Dr. Arezue Boroujerdi

Dr. Arezue Boroujerdi’s love and excitement for learning via research is demonstrated in the classroom and in her laboratory. Undergraduate students are at the forefront of her research, presentations and publications.

Biography

Dr. Boroujerdi utilizes Claflin University’s 700MHz NMR in her metabolomics research. Her work is focused on the study of the effects of various stressors on metabolism. As the detector, NMR spectroscopy provides “fingerprints” for the various metabolic conditions. Statistical analysis treatments are utilized for further analysis of the NMR data. This type of research lends itself nicely to collaboration.

Currently she is working on collaborative metabolomics projects in the following areas: a Parkinson’s Disease yeast model with Dr. Renee Chosed of Furman; metal toxicity in E. coli with Dr. Wayne Outten of USC; plant pathogens with Dr. Kousik Shaker of USDA, and pharmaceutically relevant and herbal medicines from plant sources with Dr. Kamal Chowdhury of Claflin, Dr. Ahmed El-bakry of Helwan University in Cairo, Egypt.

Education

• Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, Chemistry, BS (ACS Certified), 2001
• Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, Chemistry (Computational), MS, 2005
• Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, Chemistry (Bioanalytical), Ph.D., 2008
• National Institute of Standards and Technology, Charleston, SC, NMR-Based Metabolomics, Post Doc, 2008-2010

Research Interests

• Metabolomics using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
• Model and non-model organisms

Experience

Dr. Boroujerdi's doctoral research at Mississippi State University (MSU) involved molecular biology with the goal of protein purification followed by 3D NMR spectral interpretation for chemical shift assignments of a halophilic protein, and protein structure calculations. During her time at MSU, she gained valuable experience teaching and working with undergraduate students in their research projects.

For two and a half years, Dr. Boroujerdi's postdoctoral research was focused on NMR-based metabolomics with regard to the marine environment at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She completed research on a temperature-dependent coral pathogen and oxidative stress in blue crabs which she presented at several national and international conferences. She also published the coral pathogen work in the September 2009 issue of Environmental Science & Technology. During two summers at NIST, she directly mentored two undergraduate chemical engineering majors in their research projects at NIST, both of which went on to present their work at the NOAA Office of Education, Science and Education Symposium in Silver Spring, MD.

Her current research focus here at Claflin University is NMR-based metabolomics tailored to be used as a tool for expanding the breadth of exposure to research for undergraduate students. NMR-based metabolomics is well suited for biomedical research in that minimally invasive biofluid samples (urine, blood, saliva, etc.) provide a wealth of metabolic information for health assessment and disease diagnosis and treatment. NMR-based metabolomics provides an excellent means for collaborative research and within the biomedical field encourages contact with local (or national) doctors and hospitals. Besides local and regional hospitals and clinics, The Medical University of South Carolina located in Charleston, SC is an ideal source of ideas and partners for collaborative work. By either working directly with prepared samples from collaborators, or by preparing them ourselves in lab according the collaborators’ needs or our own interests, followed by metabolite extraction and NMR sample preparation and spectra collection, a wide range of topics can be addressed specifically in relation to diagnosis, monitoring of treatment or recurrence, application to translational medicine research or dietary interventions.

NMR-based metabolomics research is ideal for undergraduate research because the chemistry or biology student will be provided an opportunity to collaborate with scientists in other disciplines; learn hands-on bench chemistry techniques including polar and non-polar metabolite extractions, solvent and buffer preparation, and NMR sample preparation; and finally become experienced with collecting and interpreting NMR spectra with the use of multivariate statistical approaches such as principal components analysis (PCA).

NMR-based metabolomics techniques can be molded into very specific and wide-ranging projects, depending on the time frame of the chemistry student’s research tenure. The opportunity to continue research in this still developing and fast moving field is exciting in that much can be learned from NMR-based metabolmics while a solid publication record can be established due to the scientific community’s eagerness to integrate systems biology approaches into modern research and clinical practice.

Recent Publications

• Mahmud, I.; Kousik, C.; Hassell, R.; Chowdhury; K.; Boroujerdi, A., “NMR Spectroscopy Identifies Metabolites Translocated from Powdery Mildew Resistant Rootstocks to Susceptible Watermelon Scions” J. Agric. Food Chem. 2015, 63: 8083−8091. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.jafc.5b02108
• Mahmud, I.; Shrestha, B.; Boroujerdi, A.; Chowdhury; K., “NMR-based Metabolomics Profile Comparisons to Distinguish Between Embryogenic and Non-embryogenic Callus Tissue of Sugarcane at the Biochemical Level” In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology – Plant 2015, 51: 340–349.
• Williams, C.M.; Watanabe, M.; Guarracino, M.R.; Ferraro, M.B.; Edison, A.S.; Morgan, T.J.; Boroujerdi, A.F.B.; Hahn, D.A., “Cold adaptation shapes the robustness of metabolic networks in Drosophila melanogaster” Evolution 2014, 68: 3505-3523.
• Mahmud, I.; Thapaliya, M.; Boroujerdi, A.; Chowdhury; K., “NMR-Based Metabolomics Study of the Biochemical Relationship between Sugarcane Callus Tissues and their Respective Nutrient Culture Media” Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2014, 406: 5997-6005.