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Leonel Rojo, Postdoctoral Associate

Ph. D. 2005-2008 Pharmacology Program, University of Chile, Chile.
Pharmacist 1995-2001 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Concepción, Chile.
B. S. 1995-2000 Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Concepción, Concepción, Chile.

 

Professional Experience

2009-Present Postdoctoral Fellow, Biotech Center, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
2008 Visiting Scientist, Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, USA. P.I. – Peter Davies, Ph. D.
2005-2008 Associate Researcher, Cognitive Neurosciences Center at the International Center for Biomedicine (ICC), Santiago, Chile. Director – Ricardo B. Maccioni, Ph. D.
2005-2007 Invited Lecturer, Department of Pharmacology, Veterinary School, University of Viña del Mar, Viña del Mar, Chile.
2002-2008 Instructor, Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Arturo Prat University, Chile. Director – Julio Benites, Ph. D.
2000-2001 Junior Researcher, Forensic Toxicology Laboratory, Ministry of Justice, Iquique, Chile. Director – Claudio Lobos, Pharm. D.
1997-2000 Teaching Assistant, Department of Histology, Toxicology, and Organic Chemistry, University of Concepción, Chile.

 

Awards and Fellowships

2010 The New York Chapter of the American Society of Cosmetic Chemists Grand Prize for presenting at the 2010 Technology Transfer New York SCC Meeting.
2010 American Society of Pharmacognosy Travel Grant for Active Members for presenting at the 2010 Joint Annual Meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy & the Phytochemical Society of North America.
2005-2009 Arturo Prat University grant to pursue a Ph. D. program at the University of Chile.
2007 Grant from the Chilean National Council for Science (CONICYT) to pursue advanced redearch program at the University of Miami School of Medicine. PI – Dr. Rodrigo Kuljis.
2006 Arturo Prat University grant to pursue Advanced English Studies at Kwantlen University College, Vancouver, Canada.
2004 MECESUP grant, sponsored by the Chilean Ministry of Education and The World Bank to work on Industrial applications of Advanced Bioanalytical Techniques, Chile.
2003 CYTED grant to pursue advanced research at the Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação (INETI), Lisabon, Portugal. PI – Dra Maria Do Ceu Costa.
1995-2001 Chilean Ministry of Education grant to pursue undergraduate studies in Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Concepción, Concepción, Chile.

 

Scientific / Professional Society Membership

  • Society of Pharmacology of Chile

  • American Society of Pharmacognosy

  • Chilean Chemical Society

  • Official College of Pharmacists of Chile

Referee for ISI Journals

  • 2010 – Frontiers in Dementia, Current Alzheimer Research, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

  • 2009 – Latin-American Bulletin of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas, BLACPMA), Journal of the Chilean Society of Pharmacology.

  • 2008 – Pharmaceutical Biology, Journal of Neurochemistry.

Publications

Book Chapters

  • Rojo, L. E., D. Roopchand, B. Graf, D. Cheng, D. Ribnicky, and I. Raskin. Role of anthocyanins in skin aging and UV-induced skin damage. In: Anthocyanins in Health and Disease. T. C. Wallace (ed.), CRC Press, ISBN 9781439894712, 2013.

  • Roopchand, D., L. E. Rojo, D. Ribnicky, and I. Raskin. Anthocyanins in the Prevention of Metabolic Syndrome and Type-2 Diabetes. In: Anthocyanins in Health and Disease. T. C. Wallace (ed.), CRC Press, ISBN 9781439894712, 2013.

  • J. Benites, L. E. Rojo, J. Lopez, E. Pastene, J. Alarcon. Chilean Medicinal Plants: from the ethnomedicinal use to the pharmacological evidence. In: Pharmacological Applications of South American Plants (Vinardell, M. P. & Mitjans, M. Eds.), Research Signpost, Fort P. O., Trivandrum – 695023, Kerala, India, 2008.

  • L. E. Rojo, J. Fernándes, J. Jiménes, A. A. Maccioni, R. Kuljis, and R. B. Maccioni. Central nervous system inflammation and cholesterol metabolism alterations in the pathogenesis and diagnosis of Alzheimer disease. In: Hypotheses and Research Milestones in Alzheimer’s Disease (R. B. Maccioni & G. Perry Eds.), Springer Verlag, New York – Heidelberg, 2008.

