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Rocky Graziose, Graduate Student

Education

  • GRADUATE
    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, Fall 2008 – 2012

  • UNDERGRADUATE
    • Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 08/2005 – 05/2008, Bachelor of Science, Summa cum laude, Biology

    • University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia, 07/2006 – 12/2006

    • Connecticut College, New London, CT, 08/2004 – 05/2005

Honors / Affiliations

  • Member of the Botanical Society of America

  • Member of Research Initiatives in Traditional Antimalarial Methods (RITAM)

  • Baccalaureate graduation with honors in biology

  • Golden Key International Honor Society (Undergraduate)

  • ΦΒΚ Honor Society (Undergraduate)

  • Deans List 8 consecutive semesters (Undergraduate)

Skills

  • NMR and Mass Spectrometry experimental use and spectral interpretation

  • HPLC, Counter Current Chromatography, Flash Chromatography, TLC methods development and preparatory use

  • General bench chemical techniques

  • DNA/RNA extraction, purification, and amplification experience

  • Cell culture – Diversity estimates and phylogeny creation using molecular markers

  • Plant extraction and extract fractionation and purification

  • Knowledge of and personal experience with local, wild edible and medicinal plants

  • Plant collection, identification, and voucher preparation

  • Forest transect and inventory

  • Garden / Landscape Design

Grants / Awards

  • C. Reed Funk Student Travel Award (Rutgers University) (5/2010) – $600

  • NIH / NCCAM Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellows – Grant Number: 1F31AT005386-01A1. “Efficacy evaluation of traditionally used antimalarial plants”, 4 years (2/2010 – 2/2014) $121,793

  • Excellence Fellowship (Rutgers University Merit Award), (2008 – 2010), stipend and tuition

  • Henry C. Torrey Fellowship Supplement (R. U. Merit Award), (2008 – 2009), $4,000 stipend supplement

  • Rutgers Pre-dissertation Special Grant: Travel, Rutgers University (9/2009) – $2000

  • Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities (URECA), Stony Brook (4/2007) – $300

Research Experience

  • Pre-Doctoral Fellow / Ph. D. Research – Department of Plant Biology and Pathology (Advisor: Ilya Raskin), Rutgers University, 2008 – 2012,
    Isolation of active compounds from traditionally used antimalarial plants

  • Undergraduate Honors Thesis – Department of Ecology and Evolution (Advisor: Massimo Pigliucci), Stony Brook University, 2007 – 2008,
    The affect of auxin mutations on tolerance to apical meristem damage

  • Research Assistant – Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, 2007 – 2008,
    Ecological and genetic variation of tolerance to apical meristem damage in Arabidopsis

  • Research Assistant – School of Integrative Biology, University of Queensland 2006,
    Evolution of seed dispersal mechanisms of Queensland Rainforest plant species

Teaching / Presentation Experience

  • Antimalarial Plants Used During the American Civil War. Botanical Society of America Conference 2010 contributed paper presentation

  • Antimalarial Botanical Plants (Spring 2010) – guest lecture in “Safe or Sorry”, Freshman seminar course

  • Biofortification in food crops: Metabolic Engineering of Folate in Tomato – Core Seminar II, Rutgers Plant Biology Presentation (Spring 2010)

  • Teaching assistant (Fall 2009) – Plant Genetics

  • “Ethnobotany: Malaria” (2009) – Presentation for undergraduate Plant Biology course

  • “Antimalarial plants: Past, Present and Future” (2008) – Rutgers Plant Biology Departmental Seminar

  • “Arbo Edibles” (2004) – Guided tours of edible / medicinal plants at Connecticut College

Outreach

  • Mentored Stacy Brody – Freshman-sophomore – (Jan. 2009 – Present) – Review Paper on Antimalarial activity of Gentianaceae – Antimalarial activity study of native north American plants – Her work was funded by an Aresty Award and was featured as a poster in the Aresty Poster fair and at the 2010 Botanical Society of America conference

