Kaitlin Schaefer
Assistant ProfessorDownloadHi-Res Photo
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Microbial Pathogenesis
295 Congress Ave, BCMM 345/443
New Haven, CT 06519
United States
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Assistant Professor
Biography
Katie is an assistant professor in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at the Yale School of Medicine. Her research integrates chemistry, chemical biology, proteomics, structural biology, and microbiology. Katie studied with Suzanne Walker and Daniel Kahne, earning her Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard. In her Ph.D. training, she focused on the bacterial cell surface, which requires complex glycan assembly. She then completed her postdoctoral training with Jim Wells at UCSF, leveraging chemical biology to develop new proteomic methods.
As an enthusiastic and curiosity-driven scientist, Katie is excited to bring her interdisciplinary approaches to her lab and explore how human:microbe communities interact in human health. Outside of the lab, you may catch her running around New Haven, exploring the New England foliage with her baby, or sampling local bakeries.
Last Updated on September 20, 2025.
Appointments
Microbial Pathogenesis
Assistant ProfessorPrimary
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Research
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Overview
chemical biology; proteomics; human:microbe interactions; glycan:protein interactions; membrane biochemistry; immunology; microbiology.
ORCID
0000-0003-4825-1389- View Lab Website
Schaefer Lab
Research at a Glance
Publications Timeline
A big-picture view of Kaitlin Schaefer's research output by year.
19Publications
2,390Citations
Publications
2025
Hijacking Extracellular Targeted Protein Degrader–Drug Conjugates for Enhanced Drug Delivery
Zhao F, Wu Y, Schaefer K, Zhang Y, Miao K, Yao Z, Ganjave S, Kumru K, Peters-Clarke T, Inague A, Olzmann J, Leung K, Wells J. Hijacking Extracellular Targeted Protein Degrader–Drug Conjugates for Enhanced Drug Delivery. Journal Of The American Chemical Society 2025, 147: 39912-39925. PMID: 41091621, PMCID: PMC12576823, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c15047.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricHypoxia Induces Extensive Protein and Proteolytic Remodeling of the Cell Surface in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) Cell Lines
Lui I, Schaefer K, Kirkemo L, Zhou J, Perera R, Leung K, Wells J. Hypoxia Induces Extensive Protein and Proteolytic Remodeling of the Cell Surface in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) Cell Lines. Journal Of Proteome Research 2025, 24: 2791-2800. PMID: 40312771, PMCID: PMC12161487, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c01037.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricEngineered Proteins and Chemical Tools to Probe the Cell Surface Proteome
Leung K, Schaefer K, Lin Z, Yao Z, Wells J. Engineered Proteins and Chemical Tools to Probe the Cell Surface Proteome. Chemical Reviews 2025, 125: 4069-4110. PMID: 40178992, PMCID: PMC12022999, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.4c00554.Peer-Reviewed Reviews, Practice Guidelines, Standards, and Consensus StatementsCitationsAltmetric
2024
Multiscale photocatalytic proximity labeling reveals cell surface neighbors on and between cells
Lin Z, Schaefer K, Lui I, Yao Z, Fossati A, Swaney D, Palar A, Sali A, Wells J. Multiscale photocatalytic proximity labeling reveals cell surface neighbors on and between cells. Science 2024, 385: eadl5763-eadl5763. PMID: 39024454, PMCID: PMC12517702, DOI: 10.1126/science.adl5763.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2022
Direct Identification of Proteolytic Cleavages on Living Cells Using a Glycan-Tethered Peptide Ligase