  • R. B. Maccioni, G. A. Farias, L. E. Rojo, M. A. Sekler, and R. O. Kuljis. What have we learned from the tau hypothesis? In: Hypotheses and Research Milestones in Alzheimer’s Disease (R. B. Maccioni & G. Perry Eds.), Springer Verlag, New York – Heidelberg, 2008.

  • R. B. Maccioni, and L. E. Rojo. Ethical challenges of innovation. In: Innovation Society (R. B. Maccioni, Ed.), Mediterráneo, Santiago, Chile, 2007.

  • R. B. Maccioni, and L. E. Rojo. Ethical issues in technological innovations. In: Ethics in Technological Innovation (F. Lolas, Ed.), Sponsored by Pan-American Health Organization (PHO) & PBCT-CONICYT, Santiago, Chile, 2006.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

  1. Graf, B. L., Rojas-Silva, P., Rojo, L. E., Delatorre-Herrera, J., Baldeón, M. E., and Raskin, I. Innovations in Health Value and Functional Food Development of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, e-pub ahead of print, 2015.

  2. B. Graf, L. Rojo, J. Delatorre-Herrera, A. Poulev, C. Del Pilar Calfio, and I. Raskin. Phytoecdysteroids and flavonoid glycosides among Chilean and commercial sources of Chenopodium quinoa: variation and correlation to physicochemical characteristics. J. Sci. Food Agric., published online, 2015.

  3. Roopchand, D. E., P. Kuhn, L. E. Rojo, M. A. Lila, and I. Raskin. Blueberry polyphenol-enriched soybean flour reduces hyperglycemia, body weight gain and serum cholesterol in mice. Pharmacological Research, Vol. 68, No. 1, pp. 59-67, 2013.

  4. D. M. Cheng, P. Kuhn, A. Poulev, L. E. Rojo, M. A. Lila and I. Raskin. In Vivo and In Vitro Antidiabetic Effects of Aqueous Cinnamon Extract and Cinnamon Polyphenol-Enhanced Food Matrix. Food Chemistry, Vol. 135, No. 4, pp. 2994-3002, 2012.

  5. Rojo, L., Ribnicky, D., Logendra, S., Poulev, A., Rojas, P., Kuhn, P., Dorn, R., Grace, M., Lila, M. A., and I. Raskin. In vitro and in vivo anti-diabetic effects of anthocyanins from Maqui Berry (Aristotelia chilensis). Food Chemistry, Vol. 131, pp. 387-396, 2012.

  6. Gaspar, P. A., Bustamante, M. L., Rojo, L. E., Martinez, A. From Glutamatergic dysfunction to cognitive impairment: Boundaries in the therapeutics of the schizophrenia. Curr. Pharm Biotech, Vol. 13, No. 8, pp. 1543-1548, 2012.

  7. M. A. Lila, D. M. Ribnicky, L. E. Rojo, P. Rojas-Silva, A. Oren, R. Havenaar, E. M. Janle, I. Raskin, G. G. Yousef, and M. H. Grace. Complementary approaches to gauge the bioavailability and distribution of ingested berry polyphenolics. J. Agric. Food Chem., Vol. 60, No. 23, pp. 5763-5771, 2012.

  8. Rojo, L. E., Gaspar, P. A., and Maccioni, R. B. Molecular targets in the rational design of AD specific PET tracers: tau or amyloid aggregates? Curr Alzheimer Res, Vol. 8, No. 6, pp.652-658, 2011.

  9. J. Benites, J. Lopez, L. E. Rojo, P. Díaz, M. Rojas, R. Fuentes, C. Moiteiro and F. Venancio. Chemical composition of the essential oil of Xenophyllum poposum. Chemistry of Natural Compounds, Vol. 46, No. 6, pp. 988-989, 2011.

  10. Rojo, L. E., Villano, C. M., Joseph, G., Schmidt, B., Shulaev, V., Shuman, J. L., Lila, M. A., and I. Raskin. Wound-healing properties of nut oil from Pouteria lucuma. J Cosmet Dermatol., Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 185-195, 2010.

  11. Rojo, L. E., Benites, J., López, J., Rojas, M., Díaz-Toro, P., Ordóñez, J., Pastene, E. A comparative study on the potent antioxidant capacity and phenolic content of twelve highly consumed medicinal plants from the South American Andes. BLACPMA (Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas), Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 487-497, 2009.

