Tarjani Thaker

Assistant Professor

Degrees and Appointments 

  • BS. 2007, University of Delaware
  • Ph.D. 2013, Vanderbilt University
  • Postdoctoral Fellow 2014 - 2018, University of California San Francisco
  • Scientist IV, 2018 - 2023, University of Arizona
  • Assistant Professor, 2024 - present, University of Arizona

Specialties: Structural Biology (X-ray Crystallography and Cryo-EM), Biochemistry/Biophysics, Metabolism, Signaling, Allosteric Regulation of Membrane Protein Complexes

  1. Actionable Activating Oncogenic ERBB2/HER2 Transmembrane and Juxtamembrane Domain Mutations.
    Pahuja KB, Nguyen TT, Jaiswal BS, Prabhash K, Thaker TM, Senger K, Chaudhuri S, Kljavin NM, Antony A, Phalke S, Kumar P, Mravic M, Stawiski EW, Vargas D, Durinck S, Gupta R, Khanna-Gupta A, Trabucco SE, Sokol ES, Hartmaier RJ, Singh A, Chougule A, Trivedi V, Dutt A, Patil V, Joshi A, Noronha V, Ziai J, Banavali SD, Ramprasad V, DeGrado WF, Bueno R, Jura N, Seshagiri S.Cancer Cell. 2018 Nov 12;34(5):792-806.e5. DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2018.09.010. Epub 2018 Oct 25.PMID: 30449325 

  2. More than the sum of the parts: Toward full-length receptor tyrosine kinase structures.
    Diwanji D, Thaker T, Jura N.IUBMB Life. 2019 Jun;71(6):706-720. DOI: 10.1002/iub.2060. Epub 2019 May 2.PMID: 31046201 

  3. Activating HER3 mutations in breast cancer.
    Mishra R, Alanazi S, Yuan L, Solomon T, Thaker TM, Jura N, Garrett JT.Oncotarget. 2018 Jun 12;9(45):27773-27788. DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.25576. eCollection 2018 Jun 12.PMID: 29963236 

  4. Regulation of Kinase Activity in the Caenorhabditis elegans EGF Receptor, LET-23.
    Liu L, Thaker TM, Freed DM, Frazier N, Malhotra K, Lemmon MA, Jura N.Structure. 2018 Feb 6;26(2):270-281.e4. DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2017.12.012. Epub 2018 Jan 18.PMID: 29358026 

  5. Structures of the HER2-HER3-NRG1β complex reveal a dynamic dimer interface.
    Diwanji D, Trenker R, Thaker TM, Wang F, Agard DA, Verba KA, Jura N.Nature. 2021 Dec;600(7888):339-343. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04084-z. Epub 2021 Nov 10.PMID: 34759323 

  6. Author Correction: Structures of the HER2-HER3-NRG1β complex reveal a dynamic dimer interface.
    Diwanji D, Trenker R, Thaker TM, Wang F, Agard DA, Verba KA, Jura N.Nature. 2022 Feb;602(7898):E26. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04299-0.PMID: 35132240 

  7. Functional role of PGAM5 multimeric assemblies and their polymerization into filaments.
    Ruiz K, Thaker TM, Agnew C, Miller-Vedam L, Trenker R, Herrera C, Ingaramo M, Toso D, Frost A, Jura N.Nat Commun. 2019 Jan 31;10(1):531. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08393-w.PMID: 30705304 

  8. Asymmetric drug binding in an ATP-loaded inward-facing state of an ABC transporter.
    Thaker TM, Mishra S, Zhou W, Mohan M, Tang Q, Faraldo-Goméz JD, Mchaourab HS, Tomasiak TM.Nat Chem Biol. 2022 Feb;18(2):226-235. DOI: 10.1038/s41589-021-00936-x. Epub 2021 Dec 20.PMID: 34931066 

  9. The structural basis for regulation of the glutathione transporter Ycf1 by regulatory domain phosphorylation.
    Khandelwal NK, Millan CR, Zangari SI, Avila S, Williams D, Thaker TM, Tomasiak TM.Nat Commun. 2022 Mar 11;13(1):1278. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28811-w.PMID: 35277487 

  10. The role of novel COQ8B mutations in glomerulopathy and related kidney defects.
    AbuMaziad AS, Thaker TM, Tomasiak TM, Chong CC, Galindo MK, Hoyme HE.Am J Med Genet A. 2021 Jan;185(1):60-67. DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.61909. Epub 2020 Oct 20.PMID: 33084234

  11. A Conserved Motif in Intracellular Loop 1 Stabilizes the Outward-Facing Conformation of TmrAB.
    Millan CR, Francis M, Khandelwal NK, Thompson VF, Thaker TM, Tomasiak TM.J Mol Biol. 2021 Aug 6;433(16):166834. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2021.166834. Epub 2021 Jan 29.PMID: 33524413 

  12. Crystal structures of acetate kinases from the eukaryotic pathogens Entamoeba histolytica and Cryptococcus neoformans.
    Thaker TM, Tanabe M, Fowler ML, Preininger AM, Ingram-Smith C, Smith KS, Iverson TM.J Struct Biol. 2013 Feb;181(2):185-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2012.11.001. Epub 2012 Nov 16.PMID: 23159802 

  13. The rhodopsin-arrestin-1 interaction in bicelles.
    Chen Q, Vishnivetskiy SA, Zhuang T, Cho MK, Thaker TM, Sanders CR, Gurevich VV, Iverson TM.Methods Mol Biol. 2015;1271:77-95. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2330-4_6.PMID: 25697518 

  14. Allosteric mechanisms of G protein-Coupled Receptor signaling: a structural perspective.
    Thaker TM, Kaya AI, Preininger AM, Hamm HE, Iverson TM.Methods Mol Biol. 2012;796:133-74. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-61779-334-9_8.PMID: 22052489 

  15. A transient interaction between the phosphate binding loop and switch I contributes to the allosteric network between receptor and nucleotide in Gαi1.
    Thaker TM, Sarwar M, Preininger AM, Hamm HE, Iverson TM.J Biol Chem. 2014 Apr 18;289(16):11331-11341. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M113.539064. Epub 2014 Mar 4.PMID: 24596087 

  16. Coupling efficiency of rhodopsin and transducin in bicelles.
    Kaya AI, Thaker TM, Preininger AM, Iverson TM, Hamm HE.Biochemistry. 2011 Apr 19;50(15):3193-203. DOI: 10.1021/bi200037j. Epub 2011 Mar 25.PMID: 21375271 

  17. Strong and weak zinc binding sites in human zinc-α2-glycoprotein.
    Kumar AA, Hati D, Thaker TM, Miah L, Cunningham P, Domene C, Bui TT, Drake AF, McDermott LC.FEBS Lett. 2013 Dec 11;587(24):3949-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2013.10.026. Epub 2013 Nov 1.PMID: 24188824