Jenna Bakir

Research Interests:

• Blast traumatic brain injury
• Neuroimmunology
• Glia

Education:

• Ph.D. Candidate, Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health, Virginia Tech
• Post-baccalaureate Fellow, Intramural Research Training Award Fellowship Program, National Institutes of Health
• B.S. Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University

Publications:

Allende ML, Kono M, Lee YT, Olmsted SM, Huso V, Bakir JY, Pratto F, Li C, Byrnes C, Tuymetova G, Zhu H, Tifft CJ, Proia RL. CNS-targeted base editing of the major late-onset Tay-Sachs mutation alleviates disease in mice. J Clin Invest. 2025 Jun 17;135(16):e183434. doi: 10.1172/JCI183434.

Allende ML, Lee YT, Byrnes C, Li C, Tuymetova G, Bakir JY, Nicoli E-R, James VK, Brodbelt JS, Tifft CJ, Proia RL. Sialidase NEU3 action on GM1 ganglioside is neuroprotective in GM1 gangliosidosis. Journal of Lipid Research. 2023;64(12):100463. doi: 10.1016/j.jlr.2023.100463.

Zhu H, Byrnes C, Lee YT, Tuymetova G, Duffy HBD, Bakir JY, Pettit SN, Angina J, Springer DA, Allende ML, Kono M, Proia RL. SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a expression in brain disrupts the autophagy–lysosomal pathway, impairs sphingolipid homeostasis, and drives neuropathogenesis. The FASEB Journal. 2023;37(5):e22919. doi: 10.1096/fj.202300149R.