Leti Beltran

Overview: I am a graduate student at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in the Biomedical Sciences program. My Ph.D. track is in Biophysics. Broadly I’m interested in applying cryo-electron microscopy to determine structures to high resolution and biophysical assays to understand biological systems.

Background: In previous research I used solution NMR along with circular dichroism, fluorecence anisotropy and mass spectrometry to look at structural components of the Type 3 Secretion System from bacteria such as B. pseudomallei. I have research experience in tissue cell culture working with the human pathogen C. trachomatis.

Where do I see myself in 5 years? Hopefully done with my Ph.D. and heading to do a post-doc abroad.

Publications with our group

Archaeal DNA-import apparatus is homologous to bacterial conjugation machinery. Leticia C Beltran, Virginija Cvirkaite-Krupovic, Jessalyn Miller, Fengbin Wang, Mark A B Kreutzberger, Jonasz B Patkowski, Tiago R D Costa, Stefan Schouten, Ilya Levental, Vincent P Conticello, Edward H Egelman, Mart Krupovic Published in Nature communications, February 2023 (see publication)

DNA-guided lattice remodeling of carbon nanotubes. Zhiwei Lin, Leticia C Beltran, Zeus A De Los Santos, Yinong Li, Tehseen Adel, Jeffrey A Fagan, Angela R Hight Walker, Edward H Egelman, Ming Zheng Published in Science (New York, N.Y.), July 2022 (see publication)

Mating pair stabilization mediates bacterial conjugation species specificity. Wen Wen Low, Joshua L C Wong, Leticia C Beltran, Chloe Seddon, Sophia David, Hok-Sau Kwong, Tatiana Bizeau, Fengbin Wang, Alejandro Peña, Tiago R D Costa, Bach Pham, Min Chen, Edward H Egelman, Konstantinos Beis, Gad Frankel Published in Nature microbiology, June 2022 (see publication)

Phenol-soluble modulins PSMα3 and PSMβ2 form nanotubes that are cross-α amyloids. Mark A B Kreutzberger, Shengyuan Wang, Leticia C Beltran, Abraham Tuachi, Xiaobing Zuo, Edward H Egelman, Vincent P Conticello Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, May 2022 (see publication)

Spindle-shaped archaeal viruses evolved from rod-shaped ancestors to package a larger genome. Fengbin Wang, Virginija Cvirkaite-Krupovic, Matthijn Vos, Leticia C Beltran, Mark A B Kreutzberger, Jean-Marie Winter, Zhangli Su, Jun Liu, Stefan Schouten, Mart Krupovic, Edward H Egelman Published in Cell, March 2022 (see publication)

Structural analysis of cross α-helical nanotubes provides insight into the designability of filamentous peptide nanomaterials. Fengbin Wang, Ordy Gnewou, Charles Modlin, Leticia C Beltran, Chunfu Xu, Zhangli Su, Puneet Juneja, Gevorg Grigoryan, Edward H Egelman, Vincent P Conticello Published in Nature communications, January 2021 (see publication)

Structures of filamentous viruses infecting hyperthermophilic archaea explain DNA stabilization in extreme environments. Fengbin Wang, Diana P Baquero, Leticia C Beltran, Zhangli Su, Tomasz Osinski, Weili Zheng, David Prangishvili, Mart Krupovic, Edward H Egelman Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, August 2020 (see publication)

The structures of two archaeal type IV pili illuminate evolutionary relationships. Fengbin Wang, Diana P Baquero, Zhangli Su, Leticia C Beltran, David Prangishvili, Mart Krupovic, Edward H Egelman Published in Nature communications, July 2020 (see publication)