
Dr Jennifer Baker
Postdoctoral Researcher
School of Environmental and Life Sciences (Chemistry)
- Email:jennifer.r.baker@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone:(02) 4921 5464
Career Summary
Biography
Receiving undergraduate qualifications in Science from the University of Newcastle in 2014. Jennifer continued on to an Honours degree in Chemistry, graduating in 2016 with Honours Class I. Undertaking a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, she completed this under the supervision of Prof. Adam McCluskey and Dr. Jennette Sakoff in 2020.
Beginning work as a post-doctoral researcher immediately upon completing her doctorate, Jennifer's interest lies primarily in the development of small molecules for various anti-cancer targets, particularly with the use of in silico modelling techniques for drug design. Additionally, she has a keen interest in the use of Flow Chemistry methodologies for both the synthesis and scale-up of biologically active small molecules. Jennifer is primarily involved with developing small molecules that target Dynamin, a large GTPase that has been associated with a number of human diseases including cancer: as well as the Arylhydrocarbon Receptor, a nuclear translocator that has been associated with breast cancer.
In addition to Jennifer's research, she has been involved in a number of different teaching roles, including the annual outreach events hosted by the School of Environmental and Life Sciences for high school students, Experiment Fest and ASSETS (co-hosted by CSIRO). She has also been involved in lecture and course-coordination roles for the University of Newcastle's enabling programs.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Newcastle
- Bachelor of Science (Chemistry), University of Newcastle
- Bachelor of Science (Honours), University of Newcastle
Keywords
- Drug Design
- Medicinal Chemistry
- Molecular Modelling
- Organic Chemistry
Languages
- English (Mother)
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
Title | Organisation / Department |
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Postdoctoral Researcher | University of Newcastle School of Environmental and Life Sciences Australia |
Casual Academic | University of Newcastle School of Environmental and Life Sciences Australia |
Casual Academic | University of Newcastle School of Environmental and Life Sciences Australia |
Casual Lecturer | University of Newcastle Learning and Teaching Australia |
Postdoctoral Researcher | University of Newcastle School of Environmental and Life Sciences Australia |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Chapter (2 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
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2019 |
Paula S, Baker JR, Zhu X, McCluskey A, 'Binding of chlorinated phenylacrylonitriles to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor: computational docking and molecular dynamics simulations', Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics, Intech Open, Rijeka 7-18 (2019) [B1]
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2017 |
Russell C, Baker JR, Cossar P, McCluskey A, 'Recent Developments in the Use of Flow Hydrogenation in the Field of Medicinal Chemistry', New Advances in Hydrogenation Processes - Fundamentals and Applications, InTech, London (2017)
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Journal article (12 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
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2020 |
Baker JR, Russell CC, Gilbert J, Sakoff JA, McCluskey A, 'Amino Alcohol Acrylonitriles as Activators of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Pathway: An Unexpected MTT Phenotypic Screening Outcome', ChemMedChem, 15 490-505 (2020) [C1]
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2020 |
Baker JR, Sakoff JA, McCluskey A, 'Cover Image, Volume 40, Issue 3', Medicinal Research Reviews, 40 (2020)
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2020 |
