Balyn Zaro, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Zaro
[email protected]
Phone: +1 415 514-9219
555 & 535 Mission Bay Blvd Sou, Rm 452G
San Francisco, CA 94158
United States

Links

Zaro Lab UCSF Profiles

Departmental research area

physical biology
chemical biology and medicinal chemistry

Research keywords

  • Carbohydrate Metabolism
  • Deoxyglucose
  • Dimethyl Fumarate
  • Acetylglucosamine
  • Plasma Cells
  • Proteomics
  • Post-Translational Protein Processing
  • Myeloid Differentiation Factor 88
  • Molecular Probes
  • Interleukin-1 Receptor-Associated Kinases
  • N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
  • Fumarates
  • Glycosylation
  • Alkynes

Publications

Banuelos A, Baez M, Zhang A, Yilmaz L, Kasberg W, Volk R, Georgeos N, Koren-Sedova E, Le U, Burden AT, Marjon KD, Lippincott-Schwartz J, Zaro BW, Weissman IL. Macrophages release neuraminidase and cleaved calreticulin for programmed cell removal. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 May 27; 122(21):e2426644122.
George BM, Eleftheriou M, Yankova E, Perr J, Chai P, Nestola G, Almahayni K, Evans S, Damaskou A, Hemberger H, Lebedenko CG, Rak J, Yu Q, Bapcum E, Russell J, Bagri J, Volk RF, Spiekermann M, Stone RM, Giotopoulos G, Huntly BJP, Baxter J, Camargo F, Liu J, Zaro BW, Vassiliou GS, Möckl L, de la Rosa J, Flynn RA, Tzelepis K. Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia models by targeting a cell surface RNA-binding protein. Nat Biotechnol. 2025 Apr 23.
Perr J, Langen A, Almahayni K, Nestola G, Chai P, Lebedenko CG, Volk RF, Detrés D, Caldwell RM, Spiekermann M, Hemberger H, Bisaria N, Aiba T, Sánchez-Rivera FJ, Tzelepis K, Calo E, Möckl L, Zaro BW, Flynn RA. RNA-binding proteins and glycoRNAs form domains on the cell surface for cell-penetrating peptide entry. Cell. 2025 Apr 03; 188(7):1878-1895.e25.
Mella J, Volk R, Zaro B, Buchwalter A. C-terminal tagging, transmembrane domain hydrophobicity, and an ER retention motif influence the secretory trafficking of the inner nuclear membrane protein emerin. bioRxiv. 2025 Jan 20.
Boucher MJ, Banerjee S, Joshi MB, Wei AL, Huang MY, Lei S, Ciranni M, Condon A, Langen A, Goddard TD, Caradonna I, Goranov AI, Homer CM, Mortensen Y, Petnic S, Reilly MC, Xiong Y, Susa KJ, Pastore VP, Zaro BW, Madhani HD. Phenotypic landscape of a fungal meningitis pathogen reveals its unique biology. bioRxiv. 2024 Oct 29.
Javed A, Johnson OT, Balana AT, Volk RF, Langen A, Ahn BS, Zaro BW, Gestwicki JE, Pratt MR. O-GlcNAc modification of HSP27 alters its protein interactions and promotes refolding of proteins through the BAG3/HSP70 co-chaperone. Protein Sci. 2024 Oct; 33(10):e5173.
Tal MC, Hansen PS, Ogasawara HA, Feng Q, Volk RF, Lee B, Casebeer SE, Blacker GS, Shoham M, Galloway SD, Sapiro AL, Hayes B, Torrez Dulgeroff LB, Raveh T, Pothineni VR, Potula HS, Rajadas J, Bastounis EE, Chou S, Robinson WH, Coburn J, Weissman IL, Zaro BW. P66 is a bacterial mimic of CD47 that binds the anti-phagocytic receptor SIRPα and facilitates macrophage evasion by Borrelia burgdorferi. bioRxiv. 2024 Apr 30.
Chuh KN, Zaro BW, Piller F, Piller V, Pratt MR. Correction to "Changes in Metabolic Chemical Reporter Structure Yield a Selective Probe of O-GlcNAc Modification". J Am Chem Soc. 2023 Oct 11; 145(40):22284.
Sapiro AL, Hayes BM, Volk RF, Zhang JY, Brooks DM, Martyn C, Radkov A, Zhao Z, Kinnersley M, Secor PR, Zaro BW, Chou S. Longitudinal map of transcriptome changes in the Lyme pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi during tick-borne transmission. Elife. 2023 Jul 14; 12.
