Nicholas E. Baker

Nicholas E. Baker, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Genetics, Developmental & Molecular Biology, and Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He holds the Harold and Muriel Block Chair in Genetics and serves as Director of the Division of Molecular Genetics. His research focuses on cell-cell communication mechanisms, including cell competition, ribosome signaling, and neuronal development. He earned his Ph.D. in 1986 from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, followed by postdoctoral training at UC Berkeley. Professional affiliations include a longstanding role at Albert Einstein College of Medicine since 1991, alongside his current positions.

Research interests include understanding how genetic variations within tissues trigger cell competition to suppress tumorigenesis, the role of ribosomal mutations in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, and the regulation of neural cell fate via transcription factors like proneural bHLH proteins. Key projects involve identifying molecular pathways linking p53 tumor suppression to cell competition and investigating ribosome assembly defects in disease contexts.

His work integrates genetic screening, genomic methods, and interdisciplinary approaches to dissect mechanisms of cell competition and ribosomopathies. Recent studies explore how ribosomal protein mutations affect stress responses and how Xrp1 mediates translational control under ribosome dysfunction. Collaborative efforts include identifying novel regulators of Drosophila eye development through transcriptome analyses.