Pi H, Hang TN, Venter H, Boileau AR, Woolford L, Garg S, et al., 'In vitroActivity of Robenidine Analog NCL195 in Combination With Outer Membrane Permeabilizers Against Gram-Negative Bacterial Pathogens and Impact on Systemic Gram-Positive Bacterial Infection in Mice', Frontiers in Microbiology, 11 (2020) [C1]
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2020 |
Baker JR, Sakoff JA, McCluskey A, 'The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) as a breast cancer drug target', Medicinal Research Reviews, 40 972-1001 (2020) [C1]
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2020 |
Baker JR, Pollard BL, Lin AJS, Gilbert J, Paula S, Zhu X, et al., 'Modelling and phenotypic screening of NAP-6 and 10-Cl-BBQ, AhR ligands displaying selective breast cancer cytotoxicity in vitro.', ChemMedChem, (2020)
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2019 |
Russell CC, Stevens A, Young KA, Baker JR, McCluskey SN, Khazandi M, et al., 'Discovery of 4,6-bis(2-((E)-benzylidene)hydrazinyl)pyrimidin-2-Amine with Antibiotic Activity.', ChemistryOpen, 8 896-907 (2019) [C1]
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2018 |
Baker JR, Gilbert J, Paula S, Zhu X, Sakoff JA, McCluskey A, 'Dichlorophenylacrylonitriles as AhR Ligands That Display Selective Breast Cancer Cytotoxicity in vitro', CHEMMEDCHEM, 13 1447-1458 (2018) [C1]
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2018 |
Cossar PJ, Baker JR, Cain N, McCluskey A, 'In situ epoxide generation by dimethyldioxirane oxidation and the use of epichlorohydrin in the flow synthesis of a library of beta-amino alcohols', ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE, 5 (2018) [C1]
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2018 |
Ghods A, Gilbert J, Baker JR, Russell CC, Sakoff JA, McCluskey A, 'A focused library synthesis and cytotoxicity of quinones derived from the natural product bolinaquinone', Royal Society Open Science, 5 (2018) [C1] © 2018 The Authors. Bolinaquinone is a natural product that is a structurally complex, cytotoxic sesquiterpene quinone. A scaffold simplification and focused library approach usin... [more] © 2018 The Authors. Bolinaquinone is a natural product that is a structurally complex, cytotoxic sesquiterpene quinone. A scaffold simplification and focused library approach using a microwave-assisted Suzuki coupling gave 32 bolinaquinone analogues with good-to-excellent cytotoxicity profiles. Mono-arylbenzoquinones, Library A, were preferentially toxic towards BE2-C (neuroblastoma) cells with growth inhibition (GI50) values of 4¿12 µM; only the 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl 23 and 3-biphenyl 28 variants were broad-spectrum active¿HT29 (colon carcinoma), U87 and SJ-G2 (glioblastoma), MCF-7 (breast carcinoma), A2780 (ovarian carcinoma), H460 (lung carcinoma), A431 (skin carcinoma), Du145 (prostate carcinoma), BE2-C (neuroblastoma), MIA (pancreatic carcinoma) and SMA (spontaneous murine astrocytoma). Library B with a second aryl moiety exhibited broad-spectrum cytotoxicity with MCF-7 cells¿ GI50 values of 5.6 ± 0.7 and 5.1 ± 0.5 µM for 2,5-dimethoxy-3-(naphthalene-1-yl)-6-(naphthalene-3-yl) 33 and 2,5-dimethoxy-3-(biaryl-2-yl)-6-(naphthalene-3-yl) 36, respectively. Similar potencies were also noted with 2,5-dimethoxy-3,6-diphenyl 30 against A2780 (GI50 = 5.9 ± 0.0 µM) and with 2,5-dimethoxy-3-(biaryl-3-yl)-6-(naphthalene-3-yl) 37 against HT29 (GI50 = 5.4 ± 0.4 µM), while the 3,4-dimethoxy mono-aryl analogue 23 exhibited good levels of activity against A2780 (GI50 = 3.8 ± 0.75 µM), the neuroblastoma cell line BE2-C (GI50 = 3 ± 0.35 µM) and SMA (GI50 = 3.9 ± 0.54 µM). Introduction of the amino-substituted Library C gave 2-(naphthalen-1-yl)-5-(naphthalen-3-yl)-3,6-bis(propylamino) 43, with excellent activity against HT29 (0.08 ± 0.0 µM), MCF-7 (0.17 ± 0.1 µM), A2780 (0.14 ± 0.1 µM), A431 (0.11 ± 0.0 µM), Du145 (0.16 ± 0.1 µM), BE2-C (0.08 ± 0.0 µM) and MIA (0.1 ± 0.0 µM).