Schaefer K, Lui I, Byrnes J, Kang E, Zhou J, Weeks A, Wells J. Direct Identification of Proteolytic Cleavages on Living Cells Using a Glycan-Tethered Peptide Ligase. ACS Central Science 2022, 8: 1447-1456. PMID: 36313159, PMCID: PMC9615116, DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.2c00899.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2020
Lipoteichoic acid polymer length is determined by competition between free starter units
Hesser A, Schaefer K, Lee W, Walker S. Lipoteichoic acid polymer length is determined by competition between free starter units. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 2020, 117: 29669-29676. PMID: 33172991, PMCID: PMC7703640, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2008929117.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricStructure and reconstitution of a hydrolase complex that may release peptidoglycan from the membrane after polymerization
Schaefer K, Owens T, Page J, Santiago M, Kahne D, Walker S. Structure and reconstitution of a hydrolase complex that may release peptidoglycan from the membrane after polymerization. Nature Microbiology 2020, 6: 34-43. PMID: 33168989, PMCID: PMC7755832, DOI: 10.1038/s41564-020-00808-5.Commentaries, Editorials and LettersCitationsAltmetricAn ultrapotent synthetic nanobody neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 by stabilizing inactive Spike
Schoof M, Faust B, Saunders R, Sangwan S, Rezelj V, Hoppe N, Boone M, Billesbølle C, Puchades C, Azumaya C, Kratochvil H, Zimanyi M, Deshpande I, Liang J, Dickinson S, Nguyen H, Chio C, Merz G, Thompson M, Diwanji D, Schaefer K, Anand A, Dobzinski N, Zha B, Simoneau C, Leon K, White K, Chio U, Gupta M, Jin M, Li F, Liu Y, Zhang K, Bulkley D, Sun M, Smith A, Rizo A, Moss F, Brilot A, Pourmal S, Trenker R, Pospiech T, Gupta S, Barsi-Rhyne B, Belyy V, Barile-Hill A, Nock S, Liu Y, Krogan N, Ralston C, Swaney D, García-Sastre A, Ott M, Vignuzzi M, Walter P, Manglik A, Azumaya C, Puchades C, Sun M, Braxton J, Brilot A, Gupta M, Li F, Lopez K, Melo A, Merz G, Moss F, Paulino J, Pospiech T, Pourmal S, Rizo A, Smith A, Thomas P, Wang F, Yu Z, Dickinson M, Nguyen H, Asarnow D, Campbell M, Chio C, Chio U, Diwanji D, Faust B, Gupta M, Hoppe N, Jin M, Li J, Liu Y, Merz G, Sangwan S, Tsui T, Trenker R, Trinidad D, Tse E, Zhang K, Zhou F, Herrera N, Kratochvil H, Schulze-Gahmen U, Thompson M, Young I, Biel J, Deshpande I, Liu X, Billesbølle C, Nowotny C, Smith A, Zhao J, Bowen A, Hoppe N, Li Y, Nguyen P, Safari M, Schaefer K, Whitis N, Moritz M, Owens T, Diallo A, Kim K, Peters J, Titus E, Chen J, Doan L, Flores S, Lam V, Li Y, Lo M, Thwin A, Wankowicz S, Zhang Y, Bulkley D, Joves A, Joves A, McKay L, Tabios M, Rosenberg O, Verba K, Agard D, Cheng Y, Fraser J, Frost A, Jura N, Kortemme T, Krogan N, Manglik A, Southworth D, Stroud R. An ultrapotent synthetic nanobody neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 by stabilizing inactive Spike. Science 2020, 370: 1473-1479. PMID: 33154106, PMCID: PMC7857409, DOI: 10.1126/science.abe3255.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricComparative host-coronavirus protein interaction networks reveal pan-viral disease mechanisms
Gordon D, Hiatt J, Bouhaddou M, Rezelj V, Ulferts S, Braberg H, Jureka A, Obernier K, Guo J, Batra J, Kaake R, Weckstein A, Owens T, Gupta M, Pourmal S, Titus E, Cakir M, Soucheray M, McGregor M, Cakir Z, Jang G, O’Meara M, Tummino T, Zhang Z, Foussard H, Rojc A, Zhou Y, Kuchenov D, Hüttenhain R, Xu J, Eckhardt M, Swaney D, Fabius J, Ummadi M, Tutuncuoglu B, Rathore U, Modak M, Haas P, Haas K, Naing Z, Pulido E, Shi Y, Barrio-Hernandez I, Memon D, Petsalaki E, Dunham A, Marrero M, Burke D, Koh C, Vallet T, Silvas J, Azumaya C, Billesbølle C, Brilot A, Campbell M, Diallo A, Dickinson M, Diwanji D, Herrera N, Hoppe N, Kratochvil H, Liu Y, Merz G, Moritz M, Nguyen H, Nowotny C, Puchades C, Rizo A, Schulze-Gahmen