to have our work on mitochondrial presequence strength out today @jcb.org. We establish quantitative parameters to better define "strong" and "weak" presequences both in vitro and in vivo. This work was spearheaded by the ever talented Youmian Yan, a BBSB graduate student in my lab.

08.01.2026 17:47 πŸ‘ 33 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

So happy to have been a part of this and have it finally out for everyone to read!

13.11.2025 21:34 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Uridine-sensitized screening identifies demethoxy-coenzyme Q and NUDT5 as regulators of nucleotide synthesis - Nature Metabolism A uridine-sensitized CRISPR-Cas9 screening identifies demethoxy-CoQ as an alternative electron acceptor in the absence of CoQ, and NUDT5 as a regulator of de novo pyrimidine synthesis via its interact...

Very excited to share the published version of our #uridine #CRISPR screen in naturemetabolism.bsky.social! πŸŽ‰

Led by Abigail Strefeler with @pagliarini-lab.bsky.social @zakbaker.bsky.social and team!

#NUDT5 #DMQ @dib-unil.bsky.social @fbm-unil.bsky.social

πŸ”— www.nature.com/articles/s42...
🧡1/17

13.11.2025 10:18 πŸ‘ 28 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1
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ACAD10 and ACAD11 enable mammalian 4-hydroxy acid lipid catabolism - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Rashan, Bartlett and colleagues show that mammalian 4-hydroxy fatty acids are primarily catabolized by ACAD10 and ACAD11 (atypical mitochondrial and peroxisomal acyl-CoA dehydrogenases, respectively) ...

AND IT'S DONE! A 🧡 on our recent article now out in @natsmb.nature.com! Co-led with @abbybartlett.bsky.social, Pagliarini Lab, @judisimcox.bsky.social, we find ACAD10/11 are NOT like other acyl-CoA dehydrogenases and instead catabolize atypical lipids called 4-hydroxy acids 🀯 doi.org/10.1038/s415...

22.06.2025 23:30 πŸ‘ 35 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1
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Mitochondrial presequences harbor variable strengths to maintain organellar function Hundreds of mitochondrial-destined proteins rely on N-terminal presequences for organellar targeting and import. While generally described as positively charged amphipathic helices, presequences lack ...

Very excited to share our latest work, β€œMitochondrial presequences harbor variable strengths to maintain organellar function,” led by the fantastically talented @washubbsb.bsky.social graduate student Youmian Yan. A 🧡

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

29.05.2025 21:18 πŸ‘ 74 πŸ” 27 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

Thrilled to have our story on the regulation of lysosomal lipids out in @cp-cellmetabolism.bsky.social! The work was led by two outstanding grad students Jess Davidson and Raghav Jain probing mechanistic control of energy expenditure @hhmi.org @uwbiochem.bsky.social

15.05.2025 12:06 πŸ‘ 47 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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excited to share our latest work now online
@natmetabolism.nature.com, led by
@kyle-flickinger.bsky.social, where we unravel a mechanistic basis for the conditional essentiality of NADK, one of the many interesting hits from our previously reported CRISPR screening with HPLM rdcu.be/ekpu6

02.05.2025 15:32 πŸ‘ 59 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 17 πŸ“Œ 0
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Spatial proteomics of ER tubules reveals CLMN, an ER-actin tether at focal adhesions that promotes cell migration The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is structurally and functionally diverse, yet how its functions are organized within morphological subdomains is incomp…

Important to celebrate trainee victories: excited to have Holly Merta's @hollymerta.bsky.social paper out!

We use TurboID sub-organelle proteomics to map the ER network.

We find calmin/CLMN, an ER-to-actin tether regulating focal adhesions & cell motility.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

07.04.2025 13:07 πŸ‘ 46 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1
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Multiomics reveals that triacylglycerol mobilization helps drive recovery from mitochondrial stress - Nature Cell Biology We devised a multiomics strategy to identify metabolic pathways used by yeast to surmount mitochondrial stress. Strains capable of recovery relied on triacylglycerol mobilization to provide acyl group...

🍰Interested in reading more about the study? Here's the Research Briefing:
πŸ‘‰πŸΌhttps://rdcu.be/eadgo
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

17.02.2025 14:48 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Triacylglycerol mobilization underpins mitochondrial stress recovery - Nature Cell Biology Baker et al. show that mitochondrial stress recovery requires mobilization of lipid droplet triacylglycerol stores to facilitate cardiolipin biosynthesis and mitochondrial biogenesis.

πŸ’«NEW: @zakbaker.bsky.social, Pagliarini & co show that #mitochondria stress recovery requires mobilization of #LipidDroplet triacylglycerol stores to facilitate #cardiolipin biosynthesis and mitochondrial biogenesis.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

17.02.2025 14:48 πŸ‘ 34 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1