  • Mentored Matthew Graziose – Freshman (Jan. 5-25, 2009) – Antimalarial Plants from Central Asia (ICBG)

  • Mentored Deborah Rothbard – High School Senior – (Jun. – Aug. 2009) – Civil War Antimalarial plants – Her work was featured in the Rutgers University Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

Publications

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Grace, M. H., C. Lategan, R. Graziose, P. J. Smith, I. Raskin, and M. A. Lila. Antiplasmodial activity of the ethnobotanical plant Cassia fistula. Nat. Prod. Commun., 7:1263-1266, 2012.

  5. Graziose, R. G., Rathinasabapathy, T., Lategan, C., Poulev, A., Smith, P. J., Grace, M., Lila, M. A., and Raskin, I. Antiplasmodial activity of aporphine alkaloids and sesquiterpene lactones from Liriodendron tulipifera L. J. Ethnopharmacology, Vol. 133, No. 1, pp. 26-30, 2011.

  6. Willcox, M., Benoit-Vical, F., Fowler, D., Bourdy, G., Burford, G., Etkin, N., Giani, S., Graziose, R. G., Houghton, P., Randrianarivelojosia, M., and Rasoanaivo, P. Do ethnobotanical and laboratory data predict clinical safety and efficacy of antimalarial plants? Malaria journal, No. 10 (Suppl 1):S7, 2011.

  7. Graziose, R. G., Lila, M. A., and Raskin, I. Merging Traditional Chinese Medicine with Modern Drug Discovery Technologies to Find Novel Drugs and Functional Foods. Current Drug Discovery Technologies. 7:2-12, (2010).

  8. Grace, M. H., C. Lategan, F. Mbeunkui, R. Graziose, P. J. Smith, I. Raskin, M. A. Lila. Antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities of drimane sesquiterpenes from Canella winterana. Nat. Prod. Communications, 5:1869-1872, 2010.

Abstracts

  • Khan, M., D’Amelio Sr., F. S., Mirhom, Y. W., Graziose, R. T. Determination of adulteration in Echinacea spp. by principal component analysis of UV spectra. Poster at the American Society of Pharmacognosy 2015 Annual Meeting, Copper Mountain, CO, USA, July 25-29, 2015.

  • D’Amelio Sr., F. S., Mirhom, Y. W., Graziose, R. T., Schulbaum, P. L., Orduz, L. E., Kim, J. Y., Peiris, P. M. Pueraria mirifica, the rejuvenating herb and its unique phytoestrogenic constituents Miroestrol, its isomers and derivatives. Poster at the American Society of Pharmacognosy 2014 Annual Meeting, Oxford MS, USA, Aug. 2-6, 2014.

  • Graziose, R., Grace, M. H., Rathinasabapathy, Th., Rojas-Silva, P., Dekock, C., Poulev, A., Lila, M. A., Smith, P. J., and I. Raskin. New cucurbitacin glycosides from Datisca glomerata with antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities. Poster presentation at the International Congress on Natural Products Research (ICNPR), July 28 – August 1, New York, NY, 2012.

  • Mbeunkui, F., Grace, M., Graziose, R. G., Chibale, K., Smith, P. J., Raskin, I., and Lila, M. A. Identification of natural compounds from an anti-malarial plant candidate using CPC and LCMS-IT-TOF. Poster; American Society for Mass Spectrometry, Salt Lake City, UT, 2010.

  • Brody, S., Graziose, R. G., Raskin, I., and Struwe, L. Malarial Curatives from Northeast United States. Poster; 1st Annual Conference of the American Council for Medicinally Active Plants 2010, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, and the Botany 2010, Providence, RI.

  • Chuaypradit, V., Graziose, R. G., Struwe, L. Dogwoods: a new anti-malarial drug? 1st Annual Conference of the American Council for Medicinally Active Plants 2010, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.