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Sandra Jacinto

Sandra Jacinto

Assistant Specialist II

Biography

Sandra Jacinto, M.A.S., is an Assistant Specialist II at the University of California, Irvine. With over 17 years of laboratory experience, Jacinto manages research operations, oversees personnel training, and conducts independent research projects. Her work spans mouse models of metabolic disorders, cell culture systems, and developmental biology, with particular expertise in laboratory management, animal protocol development, and flow cytometry.

Jacinto has contributed to research published in Nature, Science, Nature Communications, and Nature Genetics, among other journals. Her collaborative work has addressed topics including enhancer activity and genome regulation, IDH1-mutant glioma formation, metabolic regulation through bile acid receptors, and somatic cell reprogramming. She has worked across multiple research institutions, including The Salk Institute and the University of Southern California, where she served as Interim Laboratory Director.

Jacinto received a Master of Advanced Studies degree in Clinical Research from the University of California, San Diego in 2016, where she also earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology in 2008. Her technical expertise includes operation of cell sorting equipment, real-time PCR systems, and flow cytometric data analysis, as well as compliance with institutional animal care and environmental health and safety regulations.

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Education

  • M.A.S. in Clinical Research, University of California, San Diego, 2016
  • B.S. in Human Biology, University of California, San Diego, 2008
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Areas of Expertise

  • Molecular Genetics and Genomics
  • Metabolic Disorder Mouse Models
  • Bile Acid Receptor Signaling
  • Somatic Cell Reprogramming Mechanisms
  • Enhancer-Promoter Chromatin Interactions
  • Noncoding Variant Functional Validation
  • Lungfish Genome Evolution

Recent Publications

  • Grace Bower, Ethan W. Hollingsworth, Sandra H. Jacinto, Joshua A. Alcantara, Benjamin Clock, Kaitlyn Cao, Mandy Liu, Adam Dziulko, Ana Alcaina-Caro, Qianlan Xu, Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk, Javier Lopez-Rios, Diane E. Dickel, Anaïs F. Bardet, Len A. Pennacchio, Axel Visel, Evgeny Z. Kvon, “Range extender mediates long-distance enhancer activity” (opens in new tab), Nature, vol. 643, pp. 830-838, 2025.
  • Hollingsworth EW, Liu TA, Alcantara JA, Chen CX, Jacinto SH, Kvon EZ, “Rapid and Quantitative Functional Interrogation of Human Enhancer Variant Activity in Live Mice” (opens in new tab), Nature Communications, vol. 16, 2025.
  • Schartl M, Woltering JM, Irisarri I, Du K, Kneitz S, Pippel M, Brown T, Franchini P, Li J, Li M, Adolfi M, Winkler S, Sousa JF, Chen Z, Jacinto S, Kvon EZ, Oliveira LRC, Monteiro E, Amaral DB, Burmester T, et al., “The Genomes of All Lungfish Inform on Genome Expansion and Tetrapod Evolution” (opens in new tab), Nature, vol. 634, pp. 96-103, 2024.
  • Zhuoxin Chen, Valentina Snetkova, Grace Bower, Sandra Jacinto, Benjamin Clock, Atrin Dizehchi, Iros Barozzi, Brandon J. Mannion, Ana Alcaina-Caro, Javier Lopez-Rios, Diane E. Dickel, Axel Visel, Len A. Pennacchio, Evgeny Z. Kvon, “Increased Enhancer—Promoter Interactions during Developmental Enhancer Activation in Mammals” (opens in new tab), Nature Genetics, vol. 56, pp. 675-685, 2024.
  • Yanchus C, Drucker KL, Kollmeyer TM, Tsai R, Winick-Ng W, Liang M, Malik A, Pawling J, De Lorenzo SB, Ali A, Decker PA, Kosel ML, Panda A, Al-Zahrani KN, Jiang L, Browning JWL, Lowden C, Geuenich M, Hernandez JJ, Gosio JT, et al., “A noncoding single-nucleotide polymorphism at 8q24 drives IDH1-mutant glioma formation” (opens in new tab), Science, vol. 378, no. 6615, pp. 68-78, 2022.
  • Ahmadian M, Liu S, Reilly SM, Hah N, Fan W, Yoshihara E, Jha P, De Magalhaes Filho CD, Jacinto S, Gomez AV, Dai Y, Yu RT, Liddle C, Atkins AR, Auwerx J, Saltiel AR, Downes M, Evans RM, “ERRγ Preserves Brown Fat Innate Thermogenic Activity” (opens in new tab), Cell Reports, vol. 22, no. 11, pp. 2849-2859, 2018.
  • Sungsoon Fang, Jae Myoung Suh, Shannon Reilly, Elizabeth Yu, Olivia Osborn, Denise Lackey, Eiji Yoshihara, Sandra Jacinto, Annette Atkins, Bernd Schnabl, Ruth Yu, David Brenner, Christopher Liddle, Jerrold Olefsky, Alan Saltiel, Michael Downes, “Intestinally-biased FXR agonism browns white adipose tissue preventing obesity and insulin resistance”, Nature Medicine, 2015.
  • Yasuyuki S. Kida, Teruhisa Kawamura, Takahiro Sogo, Sandra Jacinto, Asako Shigeno, Christopher Liddle, Joseph R. Ecker, Annette R. Atkins, Ruth T. Yu, Michael Downes, Ronald M. Evans, “ERRa/g dependent OXPHOS activity is required for Somatic cell Reprogramming”, Cell Stem Cell, 2015.
  • Yoichiro Shibuya, Yuzo Takayama, Hiroko Kushige, Sandra Jacinto, Mitsuru Sekido, Yasuyuki S Kida, “A novel postoperative immobilization for murine Achilles tendon suture mode”, Laboratory Animals, 2015.
  • Kida YS, Kawamura T, Wei Z, Sogo T, Jacinto S, Shigeno A, Kushige H, Yoshihara E, Liddle C, Ecker JR, Yu RT, Atkins AR, Downes M, Evans RM, “ERRs Mediate a Metabolic Switch Required for Somatic Cell Reprogramming to Pluripotency” (opens in new tab), Cell Stem Cell, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 547-55, 2015.
  • Hitomi Takada, Yutaka Saito, Toutai Mituyama, Zong Wei, Eiji Yoshihara, Sandra Jacinto, Michael Downes, Ronald M. Evans, Yasuyuki S. Kida, “Methylome, transcriptome, and PPARg cistrome analyses reveal two epigenetic transitions in fat cells”, Epigenomics, 2014.
  • Sandra Jacinto, Sungsoon Fang, “Essential roles of bile acid receptors FXR and TGR5 as metabolic regulators”, Animal Cells and Systems, 2014.
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Contact Information

Email: sjjacint@uci.edu

Phone: (949) 824-2801

Address: 4310 McGaugh Hall

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This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 5/14/2026.