Abigail Bartlett

My name is Abby Bartlett and I am a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.

My current research focuses on developing protein therapeutics for mitochondrial diseases. I love teaching and science outreach, especially within the rare disease community and with individuals and families affected by rare diseases, including mitochondrial and metabolic disorders. 

Thanks for visiting my website!

What's New?

August 2024

This month, I joined the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University as a postdoctoral researcher. My work with Dr. Anupam Patgiri's group will focus on the development of novel protein therapeutics for mitochondrial disease. I'm honored and delighted to be able to expand my work in the mitochondrial medicine space in this new position. Many thanks to Anupam and my new labmates for the warm welcome to Atlanta!

May 2024

I successfully defended my dissertation at UW-Madison and am now Dr. Abigail Bartlett! Many thanks to everyone who supported and encouraged me on this grad school journey. I had a wonderful visit to Madison with my family and friends, including stopping by to say hello to everyone at the Biochemistry complex and having a post-defense celebration at Union Terrace. Super happy for this accomplishment and looking forward to what the future has in store!

March 2024 

I'm delighted to announce that my thesis defense is scheduled for Wednesday, May 22nd! I'm really looking forward to sharing my work and defending my dissertation, which focuses on redox-active enzymes implicated in lipid metabolism. My defense will be hosted by the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. If you are interested in viewing the public seminar, please let me know and I can share a Zoom link. 

January 2024 

I'm happy to share that two exciting scientific stories from my thesis work are now available to read online! 

COQ4 is required for the oxidative decarboxylation of the C1 carbon of coenzyme Q in eukaryotic cells  (Molecular Cell) includes some of my work clarifying the role of COQ4 in coenzyme Q biosynthesis. This work identifies COQ4 as the enzyme responsible for the decarboxylation and hydroxylation of CoQ headgroup precursors, completing our understanding of the primary enzymes responsible for each step of the conversion from 4-hydroxybenzoate to the final CoQ headgroup. 

ACAD10 and ACAD11 enable mammalian 4- hydroxy acid lipid catabolism  is now available as a pre-print in BioRXiv and focuses on a co-led project between me and my groupmate Eddie Rashan. Through this work, we study the metabolic processing of 4-hydroxylated fatty acids and identify the two acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (ACAD) enzymes responsible for introducing these substrates into fatty acid oxidation. My structural and functional studies of ACAD10 and ACAD11 provide a basis for understanding their substrate specificity and the other functionally-important ways they differ from other known ACAD family members.

September 2023 

Super excited to share my work as an invited speaker at WUSTL's Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology retreat this year! The retreat was held on September 14th at the Pere Marquette Lodge in Grafton, Illinois. We all enjoyed a wonderful day of presentations, posters, great refreshments, and getting outdoors for some hiking and fresh air.  The weather was absolutely perfect. Loved the pink T-shirts, too! Thanks to the organizers for the invitation!

June 2023 

The Pagliarini lab had another great outing at the UMDF's Energy for Life Walk and 5K! I was so excited to help organize this race and event for all the awesome mito families in and around St. Louis... and for the second year, everything went off without a hitch! 😉 This year, our lab team raised $550 dollars and Rachel Guerra, a postdoc in our group, got third place for the women's division in the 5K. Looking forward to more UMDF events in the future!! 

September 2022  

I was honored to present my work as a poster at the WashU Cell Biology and Physiology retreat! This joint retreat was fantastic because not only was it a chance to catch up with friends and colleagues in the department, but also to meet incoming graduate students in the MCP program. It was super cool to show my latest findings to the students, as well as give them some support and guidance for their transition to grad school.  

August 2022  

The UW-Madison Teaching Academy's yearly retreat will be held as a combination virtual and in-person event this year. The Teaching Academy hosts regular seminars, classes, and workshops centered on teaching strategies, current pedagogy, and how to be an effective TA. The retreat is a great chance for grad students and postdocs to engage with teaching at a deeper level. 

Any UW-Madison friends who are thinking of attending the retreat, which will be be held on September 30th from 9am-11am, can register at this link to receive info for the Zoom! You must log in with your UW info to register for the meeting. 

June 2022  

The Energy for Life Walk and 5K was fantastic! It was incredible to be involved in planning and carrying out this event. This year,  my labmates and I raised over $500 to contribute to the UMDF. On the day-of, we got to enjoy a beautiful day in Tower Grove Park and meet mito families from the St. Louis area! I'm so glad to be able to be part of this event and am already looking forward to next year.

Follow me on Twitter!