David J. Gonzalez, Ph.D.

David J. Gonzalez, Ph.D.
UC President’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow
UCSD IRACDA Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Department of Pediatrics
Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, Room 115
La Jolla, CA 92093-0636
Office: (858) 534-2325
E-mail: [email protected]
MAJOR AREAS OF ACADEMIC INTEREST
Our primary research goal is to study the chemical biology that governs the host-pathogen interaction. In
particular, we will focus on combating antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens commonly referred to as super
bugs. We aim to identify and characterize key virulence factors and important host immune responses in order
to develop strategies for pharmacological development. Discovery of novel sustainable therapeutic agents have
not kept pace with the threat that bacterial pathogens pose to mankind. One contributing factor to this
innovation gap is the lack of information describing system‐wide bacterial and host chemical responses to
environmental perturbations. A better understanding of mechanisms that regulate the balance and
communication between host and pathogen cells can lead to the discovery of previously unrecognized
therapeutic targets. Our approach will incorporate new technologies in the field of high-end mass spectrometry
to accurately detect and quantify proteomic and metabolomic dynamics that occur during the interaction
between a bacterial pathogen and different environmental challenges (e.g. host immune cells or competing
bacteria). Factors identified during these interactions will be characterized in both unbiased high‐throughput and
targeted, hypothesis‐driven fashions, and when the opportunity arises, translational studies of therapeutic value
will be undertaken in tissue culture and murine infection models.
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
1/1/2015-
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, University of California, San
Diego, School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and
Pharmaceutical Sciences
ACADEMIC TRAINING
4/1/2014-present
9/1/2013-present
4/1/2011-4/30/2013
12/6/2006-3/4/2011
7/13/2005-10/21/2006
University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Victor Nizet and Jack
Dixon Labs, Division of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California,
San Diego
IRACDA Postdoctoral Fellow, Victor Nizet and Jack Dixon Labs, Division of
Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego
A.P. Giannini Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Victor Nizet and Jack Dixon Labs,
Division of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego
Graduate Researcher, Pieter Dorrestein Research Group, Department of
Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego
Undergraduate Researcher, Simpson Joseph Research Group, Department of
Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego
EDUCATION
2006-2011
2006-2008
2003-2006
Ph.D. in Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, CA
M.S. in Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, CA
B.S. in Chemistry, California State University, San Marcos, CA
ACADEMIC AWARDS
2014
2014
2013
2013
2012
2011
2011
2010
2010
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2006
2005
2004
CHERS Postdoctoral Research Conference Award
UC President’s Postdoctoral Award
IRACDA UCSD Fellowship
OTRES CSUSM Spotlight Person of the Year Award
STEM Palomar College Spotlight Person of the Year Award
A.P. Giannini Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
IRACDA UCSD Fellowship
Yale Bouchet Honor Society Inductee
Annual Compact for Faculty Diversity Institute on Teaching and Mentoring
NIH/NIDDK Heme and Blood Protein Training Fellowship
NIH/NIDDK Heme and Blood Protein Training Fellowship
NIH/NIDDK Heme and Blood Protein Training Fellowship
GAAN Research Fellowship
Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Fellowship
Competitive-edge Predoctoral Research Award
UCSD Summer Training Academy for Research in the Sciences
CSUSM Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement Scholar
ORAL OR POSTER PRESENTATIONS
2014
2013
2013
2013
2013
2013
2012
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2009
2009
2007
2006
2005
2005
Children Health and Education Research Seminars UCSD, Invited Speaker
Rising Stars Symposium in Chemical Biology, University of Utah, Invited Speaker
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, SDSU, Invited Speaker
Pharmacology Seminar Series. UCSD, Invited Speaker
School of Medicine UC Irvine, Invited Speaker
Palomar College Research Training Roundtable, Invited Speaker
Palomar College Research Training Roundtable, Invited Speaker
Office of Biomedical and Research Training, CSUSM, Invited Speaker
Pharmacology Research Seminar Series, UCSD, Invited Speaker
Heme and Blood Protein Symposium, UCSD, Invited Speaker
Natural Product Affinity Group Seminar Series, UCSD, Invited Speaker
Yale University Bouchet Honor Society Seminar, Poster
Office of Biomedical and Research Training Roundtable Discussion, CSUSM
Heme and Blood Protein Symposium, CSUSM, Poster
Office of Biomedical and Research Training Roundtable Discussion, CSUSM
Office of Biomedical and Research Training Roundtable Discussion, CSUSM
UCSD Summer Training Academy for Research in the Sciences, Poster
Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, ABRCMS,
Poster
PUBLICATIONS IN SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS
1. Gonzalez DJ*, Corriden R, Akong-Moore K, Olson J, Dorrestein PC and Nizet V. N-Terminal ArgD Peptides
from the Classical Staphylococcus aureus Agr System have cytotoxic and proinflammatory activities. Cell
Chemistry and Biology (in press) Oct. 2014 *Corresponding author
2. Tagliabracci VS, Engel JL, Wiley SE, Xiao J, Gonzalez DJ, Hitesh Nidumanda Appaiah, Nizet V, CW
Kenneth, and Dixon JE. Dynamic Regulation of FGF23 by FAM20C phosphorylation, GALNT3 glycosylation
and Furin proteolysis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Apr 15;111(15):5520-5.
3. Gonzalez DJ, Vuong L, Gonzalez I, Dixon JE, Dorrestein PC, Nizet V. Phenol Soluble Modulin Distributions
Captured by Mass Spectral Networking in Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Mol Cell Proteomics.