U, Smith A, Sun M, Young I, Zhao J, Asarnow D, Biel J, Bowen A, Braxton J, Chen J, Chio C, Chio U, Deshpande I, Doan L, Faust B, Flores S, Jin M, Kim K, Lam V, Li F, Li J, Li Y, Li Y, Liu X, Lo M, Lopez K, Melo A, Moss F, Nguyen P, Paulino J, Pawar K, Peters J, Pospiech T, Safari M, Sangwan S, Schaefer K, Thomas P, Thwin A, Trenker R, Tse E, Tsui T, Wang F, Whitis N, Yu Z, Zhang K, Zhang Y, Zhou F, Saltzberg D, Hodder A, Shun-Shion A, Williams D, White K, Rosales R, Kehrer T, Miorin L, Moreno E, Patel A, Rihn S, Khalid M, Vallejo-Gracia A, Fozouni P, Simoneau C, Roth T, Wu D, Karim M, Ghoussaini M, Dunham I, Berardi F, Weigang S, Chazal M, Park J, Logue J, McGrath M, Weston S, Haupt R, Hastie C, Elliott M, Brown F, Burness K, Reid E, Dorward M, Johnson C, Wilkinson S, Geyer A, Giesel D, Baillie C, Raggett S, Leech H, Toth R, Goodman N, Keough K, Lind A, Klesh R, Hemphill K, Carlson-Stevermer J, Oki J, Holden K, Maures T, Pollard K, Sali A, Agard D, Cheng Y, Fraser J, Frost A, Jura N, Kortemme T, Manglik A, Southworth D, Stroud R, Alessi D, Davies P, Frieman M, Ideker T, Abate C, Jouvenet N, Kochs G, Shoichet B, Ott M, Palmarini M, Shokat K, García-Sastre A, Rassen J, Grosse R, Rosenberg O, Verba K, Basler C, Vignuzzi M, Peden A, Beltrao P, Krogan N, Owens T, Gupta M, Pourmal S, Titus E, Azumaya C, Billesbølle C, Brilot A, Campbell M, Diallo A, Dickinson M, Diwanji D, Herrera N, Hoppe N, Kratochvil H, Liu Y, Merz G, Moritz M, Nguyen H, Nowotny C, Puchades C, Rizo A, Schulze-Gahmen U, Smith A, Sun M, Young I, Zhao J, Asarnow D, Biel J, Bowen A, Braxton J, Chen J, Chio C, Chio U, Deshpande I, Doan L, Faust B, Flores S, Jin M, Kim K, Lam V, Li F, Li J, Li Y, Li Y, Liu X, Lo M, Lopez K, Melo A, Moss F, Nguyen P, Paulino J, Pawar K, Peters J, Pospiech T, Safari M, Sangwan S, Schaefer K, Thomas P, Thwin A, Trenker R, Tse E, Tsui T, Wang F, Whitis N, Yu Z, Zhang K, Zhang Y, Zhou F, Trinidad D, Agard D, Cheng Y, Fraser J, Frost A, Jura N, Kortemme T, Manglik A, Southworth D, Stroud R, Rosenberg O, Verba K, Damas J, Hughes G, Keough K, Painter C, Persky N, Corbo M, Kirilenko B, Hiller M, Koepfli K, Kaplow I, Wirthlin M, Pfenning A, Zhao H, Genereux D, Swofford R, Lind A, Pollard K, Ryderq O, Nweeia M, Meadows J, Dong M, Wallerman O, Marinescu V, Lindblad-Toh K, Ray D, Power S, Teeling E, Chauhan G, Li S, Karlsson E, Lewin H. Comparative host-coronavirus protein interaction networks reveal pan-viral disease mechanisms. Science 2020, 370: eabe9403. PMID: 33060197, PMCID: PMC7808408, DOI: 10.1126/science.abe9403.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH KeywordsConserved SequenceCoronavirus Nucleocapsid ProteinsCOVID-19Cryoelectron MicroscopyHost Microbial InteractionsHumansMitochondrial Membrane Transport ProteinsMitochondrial Precursor Protein Import Complex ProteinsPhosphoproteinsProtein ConformationProtein Interaction MapsSARS-CoV-2Severe Acute Respiratory SyndromeSevere acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirusStaphylococcus aureus cell growth and division are regulated by an amidase that trims peptides from uncrosslinked peptidoglycan
Do T, Schaefer K, Santiago A, Coe K, Fernandes P, Kahne D, Pinho M, Walker S. Staphylococcus aureus cell growth and division are regulated by an amidase that trims peptides from uncrosslinked peptidoglycan. Nature Microbiology 2020, 5: 291-303. PMID: 31932712, PMCID: PMC7046134, DOI: 10.1038/s41564-019-0632-1.Commentaries, Editorials and LettersCitationsAltmetric
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Microbial Pathogenesis
295 Congress Ave, BCMM 345/443
New Haven, CT 06519
United States
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295 Congress Avenue, Rm 454A
New Haven, CT 06510
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295 Congress Avenue, Rm 443
New Haven, CT 06510
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