Jaume M. Canaves, Ph.D.

Jaume M. Canaves, Ph.D., is counsel in Sterne Kessler’s Biotechnology & Chemical Practice Group. He prepares and prosecutes U.S. and foreign patent applications, and conducts validity, infringement, and patentability studies. Jaume has over 20 years of experience in a broad range of scientific fields, including neuroscience, signal transduction, molecular and cellular biology, structural genomics and proteomics, protein biochemistry, multidrug resistance to anticancer agents, and bioinformatics.

His graduate research focused on the characterization and reversal of multidrug resistance to anthracyclines in murine leukemias. While a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Biology of the University of California San Diego (UCSD), Jaume was awarded a grant sponsored by the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation. That research entailed the design of peptides capable of inhibiting neurotransmitter release as potential treatments for dystonias and other neuromuscular diseases (U.S. Patent No. 6,169,074). After joining UCSD’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Jaume’s research focused on the biochemical, biophysical, and biocomputational characterization of native and mutant forms of the PKA catalytic and regulatory subunits. Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Jaume worked for 5 years as a project scientist at the Bioinformatics Core of the Joint Center for Structural Genomics, a protein structure initiative pilot center funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Jaume received a B.Sc. in biology from the University of the Balearic Islands, his Ph.D. cum laude, in neurobiology from the University of Alicante, and his J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law, also cum laude. While in law school, Jaume served as a fellow at the Texas Tech University Center for Biodefense Law and Public Policy, and as a law clerk at the Texas Tech University Office of Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property. He also participated in clinical programs in alternative dispute resolution and biosafety and biosecurity law.

Technical Publications

• J.M. Canaves. “Tools for computational protein annotation and function assignment” in In Silico Technology in Drug Target Identification and Validation (Markel, S. and Leon, D.A. Eds.) CRC Press (2006).
• J.S. Chappie *, J.M. Canaves*, G.W. Han, C.L. Rife, Q. Xu and R.C. Stevens. “The first structure of an eukaryotic nicotinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase (NAPRTase) reveals structural heterogeneity among type II PRTases”. Structure 13, 1385-1396 (2005). *Equal contributors.
• J.M. Canaves, R. Page, I.A. Wilson and R.C. Stevens. “Protein properties that correlate with crystallization success in Thermotoga maritima: Maximum Clustering Strategy for structural genomics”. J. Mol. Biol. 344, 977-991 (2004).
• J.M. Canaves, D.A. Leon and S.S. Taylor. “Consequences of cAMP-binding site mutations on the structural stability of the Type I regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase”. Biochemistry 39, 15022-15031 (2000).
• J.M. Canaves and M. Montal. “Assembly of a ternary complex by the predicted minimal coiled-coil forming domains of syntaxin, SNAP-25 and synaptobrevin: a circular dichroism study”. J. Biol. Chem. 273, 34214-34221 (1998).
• L.M. Gutierrez*, J.M. Canaves*, A.V. Ferrer-Montiel, J.A. Reig, M. Montal and S. Viniegra. “A peptide that mimics the carboxy terminal domain of SNAP-25 blocks Ca2+-dependent exocytosis in chromaffin cells”. FEBS Lett.372, 39-43 (1995). *Equal contributors.
• J.M. Canaves, J.A. Ferragut and J.M. Gonzalez-Ros. “Verapamil prevents the effects of daunomycin on the thermotropic phase transition of model lipid bilayers”. Biochem. J. 279, 413-418 (1991).