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Debora Espósito, Postdoctoral Associate

Education

  • 2007 – present: Ph. D. student in Plant Biology – Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.

  • 2004: B.S. in Chemistry – UVF, Federal University of Viçosa, MG, Brasil

  • 2004: B.S. in Chemical Engineering – UVF, Federal University of Viçosa, MG, Brasil

Professional Experience

  • 2007 – present: Graduate Research Assistant, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

    • Discovery, characterization and pre-clinical development of novel plant-based natural products for treatment, or prevention of neuromuscular diseases.

  • 2005 – 2006: Visiting Scientist, Biotech Center of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

    • Animal models of diabetes and psychological disorders, handling, dosing, injection, bleeding and dissection of rodents, mammalian cell culture, gene expression analysis, real-time PCR, general molecular biology techniques.

  • 2004 – 2006: Visiting Scientist, Plant Biology & Pathology Department of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

    • Chemistry of natural products from plants and fungi, GC, GC/MS, and HPLC.

  • 2002: Teaching Assistant, Arthur Bernardes Foundation, Viçosa, Brasil

    • Planning and development of chemistry laboratory classes at low costs.

Teaching Experience

  • 2006: Instructor for English classes, Real English Center, Viçosa, Brasil.

  • 2003: Instructor for Physics undergraduate classes, Federal University of Viçosa, Brasil.

Publications and Abstracts

  1. Esposito, D., Komarnytsky, S., Shapses, S., and I. Raskin. Anabolic effect of plant brassinosteroids. The FASEB Journal, Vol. 25, No. 10, pp.3708-3719, 2011.

  2. Esposito, D., Rathinasabapathy, Th., Poulev, A., Komarnytsky, S., Raskin, I. Akt-dependent anabolic activity of natural and synthetic brassinosteroids in rat skeletal muscle cells. J. Med. Chem., Vol. 54, No. 12, pp. 4057-4066, 2011.

  3. Dmitry Govorko, Sithes Logendra, Yanxin Wang, Debora Esposito, David Ribnicky, Alexander Poulev, William T. Cefalu, and Ilya Raskin. Polyphenolic Compounds from Artemisia dracunculus L. Inhibit PEPCK Gene Expression and Gluconeogenesis in an H4IIE Hepatoma Cell Line. AJP: Endocrinology and Metabolism, 293(6): E1503-10, Dec. 2007.

  4. Alves-Júnior M.; Espósito, D.; Gonzáles, J. A.; Andrade, E.C. & Zerbini, F. M. Kinetics of tomato and Nicotiana benthamiana infection by two distinct begomoviruses. Abstract at International Meeting of Virology. Ouro Preto, Brazil, 2007.

  5. Novi A, Espósito D., et al. Physiological responses to flooding stress in the federally threatened wetland plant Helonias bullata L (swamp pink). Abstract at Ecological Society of America/Society for Ecological Research Joint Meeting. San Diego, CA, 2007.

  6. Esposito, D., Gianfagna, T., et al. Nonanoic acid is produced by fungal endophytes of cacao and inhibits mycelial growth and spore germination of cacao pathogens in vitro. Abstract at the II Regional Meeting on Chemistry Education, Caratinga, Brazil, 2006.

  7. Esposito, D., Cuevas, G., et al. “Bafômetro”, 3rd Meeting on Chemistry Education, UFV, Viçosa, Brasil.

Workshops

  • Emma Lausten Horticulture Seminar, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 2005.

  • 14th Annual Turfgrass Symposium, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 2005.

  • Regional Meeting on Chemistry Education, Viçosa, Brasil, 2003.

  • Chemistry of Medicinal Plants, Viçosa, Brasil, 2002.

  • Gas Chromatography, Viçosa, Brasil, 2002.