Chen Z, Mondal A, Abderemane-Ali F, Jang S, Niranjan S, Montaño JL, Zaro BW, Minor DL. EMC chaperone-CaV structure reveals an ion channel assembly intermediate. Nature. 2023 Jul; 619(7969):410-419.
Datta R, Gholampour MA, Yang CD, Volk R, Lin S, Podolsky MJ, Arnold T, Rieder F, Zaro BW, Verzi M, Lehner R, Abumrad N, Lizama CO, Atabai K. MFGE8 links absorption of dietary fatty acids with catabolism of enterocyte lipid stores through HNF4γ-dependent transcription of CES enzymes. Cell Rep. 2023 03 28; 42(3):112249.
Zhang K, Yao E, Chuang E, Chen B, Chuang EY, Volk RF, Hofmann KL, Zaro B, Chuang PT. Wnt5a-Vangl1/2 signaling regulates the position and direction of lung branching through the cytoskeleton and focal adhesions. PLoS Biol. 2022 08; 20(8):e3001759.
Dang EV, Lei S, Radkov A, Volk RF, Zaro BW, Madhani HD. Secreted fungal virulence effector triggers allergic inflammation via TLR4. Nature. 2022 08; 608(7921):161-167.
Montaño JL, Wang BJ, Volk RF, Warrington SE, Garda VG, Hofmann KL, Chen LC, Zaro BW. Improved Electrophile Design for Exquisite Covalent Molecule Selectivity. ACS Chem Biol. 2022 06 17; 17(6):1440-1449.
Volk RF, Montaño JL, Warrington SE, Hofmann KL, Zaro BW. Proteomic characterization of phagocytic primary human monocyte-derived macrophages. RSC Chem Biol. 2022 Jun 08; 3(6):783-793.
Bouffard E, Zaro BW, Dix MM, Cravatt B, Wong CH. Refinement of Covalent EGFR Inhibitor AZD9291 to Eliminate Off-target Activity. Tetrahedron Lett. 2021 Jun 22; 74.
Zaro BW, Noh JJ, Mascetti VL, Demeter J, George B, Zukowska M, Gulati GS, Sinha R, Flynn RA, Banuelos A, Zhang A, Wilkinson AC, Jackson P, Weissman IL. Proteomic analysis of young and old mouse hematopoietic stem cells and their progenitors reveals post-transcriptional regulation in stem cells. Elife. 2020 11 25; 9.
Pedowitz NJ, Zaro BW, Pratt MR. Metabolic Labeling for the Visualization and Identification of Potentially O-GlcNAc-Modified Proteins. Curr Protoc Chem Biol. 2020 06; 12(2):e81.
Darabedian N, Yang B, Ding R, Cutolo G, Zaro BW, Woo CM, Pratt MR. O-Acetylated Chemical Reporters of Glycosylation Can Display Metabolism-Dependent Background Labeling of Proteins but Are Generally Reliable Tools for the Identification of Glycoproteins. Front Chem. 2020; 8:318.
Barkal AA, Brewer RE, Markovic M, Kowarsky M, Barkal SA, Zaro BW, Krishnan V, Hatakeyama J, Dorigo O, Barkal LJ, Weissman IL. CD24 signalling through macrophage Siglec-10 is a target for cancer immunotherapy. Nature. 2019 08; 572(7769):392-396.
Senkane K, Vinogradova EV, Suciu RM, Crowley VM, Zaro BW, Bradshaw JM, Brameld KA, Cravatt BF. The Proteome-Wide Potential for Reversible Covalency at Cysteine. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 08 12; 58(33):11385-11389.
Zaro BW, Vinogradova EV, Lazar DC, Blewett MM, Suciu RM, Takaya J, Studer S, de la Torre JC, Casanova JL, Cravatt BF, Teijaro JR. Dimethyl Fumarate Disrupts Human Innate Immune Signaling by Targeting the IRAK4-MyD88 Complex. J Immunol. 2019 05 01; 202(9):2737-2746.
Walter LA, Batt AR, Darabedian N, Zaro BW, Pratt MR. Azide- and Alkyne-Bearing Metabolic Chemical Reporters of Glycosylation Show Structure-Dependent Feedback Inhibition of the Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway. Chembiochem. 2018 09 17; 19(18):1918-1921.
