Expertise

Research Interests:

  • Application of mass spectrometry to enzyme kinetics and ligand-enzyme interactions
  • Mass spectrometry-based natural products drug discovery
  • Quality and safety assessment of botanical dietary supplements

Research:

  • Biomedical applications of mass spectrometry in the discovery and development of bioactive natural products from plants for tuberculosis and tropical diseases particularly malaria and leishmaniasis. Development of LC-MS based analytical methods for the identification and quantitation of bioactive or marker/standard compounds and potentially toxic compounds in botanical dietary supplements. In vitro assessment of stability, metabolism and bioavailability of bioactive natural products. LC-MS based metabolomic studies of promising medicinal and edible plant species.
Communities
Pharmacy
Degrees
PhD, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, Pharmacognosy, 2002
MS, University of Illinois at Chicago, Pharmacognosy , 1997
BS, University of Panama, Pharmacy, 1990
Keywords
infectious diseases proteomics mass spectrometry liquid chromatography natural products research natural products chemistry natural products biology natural products drug discovery botanical dietary supplements research pharmacognosy metabolomics cancer plant, marine, soil bacterial and fungal metabolites botanical-drug interactions
Languages
English, French, Spanish
Honors

Scholarship, Fulbright, 1994-1997

Associations
American Society of Pharmacognosy
American Society for Mass Spectrometry