  12. Maccioni, R. B., Rojo, L. E., Fernandez, J. A., and Kuljis, R. O. The Role of Neuroimmunomodulation in Alzheimer’s Disease. Ann N. Y. Acad Sci, 1-7, 2009.

  13. Rojo, L. E., Alzate, J., Saavedra, I., Davies, P., Maccioni, R. B. Selective interaction of lansoprazole and astemizole with tau polimers. Potential new clinical use in AD diagnosis. J Alzheimer’s Dis., Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 573-589, 2009.

  14. Neumann, K. F., Rojo, L. E., Navarette, L. P., Farías, G., Reyes, P., Maccioni, R. B. Insulin resistance and Alzheimer’s disease: molecular links & clinical implications. Curr Alzheimer Res., No. 5, pp. 438-447, 2008.

  15. Lavados, M., Guillón, M. Mujica, M. C., Rojo, L. E., Fuentes, P., Maccioni, R. B. Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Patients Display Different Levels of Redox-active CSF Iron. J Alzheimers Dis., No. 13(2), pp. 225-232, 2008.

  16. Sekler, M. A., Jiménes, J. M., Rojo, L. E., Pastene, E., Fuentes, P., Slachevsky, A., Maccioni, R. B. Cognitive Impairment Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease: Links with Cholesterol Metabolism and Oxidative Stress, Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat (4)-4-3268, 2008.

  17. Fernández, J. A., L. Rojo, R. Kuljis, and R. B. Maccioni. The damage signals hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis. J Alzheimers Dis., No. 14(3), pp. 329-333, 2008.

  18. Rojo, L. E., Fernández, J. A., Maccioni, A. A., Jiménes, J. M., Maccioni, R. B. Neuroinflammation: implications for the pathogenesis and molecular diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Arch Med Res. No. 39(1), pp. 1-16, 2008.

  19. Benites, J., Rojo, L., Valderrama, J. A., Blave, I., Taper, H., and Buc-Calderon, P. Part 1: Anticancer activity of two euryfurylbenzoquinones on TLT, a murine hepatoma cell line. Role of vitamin C in the mechanisms leading to cell death. Eur J Med Chem. No. 43(9), pp. 1813-1817, 2008.

  20. Benites, J., Valderrama, J. A., Rivera, F., Rojo, L., Campos, N., Pedro, M., José-Nascimento, M. S. Studies on quinones. Part 42: Synthesis of furylquinone and hydroquinones with antiproliferative activity against human tumor cell lines. Bioorg Med Chem. No. 15-16(2), pp. 862-868, 2008.

  21. Rojo, L., Benites, J., Rodrigues, A., Venancio, F., Ramalho, L., Teixeira, A., Feio, S., Costa, M. C. Composition and Antimicrobial Screening of the Essential Oil of Acantholippia deserticola (Phil. ex F. Phil.) Moldenke, J. Essent. Oil Res. No. 18, pp. 1-17, 2006.

  22. Rojo, L., Sjoberg, M., Hernandez, P., Zambrano, C., and Maccioni, R. B. Roles of cholesterol and lipids in the etiopathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. J. Biomedicine and Biotech. 73976, pp. 1-17, 2006.

Abstracts

  1. Rojo, L. E., Villano, C. A., Shulaev, V., Dayan, N., Lila, M. A., Raskin, I. Antiaging and wound healing properties of the oil from Pouteria lucuma. Technology Transfer Meeting of New York Chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists of the USA. October 20, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, 2010.

  2. Rojo, L. E., Villano, C. A., Joseph, G., Shulaev, V., Lila, M. A., Raskin, I. Would Healing properties of the oil from Pouteria lucuma. 51st Joint Meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy and the Phytochemical Society of North America. July 10-14, Saint Petersburg Beach, Florida, USA, 2010.

  3. Rojo L., Fernández, F., Jiménez, J., Maccioni, A. A., Kuljis, R. O., Maccioni, R. B. Contributions of neuroinflammation to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease. Summit Alzheimer Meeting, Nov. 22-26, Viña del Mar, Chile, 2007.

  4. A. Sekler-Carlevari, J. Jiménez, L. Rojo, E. Pastene, P. Fuentes, A. Slachevsky, and R. B. Maccioni. A study on the links between cognitive impairment associated to Alzheimer’s disease and oxidative stress. Summit Alzheimer Meeting, Nov. 22-26, Viña del Mar, Chile, 2007.