Bateman LA, Zaro BW, Miller SM, Pratt MR. Correction to "An Alkyne-Aspirin Chemical Reporter for the Detection of Aspirin-Dependent Protein Modification in Living Cells". J Am Chem Soc. 2018 04 11; 140(14):4954.
Chuh KN, Batt AR, Zaro BW, Darabedian N, Marotta NP, Brennan CK, Amirhekmat A, Pratt MR. The New Chemical Reporter 6-Alkynyl-6-deoxy-GlcNAc Reveals O-GlcNAc Modification of the Apoptotic Caspases That Can Block the Cleavage/Activation of Caspase-8. J Am Chem Soc. 2017 06 14; 139(23):7872-7885.
Batt AR, Zaro BW, Navarro MX, Pratt MR. Metabolic Chemical Reporters of Glycans Exhibit Cell-Type-Selective Metabolism and Glycoprotein Labeling. Chembiochem. 2017 07 04; 18(13):1177-1182.
Zaro BW, Batt AR, Chuh KN, Navarro MX, Pratt MR. The Small Molecule 2-Azido-2-deoxy-glucose Is a Metabolic Chemical Reporter of O-GlcNAc Modifications in Mammalian Cells, Revealing an Unexpected Promiscuity of O-GlcNAc Transferase. ACS Chem Biol. 2017 03 17; 12(3):787-794.
Zaro BW, Whitby LR, Lum KM, Cravatt BF. Metabolically Labile Fumarate Esters Impart Kinetic Selectivity to Irreversible Inhibitors. J Am Chem Soc. 2016 12 14; 138(49):15841-15844.
Blewett MM, Xie J, Zaro BW, Backus KM, Altman A, Teijaro JR, Cravatt BF. Chemical proteomic map of dimethyl fumarate-sensitive cysteines in primary human T cells. Sci Signal. 2016 09 13; 9(445):rs10.
Marotta NP, Lin YH, Lewis YE, Ambroso MR, Zaro BW, Roth MT, Arnold DB, Langen R, Pratt MR. O-GlcNAc modification blocks the aggregation and toxicity of the protein α-synuclein associated with Parkinson's disease. Nat Chem. 2015 Nov; 7(11):913-20.
Chesarino NM, Hach JC, Chen JL, Zaro BW, Rajaram MV, Turner J, Schlesinger LS, Pratt MR, Hang HC, Yount JS. Chemoproteomics reveals Toll-like receptor fatty acylation. BMC Biol. 2014 Nov 05; 12:91.
Chuh KN, Zaro BW, Piller F, Piller V, Pratt MR. Changes in metabolic chemical reporter structure yield a selective probe of O-GlcNAc modification. J Am Chem Soc. 2014 Sep 03; 136(35):12283-95.
Zaro BW, Chuh KN, Pratt MR. Chemical reporter for visualizing metabolic cross-talk between carbohydrate metabolism and protein modification. ACS Chem Biol. 2014 Sep 19; 9(9):1991-6.
Gurel Z, Zaro BW, Pratt MR, Sheibani N. Identification of O-GlcNAc modification targets in mouse retinal pericytes: implication of p53 in pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. PLoS One. 2014; 9(5):e95561.
Bateman LA, Zaro BW, Miller SM, Pratt MR. An alkyne-aspirin chemical reporter for the detection of aspirin-dependent protein modification in living cells. J Am Chem Soc. 2013 Oct 02; 135(39):14568-73.
Zaro BW, Hang HC, Pratt MR. Incorporation of unnatural sugars for the identification of glycoproteins. Methods Mol Biol. 2013; 951:57-67.
Bateman LA, Zaro BW, Chuh KN, Pratt MR. N-Propargyloxycarbamate monosaccharides as metabolic chemical reporters of carbohydrate salvage pathways and protein glycosylation. Chem Commun (Camb). 2013 May 14; 49(39):4328-30.
Zaro BW, Yang YY, Hang HC, Pratt MR. Chemical reporters for fluorescent detection and identification of O-GlcNAc-modified proteins reveal glycosylation of the ubiquitin ligase NEDD4-1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 May 17; 108(20):8146-51.
Zaro BW, Bateman LA, Pratt MR. Robust in-gel fluorescence detection of mucin-type O-linked glycosylation. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2011 Sep 01; 21(17):5062-6.
Lau HD, Yaegashi J, Zaro BW, Pratt MR. Precise control of protein concentration in living cells. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2010 Nov 02; 49(45):8458-61.