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Patricio Rojas-Silva

Education

Ph. D. candidate 2008 – present Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. Thesis: “Leishmanicidal, Anti-inflammatory and Anti-obesity Properties of Natural Products from Common Medicinal and Edible Plants”
M. Sc. 2006-2008 Microbiology, San Francisco de Quito University, Quito, Ecuador. Thesis: “Prevalence and Genotypes Study of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Rural Communities in Esmeraldas, Ecuador”
M. D. 1996-2003 Central University of Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.

 

Fellowships & Awards

2013 Robert T. Rosen Memorial Scholarship. Graduate student doing research in Nutraceutical Sciences, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ, USA.
2012 Norman F. Childers Study Award. Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ, USA.
2012 Conference Award. Graduate School of New Brunswick. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ, USA.
2011 SENESCYT 2011 Fellowship for Doctoral Studies. Ecuadorian Secretary of Science, Technology, Higher Education and Innovation, Ecuador.
2011 Norman F. Childers Study Award. Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ, USA.
2011 Conference Award. Graduate School of New Brunswick. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ, USA.
2011 Conference Award. National Science Foundation (NSF) and Phytochemical Society of North America (PSNA).
2009 Travel Award for Special Studies. Reed Funk Fund and Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ, USA.
2009 Graduate Award for Special Studies. Graduate School of New Brunswick. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ, USA.
2006-2007 Presidential Fellowship. San Francisco de Quito University. Quito, Ecuador.
2002-2003 Fellowship. Hospital Voz Andes Quito. Quito and Shell-Mera, Ecuador.

 

Publications

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. D. E. Roopchand, R. N. Carmody, P. Kuhn, K. Moskal, P. Rojas-Silva, P. J. Turnbaugh, and I. Raskin. Dietary polyphenols promote growth of the gut bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila and attenuate high fat diet-induced metabolic syndrome. Diabetes, e-pub ahead of print, 2015.

  3. T. B. Tumer, P. Rojas-Silva, A. Poulev, I. Raskin, and C. Waterman. Direct and Indirect Antioxidant Activity of Polyphenol and Isothiocyanate-Enriched Fractions from Moringa oleifera. J. Agric. Food Chem., Just accepted manuscript, 2015.

  4. C. Waterman, D. M. Cheng, P. Rojas-Silva, A. Poulev, J. Dreifus, M. A. Lila, I. Raskin. Stable, water extractable isothiocyanates from Moringa oleifera leaves attenuate inflammation in vitro. Phytochemistry, Vol. 103, pp. 114-122, April 2014.

  5. D. M. Cheng, N. Pogrebnyak, P. Kuhn, A. Poulev, C. Waterman, P. Rojas-Silva, W. D. Johnson, and I. Raskin. Polyphenol-Rich Rutgers Scarlet Lettuce Improves Glucose Metabolism and Liver Lipid Accumulation in Diet Induced Obese C57BL/6 Mice. Nutrition, Vol. 30, No. 7-8, Supplement, pp. S52-S58, 2014.

  6. P. Rojas-Silva, R. Graziose, B. Vesely, A. Poulev, F. Mbeunkui, M. H. Grace, D. E. Kyle, M. A. Lila, and I. Raskin. Leishmanicidal activity of a daucane sesquiterpene isolated from Eryngium foetidum. Pharmaceutical Biology, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 398-401, 2014.

  7. R. Graziose, M. H. Grace, Th. Rathinasabapathy, P. Rojas-Silva, C. Dekock, A. Poulev, M. A. Lila, P. Smith, and I. Raskin. Antiplasmodial activity of cucurbitacin glycosides from Datisca glomerata (C. Presl) Baill. Phytochemistry, Vol. 87, pp. 78-85, March 2013.

  8. Graziose, R., Rojas-Silva, P., Rathinasabapathy, Th., Dekock, C., Grace, M. H., Poulev, A., Lila, M. A., Smith, P., and I. Raskin. Antiparasitic compounds from Cornus florida L. with activities against Plasmodium falciparum and Leishmania tarentolae. J. of Ethnopharmacology, Vol. 142, No. 2, pp. 456-461, 2012.

  9. 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, No. 2, pp. 387-396, 2012.

  10. 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.
  • Poster Presentations:

    1. Dreifus, J., Tumer, T., Rojas-Silva, P., Waterman, C., Raskin, I. Evaluation of Moringa oleifera and its isothiocyanate components for efficacy in reducing glucose production in vitro. Aresty Symposium, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. April 2014.

    2. Cheng, D. M., Pogrebnyak, N., Kuhn, P., Poulev, A., Waterman, C., Rojas-Silva, P., Johnson, W. D., Ribnicky, D., Raskin, I. High Polyphenol Rutgers Scarlet Lettuce Improves Glucose Metabolism and Liver Lipid Accumulation in Diet-Induced Obese Mice. NIH-Botanical Research Centers Annual Meeting. November 2013.

    3. Waterman, C., Cheng, D. M., Rojas-Silva, P., Poulev, A., Raskin, I. Stable, water extractable isothiocyanates from Moringa oleifera leaves mediate inflammation in vitro. NIH-Botanical Research Centers Annual Meeting. November 2013.

    4. Graf, B., Rojas-Silva, P., Ayeni, A., Raskin, I. The Global Institute for BioExploration (GIBEX): Building research and development capacity worldwide. International Congress in Natural Products, American Society of Pharmacognosy (ICNPR 2012). New York, NY, USA. Agust 2012.

    5. Rojas-Silva, P., Graziose, R., Poulev, A., Mbeunkui, F., Grace, M. H., Lila, M. A., Raskin, I. Seeking novel leishmanicidal natural products from common medicinal plants, the example of Eryngium foetidum L. International Congress in Natural Products, American Society of Pharmacognosy (ICNPR 2012). New York, NY, USA. Agust 2012.

    6. Graziose, R., Grace, M. H., Rathinasabapathy, T., Rojas-Silva, P., Dekock, C., Poulev, A., Lila, M. A., Smith, P., Raskin, I. Cucurbitacin glycosides from Datisca glomerata with antiplasmodial activity. International Congress in Natural Products, American Society of Pharmacognosy (ICNPR 2012). New York, NY, USA. August 2012.

    7. Rathinasabapathy, T., Rojas-Silva, P., Poulev, A., Komarnytsky, S., Raskin, I. Isolation of sesquiterpene lactones from roots of Cichorium intybus L. with leishmanicidal activity. 50th Aniversary Meeting, Phytochemical Society of North America (PSNA 2011). Hawai’i, USA. December 2011.