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2018 |
Russell CC, Stevens A, Pi H, Khazandi M, Ogunniyi AD, Young KA, et al., 'Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Antibiotic Activity of Asymmetric and Monomeric Robenidine Analogues', CHEMMEDCHEM, 13 2573-2580 (2018) [C1]
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2016 |
Robertson MJ, Horatscheck A, Sauer S, von Kleist L, Baker JR, Stahlschmidt W, et al., '5-Aryl-2-(naphtha-1-yl)sulfonamido-thiazol-4(5H)-ones as clathrin inhibitors', ORGANIC & BIOMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY, 14 11266-11278 (2016) [C1]
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2016 |
Lin AJS, Russell CC, Baker JR, Frailey SL, Sakoff JA, McCluskey A, 'A facile hybrid 'flow and batch' access to substituted 3,4-dihydro-2: H -benzo [b] [1,4]oxazinones', Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 14 8732-8742 (2016) [C1] © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016. We describe a simple flow chemistry approach to libraries of ethyl 3-oxo-2-(substituted-phenylamino)-3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[b][1,4]oxazine-6-c... [more] © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016. We describe a simple flow chemistry approach to libraries of ethyl 3-oxo-2-(substituted-phenylamino)-3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[b][1,4]oxazine-6-carboxylates (12a-l) and N-ethyl-3-oxo-2-(substituted-phenylamino)-3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[b][1,4]oxazine-6-carboxamides (13a-l) in 38-87% yields. This scaffold is poorly described in the chemical literature. Screening against a panel of 11 cancer and one normal cell line showed that the amide linked library 13a-l was devoid of toxicity. Whereas the ester linked analogues 12b, 12c, 12g, 12j and 12l were highly cytotoxic with growth inhibition (GI50) values from 0.34 to >50 µM across all cell lines, with the 2-OH-Ph substituted 12l analogue presenting with sub-micromolar potency against the A2780 (ovarian; 0.34 ± 0.04 µM), BEC-2 (glioblastoma; 0.35 ± 0.06 µM), MIA (pancreas; 0.91 ± 0.054 µM) and SMA (murine glioblastoma; 0.77 ± 0.029 µM) carcinoma cell lines. Interestingly, the U87 glioblastoma cell line showed inherent resistance to growth inhibition by all analogues (GI50 32 to >50 µM) while the A2780 cells were highly sensitive (GI50 3.8-0.34 µM), suggesting that the analogues developed herein may be valuable lead compounds for the development of ovarian carcinoma specific cytotoxic agents. The differences in amide versus ester cytotoxicity was consitent with esterase cleaveage to release the cytotoxic warhead.