  5. R. B. Maccioni, L. Rojo, M. Puebla, K. Neumann, M. J. Riquelme, L. Navarrete, P. Reyes, A. A. Maccioni, J. Jiménez, D. Orellana, R. O. Kuljis and J. Fernández. What have we learn from the perspective of tau hypothesis? Summit Alzheimer Meeting, Nov. 22-26, Viña del Mar, Chile, 2007.

  6. Rojo, L., Navarrete, L., Avila, M., Chandia, M., Maccioni, R. B. Astemizole: A benzimidazole PET tracer for Amyolid Senile Plaques in Azheimer disease? XXIX Congreso Anual de la Sociedad de Farmacología de Chile (CASF 2007), Sep. 6-9, Iquique, Chile, 2007.

  7. Rojo, L., Navarrete, L., Avila, M., Chandia, M., Maccioni, R. B. 18F Lansoprazole as PET radiotracer, Chemical and biological studies towards the development of a New PET Radiotracer. International Conference on Clinical PET and Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Nov. 10-14, Bangkok, Thailand, 2007.

  8. Rojo, L., Navarrete, L., Avila, M., Chandia, M., Benites, J., Maccioni, R. B. New PET radiotracers for Alzheimer disease: opening the black box. XXIX Congreso Anual de la Sociedad de Farmacología de Chile (CASF 2007), Sep. 6-9, Iquique, Chile, 2007.

  9. R. B. Maccioni, L. Rojo, K. Olavarria, A. Sekler, P. Fuentes, and V. Samith. Molecular and therapeutic aspects of Aging: Avenues toward a better quality of life. XXVIII Congreso Anual Soc. Chilena de Farmacología, Aug. 20-22, Santiago, Chile, 2006.

  10. Leoncini, R., Rojo, L., Benites, J., Mora, S., Diaz-Veliz, G. Anxiolitic effect of Acantholippia deserticola in male rats. XXVIII Congreso Anual Soc. Chilena de Farmacología, Aug. 20-22, Santiago, Chile, 2006.

  11. Benites, J., Rojo, L., Farias, J. G., Rios, D., Blave, I., Taper, H. and Buc-Calderon, P. Antiproliferative effect of euryfurylquinones on TLT cells. Role of ascorbate on the mechanisms leading to cell death. XXVIII Congreso Anual Soc. Chilena de Farmacología, Aug. 20-22, Santiago, Chile, 2006.

  12. Rojo, L., Barrios, C. G., Gonzales, S., Lobos, C. G. Benzodiazepines metabolites in drunk drivers participating in traffic accdients in Chile. International Pharmaceutical Congress, April 6-9, Santiago, Chile, 2003.

  13. Ceza, C. G., Gonzalez, S., Rojo, L., Lobos, C. G. Alcohol consumption among drivers in Chile – a 5 years follow up study 1996-2001. International Pharmaceutical Congress, April 6-9, Santiago, Chile, 2003.

  14. Garay, I. A., Rojo, L., Loboss, C. G. Clinical and Forensic Applications of the Determination of Antiepileptic Drugs in blood by GC-MS. International Pharmaceutical Congress, April 6-9, Santiago, Chile, 2003.

Selected Invited Oral Presentations at International Conferences

  • Rojo, L. E., Villano, C., Shulaev, V., Dayan, N., Lila, M. A., Raskin, I. Pouteria lucuma: From a Peruvian Plant to a New Anti-Aging Ingredient. HBA Global Exposition & Conference, June 28-30, The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, USA, 2011.

  • Rojo, L. E. Role of Natural Antioxidants in the prevention of Cognitive Decline. VIII Annual Meeting of Pharmacy Students, August 29-31, Iquique, Chile, 2007.

  • Rojo, L. E., Fernández, F., Jiménez, J., Maccioni, A. A., Kuljis, R. O., Maccioni, R. B. Contributions of neuroinflammation to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease. Summit Alzheimer Meeting, Nov. 22-26, Viña del Mar, Chile, 2007.

  • Rojo, L. E., Campos, N., Pedro, M., Nascimento, M. S. J., Pinto, M., Valderrama, J., Benites, J., Rivera, F., Zamorano, Carlos. Cytotoxic Evaluation of Eight Furylquinones and Hidroquinones. XXVI Annual Meeting of Chilean Society of Pharmacology – IUPHAR / Quinamavida, October, Chile, 2004.