Postdoctoral Fellow
Charles Fermaintt
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mentor: April L. Risinger
Phone: 2104508950
Email: Fermaintt@uthscsa.edu
Education
| 2011 | B.S. Chemistry | University of Puerto Rico at Humacao |
| 2018 | Ph.D. Biological Chemistry | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center |
Research
As a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. April L. Risinger's laboratory, I am focusing on 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 of clinically used chemotherapy agents like microtubule targeting agents (MTA) on the innate immune system.
Honors
| 2017 | Outstanding Poster Presentation Award (UT-Soutwestern Biological Chemistry Symposium) |
| 2017, 2016, 2015 | Travel Award (Society for Glycobiology) |
| 2013-2016 | National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) |
| 2011-2012 | Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) (NIH R25), Postbacc |
| 2009-2011 | Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) (NIH T34), Undergraduate researcher |
| 2007-2011 | AMGEN Foundation Scholarship |
| 2018-present | UT-Health San Antonio SABER (IRACDA) Scholar (NIH K12), Postdoctoral Fellow |
Professional Memberships
| 2019-Present | American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) |
| 2018-Present | UT-Health San Antonio Postdoctoral Association, Event Manager (2019) |
| 2015-2018 | Society of Glycobiology |
| 2013-2018 | UT-Southwestern Graduate Student Organization, Vice-President (2016) |
| 2008-2011 | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
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, 2019 PMID: 31147550
Lu H., Fermaintt C.S., Yan N. and Lehrman M.A. Mammalian oligosaccharyltransferases segregate LLO donor hydrolysis from N-glycosylation at the translocon. PNAS, 2018 PMID: 30181269
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, 2017 PMID: 28325644
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, 2017 PMID: 28297665 *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, 2015 PMID: 26320659 *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, 2015 PMID: 25957566