Charles S. Fermaintt
Postdoctoral Fellow
Personal Statement:
As a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Dr. April Risinger, I am focusing in identifying and characterizing drugs derived from natural sources like plants and fungi that could be used to develop more effective cancer-immunotherapies against breast cancer in particular triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). I am also examining the influence clinically used chemotherapy agents like microtubule targeting agents on the innate immune system. Lab Association: April Risinger, Ph.D.
Education
Ph.D., Biological Chemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas TX
B.S., Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico at Humacao, Humacao PR
Research
Breast Cancer, Natural Products, Innate Immunity, Microtubule Targeting Agents, Drug discovery
Awards & Accomplishments
| Honors, Fellowships and Scholarships UT-Health San Antonio SABER (IRACDA) Scholar NIH RO1 Research Supplement (NIH Admin Supp) |
| National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) |
| Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) (R25 NIH Training Grant) |
| Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) (T34 NIH Training Grant) |
| AMGEN Foundation BioMinds Research Program |
| Puerto Rico Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PR-LSAMP) |
| UPR-Humacao Academic Scholarship |
| AMGEN Foundation Scholarship |
| Awards – UT-Southwestern Nominata Award Biological Chemistry Graduate Program nominee Biological Chemistry Symposium Best Poster Presentation Award |
| Society for Glycobiology Annual Meeting Travel award |
| UT-Southwestern Nominata Award Biological Chemistry Graduate Program nominee |
| Society for Glycobiology Annual Meeting Travel award |
| Society for Glycobiology Annual Meeting Travel award |
Publications
Fermaintt C.S., Sano K., Liu Z., Ishii N., Seino J., Dobbs N., Suzuki T., Fu Y., Lehrman M.A., Matsuo I. and Yan N. A bioactive mammalian disaccharide activates a STING-TBK1-dependent immune response associated with chronic autoimmune disease. Nature Communications May 30, 2019
Lu H., Fermaintt C.S., Yan N. and Lehrman M.A. Mammalian oligosaccharyltransferases segregate LLO donor hydrolysis from N-glycosylation at the translocon. PNAS September 18, 2018
Sakai T., Miyazaki T., Shin D., Kim Y., Qi C., Fariss R., Munasinghe J., Wang H., Kovalchuk A.L., Kothari P.H., Fermaintt C.S., Atkinson J.P., Perrino F.W., Yan N., Morse III H.C. DNase-active TREX1 frame-shift mutants induce serologic autoimmunity in mice. Journal of Autoimmunity March 18, 2017 Kucej M.*, Fermaintt C.S.*, Yang K., Irizarry-Caro R. and Yan N. Mitotic phosphorylation of TREX1 C-terminus disrupts TREX1 regulation of the oligosaccharyltransferase complex. Cell Reports March 14, 2017 *Co-first author
Hasan M.*, Fermaintt C.S.*, Gao N., Sakai T., Miyazaki T., Jiang S., Li Q., Atkinson J.P., Morse III H.C., Lehrman M.A. and Yan N. A novel function of TREX1 associated with the C-terminus connects oligosaccharyltransferase dysregulation to immune disorders. Immunity September 15, 2015 *Co-first author
Pham N.D., Fermaintt C.S., Rodriguez A.C., McCombs J.E., Nischan N and Kohler J.J. Cellular metabolism of unnatural sialic acid precursors. Glycoconjugate Journal May 10, 2015