Brian Baker, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry and director of graduate studies for the department, has been selected as an associate editor for Journal of Immunology. The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles in all areas of experimental immunology, which includes both basic and clinical studies. All editors of the bi-monthly journal are practicing scientists and the publication is cited more often than any other immunology journal.
Baker’s research broadly focuses on structural biology and biophysics of recognition and signaling in immunity, cancer, and antibiotic resistance. The lab’s ongoing projects include studying the basis for antigen recognition in cellular immunity, determining the physical basis for T cell signaling, understanding the design of novel immunologically-based therapeutics and examining the physical mechanisms underlying bacterial antibiotic sensors.
Baker is also the program director for the Integrated Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) program, a unique, cross-departmental Ph.D. program involving five departments on campus that focus on research and training in a range of fields in the biomedical sciences. The IBMS program admitted its inaugural class in fall 2012.
Since joining the University of Notre Dame in 2001, Baker has received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and a Research Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society. He also serves an editor for Biomedical Journal and Self/Non-self: Immune Recognition and Signaling.