2014 May;13(5):1262-72.
4. Kazuya Y, Reynolds K, Kersten R, Ziemert N, Gonzalez DJ, Dorrestein PC, Nizet V, Moore BS. Direct
cloning and refactoring of a silent lipopeptide biosynthetic gene cluster yields the potent antibiotic taromycin A.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Dec 2013; 111:1957-1962. *Highlighted in press release
5. Kersten RD, Ziemert N, Gonzalez DJ, Duggan BM, Nizet V, Dorrestein PC, Moore BS. Glycogenomics, a
mass spectrometry-guided genome mining method to connect glycosylated natural product chemotypes and
genotypes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Nov 19;110(47):E4407-16.
6. van Sorge NM, Beasley FC, Gusarov I, Gonzalez DJ, von Köckritz-Blickwede M, Anik S, Borkowski A,
Dorrestein P, Nudler E, Nizet V. Loss of bacterial nitric oxide synthase sensitizes methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus to antibiotics and host innate defenses. J Biol Chem 2013; 288:6417-6426.
7. Hollands A, Gonzalez DJ, Leire E, Donald C, Gallo RL, Sanderson-Smith M, Dorrestein PC, Nizet V. A
bacterial pathogens co-opts host plasmin to resist killing by cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides. J Biol Chem.
2012 Nov 30; 287(49):40891-7.
8. Gonzalez DJ, Xu Y, Yang YL, Esquenazi E, Liu WT, Edlund A, Duong T, Du L, Molnár I, Gerwick WH,
Jensen PR, Fischbach M, Liaw CC, Straight P, Nizet V, Dorrestein PC. Observing the Invisible through
Imaging Mass Spectrometry, a Window into the Metabolic Exchange Patterns of Microbes. J Proteomics. 2012
May 25; 75(16):5069-76.
9. Gonzalez DJ, Okumura CY, Hollands A, Kersten R, Akong-Moore K, Pence MA, Malone CL, Derieux J,
Moore BS, Horswill AR, Dixon JE, Dorrestein PC, Nizet V. Novel Phenol-soluble Modulin Derivatives in
Community-associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Identified through Imaging Mass
Spectrometry. J Biol Chem. 2012 Apr 20;287(17):13889-98.
10. Gonzalez DJ, Haste NM, Hollands A, Fleming TC, Hamby M, Pogliano K, Nizet V, Dorrestein PC.
Microbial competition between Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus monitored by imaging mass
spectrometry. Microbiology. 2011 Sep;157:2485-92. *Commentary: Proteomics—Current Novelties and
Future Directions. J Anal Bioanal Techniques S3 (2011): 2.
11. Udwary DW, Gontang EA, Jones AC, Jones CS, Schultz AW, Winter JM, Yang JY, Beauchemin N, Capson
TL, Clark BR, Esquenazi E, Eustáquio AS, Freel K, Gerwick L, Gerwick WH, Gonzalez DJ, Liu WT, Malloy KL,
Maloney KN, Nett M, Nunnery JK, Penn K, Prieto-Davo A, Simmons TL, Weitz S, Wilson MC, Tisa
LS, Dorrestein PC, Moore BS. Significant natural product biosynthetic potential of actinorhizal symbionts of the
genus frankia, as revealed by comparative genomic and proteomic analyses. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2011
Jun;77(11):3617-25.
12. Liu WT, Yang YL, Xu Y, Lamsa A, Haste NM, Yang JY, Ng J, Gonzalez DJ, Ellermeier CD, Straight PD,
Pevzner PA, Pogliano J, Nizet V, Pogliano K, Dorrestein PC. Imaging mass spectrometry of intraspecies
metabolic exchange revealed the cannibalistic factors of Bacillus subtilis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Sep
14;107(37):16286-90.
13. Gonzalez DJ, Lee SW, Hensler ME, Markley AL, Dahesh S, Mitchell DA, Bandeira N, Nizet V, Dixon
JE, Dorrestein PC. Clostridiolysin S, a post-translationally modified biotoxin from Clostridium botulinum. J Biol
Chem. 2010 Sep 3;285(36):28220-8.
14. He C, Nora GP, Schneider EL, Kerr ID, Hansell E, Hirata K, Gonzalez DJ, Sajid M, Boyd SE, Hruz P, Cobo
ER, Le C, Liu WT, Eckmann L, Dorrestein PC, Houpt ER, Brinen LS, Craik CS, Roush WR, McKerrow J, Reed
SL. A novel Entamoeba histolytica cysteine proteinase, EhCP4, is key for invasive amebiasis and a therapeutic
target. J Biol Chem. 2010 Jun 11;285(24):18516-27.
15. Jones AC, Gerwick L, Gonzalez DJ, Dorrestein PC, Gerwick WH. Transcriptional analysis of the
jamaicamide gene cluster from the marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula and identification of possible
regulatory proteins. BMC Microbiol. 2009 Dec 1;9:247.
16. Esquenazi E, Coates C, Simmons L, Gonzalez DJ, Gerwick WH, Dorrestein PC. Visualizing the spatial
distribution of secondary metabolites produced by marine cyanobacteria and sponges via MALDI-TOF
imaging. Mol Biosyst. 2008 Jun;4(6):562-70. *Cover article and award winning paper
17. Lee SW, Mitchell DA, Markley AL, Hensler ME, Gonzalez DJ, Wohlrab A, Dorrestein PC, Nizet V, Dixon
JE. Discovery of a widely distributed toxin biosynthetic gene cluster. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Apr
15;105(15):5879-84. *Commentary: Morphing peptide backbones into heterocycles. [Proc Natl Acad Sci
U S A. 2008]
18. Simmons TL, Coates RC, Clark BR, Engene N, Gonzalez DJ, Esquenazi E, Dorrestein PC, Gerwick WH.
Biosynthetic origin of natural products isolated from marine microorganism-invertebrate assemblages. Proc
Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Mar 25;105(12):4587-94.

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