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Show 9 more journal articles |
Conference (1 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
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2020 |
Sakoff J, Gilbert J, Baker J, McCluskey A, 'The aryl hydrocarbon receptor pathway and breast cancer', ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY (2020)
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Grants and Funding
Summary
Number of grants | 9 |
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Total funding | $1,136,945 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20211 grants / $1,089,560
Developing novel agents to prevent tumour recurrence in glioblastoma$1,089,560
Funding body: NHMRC (National Health & Medical Research Council)
Funding body | NHMRC (National Health & Medical Research Council) |
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Project Team | Associate Professor Lenka Munoz, Professor Terrance Jones, Dr Jennifer Baker |
Scheme | Ideas Grant |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2021 |
Funding Finish | 2024 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | C1100 - Aust Competitive - NHMRC |
Category | 1100 |
UON | N |
20202 grants / $13,885
Seed Grant$8,885
Funding body: Priority Research Centre for Chemical Biology and Clinical Pharmacology, UoN
Funding body | Priority Research Centre for Chemical Biology and Clinical Pharmacology, UoN |
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Project Team | Professor Adam McCluskey, Dr Jennette Sakoff |
Scheme | Priority Research Centre for Chemical Biology and Clinical Pharmacology Seed Grant |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2020 |
Funding Finish | 2020 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
Small Equipment Grant$5,000
Funding body: Priority Research Centre for Chemical Biology and Clinical Pharmacology
Funding body | Priority Research Centre for Chemical Biology and Clinical Pharmacology |
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Scheme | PRC Chemical Biology & Clinical Pharmacology Equipment Grant |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2020 |
Funding Finish | 2020 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20193 grants / $25,500
Equipment Grant$20,000
Funding body: PRC for Chemical Biology and Pharmacology, The University of Newcastle
Funding body | PRC for Chemical Biology and Pharmacology, The University of Newcastle |
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Project Team | Jennifer Baker, Adam McCluskey, Cecilia Russell, Nicholas O'Brien, Kate Prichard |
Scheme | Equipment Support Scheme 2019 |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2019 |
Funding Finish | 2019 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
International Travel Grant$3,500
Funding body: PRC for Chemical Biology and Pharmacology, The University of Newcastle
Funding body | PRC for Chemical Biology and Pharmacology, The University of Newcastle |
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Project Team | Jennifer Baker |
Scheme | PRC-CBP International Conference Award |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2019 |
Funding Finish | 2019 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
RACI Postgraduate Student Travel Scholarship$2,000
Funding body: Royal Australian Chemical Institute
Funding body | Royal Australian Chemical Institute |
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Project Team | Jennifer Baker |
Scheme | Postgraduate student travel award |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2019 |
Funding Finish | 2019 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | External |
Category | EXTE |
UON | N |
20182 grants / $7,000
Small Equipment Grant$5,000
Funding body: PRC for Chemical Biology and Pharmacology, The University of Newcastle
Funding body | PRC for Chemical Biology and Pharmacology, The University of Newcastle |
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Project Team | Jennifer Baker, Adam McCluskey |
Scheme | PRC small equipment scheme 2018 |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2018 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
Higher Degree Research (HDR) Conference Scholarship$2,000
Funding body: Faculty of Science and Information Technology, The University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Science and Information Technology, The University of Newcastle |
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Project Team | Jennifer Baker |
Scheme | Higher Degree Research (HDR) Conference Scholarship |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2018 |
Funding Finish | 2018 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20171 grants / $1,000
Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Student Bursary$1,000
Funding body: Royal Australian Chemical Institute
Funding body | Royal Australian Chemical Institute |
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Project Team | Jennifer Baker |
Scheme | Student Bursary for RACI Centenary Congress, 2017 |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2017 |
Funding Finish | 2017 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | External |
Category | EXTE |
UON | N |
Research Supervision
Number of supervisions
Current Supervision
Commenced | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
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2019 | Masters | Assessing the Efficacy of Bispidinones as Novel Pancreatic Cancer Therapeutic Agents | M Philosophy (Biological Sc), College of Engineering, Science and Environment, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
Research Collaborations
The map is a representation of a researchers co-authorship with collaborators across the globe. The map displays the number of publications against a country, where there is at least one co-author based in that country. Data is sourced from the University of Newcastle research publication management system (NURO) and may not fully represent the authors complete body of work.
Country | Count of Publications | |
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Australia | 12 | |
United States | 4 | |
Germany | 1 | |
Viet Nam | 1 |
Dr Jennifer Baker
Positions
Postdoctoral Researcher
School of Environmental and Life Sciences
College of Engineering, Science and Environment
Casual Academic
School of Environmental and Life Sciences
College of Engineering, Science and Environment
Casual Lecturer
Learning and Teaching
Academic Division
Focus area
Chemistry
Contact Details
jennifer.r.baker@newcastle.edu.au | |
Phone | (02) 4921 5464 |
Office
Room | C216c. |
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Building | Science Building. |
Location | Callaghan University Drive Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia |