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Sithes Logendra, Laboratory Researcher

  • I graduated with a M.S. degree in Agronomy from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia, and received my Ph.D. in Plant Science from Rutgers University, New Jersey. Having more than 20 years of work experience including research and teaching, I extensively worked in the area of legume-rhizobial interaction and inoculant production, established a microbiology laboratory and was involved in the establishment of a pilot inoculant production plant. I have also been involved in the education of farmers, agricultural and extension personnel on legume cultivation and pest control management.

  • In addition, I studied the environmental effects on germination and viability of soybean seeds and the effects of light period on carbon partitioning and translocation in tomato seedlings as graduate thesis projects.

  • As a post-doctoral associate, I worked in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop a vegetable production system to be used in the Space Station. My accomplishments include in vitro production of tomato fruits from plant tissues and fertilized ovaries, extraction and purification of starch synthesizing enzymes ADP glucose pyrophosphorylase and UDP glucose pyrophosphorylase from tomato leaves and examination of the light modulation of these enzymes.

  • I joined the Center for Turf Grass Science in 1996 and worked with antibiosis of turf endophytes and the physiology of endophyte-grass interaction. As a laboratory researcher in Dr. Raskin’s lab at the Biotech Center, I was involved in plant transformation work, as a part of the research on rhizosecreation of recombinant proteins.

  • Presently I am working with natural products and focusing mainly on the separation, isolation, and purification of bioactive compounds from different plant species that have significant antimicrobial, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory activities. I am also involved with large scale isolation of bioactive compounds using countercurrent chromatography.

Publications and Presentations

  1. Nebojša Ilić, Moul Dey, Alexander Poulev, Sithes Logendra, Peter Kuhn, and Ilya Raskin. Anti-inflammatory activity of Grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta Schum) extract. J. Agric. Food Chem., Vol. 62, No. 43, pp. 10452-7, 2014.

  2. 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.

  3. D. M. Ribnicky, P. Kuhn, A. Poulev, S. Logendra, A. Zuberi, W. T. Cefalu, and I. Raskin. Improved absorption and bioactivity of active compounds from an anti-diabetic extract of Artemisia dracunculus L. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Vol. 370, No. 1-2, p. 87-92, 2009.

  4. M. H. Grace, D. M. Ribnicky, P. Kuhn, A. Poulev, S. Logendra, G. Yousef, I. Raskin, and M. A. Lila. Hypoglycemic activity of a novel anthocyanin-rich formulation from lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton. Phytomedicine, Vol. 16, No. 5, 406-415, 2009.

  5. Sithes Logendra, Lucas Chadwick, Nebojša Ilić, Samuel Pro, Alexander Poulev, Jun Ma, Hui Yang, Edward J. Kennelly and Ilya Raskin. Isolation and purification of [6]-paradol from Aframomum melegueta using Fast Centrifugal Partition Chromatography and High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Poster presentation at the 5th international conference on Counter Current Chromatography in Rio-de-Janeiro, Brasil, July 24 – 29, 2008.

  6. Barbara Schmidt, David M. Ribnicky, Alexander Poulev, Sithes Logendra, William T. Cefalu and Ilya Raskin. A Natural History of Botanical Therapeutics, Metabolism, Clinical and Experimental 57:S3-S9, 2008.

  7. Ribnicky, David M.; Logendra, Sithes; Poulev, Alexander; Cefalu, William T.; and Raskin, Ilya. Compounds from an extract of Artemisia and methods for treating disorders. U.S. patent application # 20070224301, 2007.

  8. Dmitry Govorko, Sithes Logendra, Yanxin Wang, Debora Esposito, David Ribnicky, Alexander Poulev, William T. Cefalu, and Ilya Raskin. (2006) 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.

  9. David Ribnicky, Alexander Poulev, Peter Kuhn, Sithes Logendra, Aamir Zuberi, William Cefalu, and Ilya Raskin. Bioavailability assessment of an extract of Artemisia dracunculus L. with antidiabetic activities in vitro and in vivo. Abstract for the 67th Scientific Sessions, American Diabetes Association, June 22 – 26, 2007, Chicago IL, USA.

  10. Dmitry Govorko, Sithes Logendra, David M. Ribnicky, Alexander Poulev, Jun Ma, Hui Yang, Edward J. Kennelly, and Ilya Raskin. Bioactivity-guided isolation of anti-diabetic compounds from an extract of Artemisia dracunculus L. using a novel PEPCK gene expression assay. Abstract for the 66th Scientific Sessions, American Diabetes Association, June 9 – 13, 2006, Washington DC, USA.

  11. Sithes Logendra, David M. Ribnicky, Alexander Poulev, Jun Ma, Hui Yang, Edward J. Kennelly, and Ilya Raskin. Isolation of novel inhibitors of human aldose reductase activity from an anti-diabetic extract of Artemisia dracunculus L. Abstract for the 66th Scientific Sessions, American Diabetes Association, June 9 – 13, 2006, Washington DC, USA.

  12. Zhong Q. Wang, David M. Ribnicky, Sithes Logendra, Alexander Poulev, Jun Ma, Hui Yang, Edward J. Kennelly, Ilya Raskin, and William T. Cefalu. Bioactives from an extract of Artemisia dracunculus L. exhibit potent inhibitory activities for PTP-1B in human skeletal muscle culture. Abstract for the 66th Scientific Sessions, American Diabetes Association, June 9 – 13, 2006, Washington DC, USA.

  13. S. Logendra, D. M. Ribnicky, H. Yang, A. Poulev, J. Ma, E. J. Kennelly, and I. Raskin. Bioassay-guided fractionation and isolation of aldose reductase inhibitors from Artemisia dracunculus. Phytochemistry, 67, No. 14, 1539-1546, 2006.

  14. David M. Ribnicky, Alexander Poulev, Sithes Logendra, William T. Cefalu, Zhong Wang, and Ilya Raskin. The development of an extract of Artemisia dracunculus for decreasing the insulin resistance associated with diabetes, from concept to clinic. Poster presented at the Gordon Research Conference on Agricultural Sciences “Adding more value to production agriculture”, February 13 – 18, 2005, Ventura, California, USA.

  15. A. Poulev, J. M. O’Neal, S. Logendra, R. B. Pouleva, V. Timeva, A. S. Garvey, D. Gleba, I. S. Jenkins,
    B. T. Halpern, R. Kneer, G. M. Cragg, and I. Raskin. Elicitation, a new window into plant chemodiversity and phytochemical drug discovery.
    J. Med. Chem., Vol. 46, 2542 – 2547, 2003.

  16. Haran S., S. Logendra, M. Seskar, M. Bratanova, I. Raskin (2000). Characterization of Arabidopsis Acid Phosphatase Promoter and regulation of Acid Phosphatase expression. Plant Physiol. 124 : 615-626.

  17. Gleba D., N. Borisjuk, L. Borisjuk, R. Kneer, A. Poulev, M. Skarzhinskaya, S. Dushenkov, S. Logendra, Y. Gleba and I. Raskin (1999). Radical approaches to phytoremediation and molecular farming. Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.USA. 96: 5973-5977.

  18. Borisjuk N., L. Borisjuk, S. Logendra, F. Petersen, Y. Gleba, I. Raskin (1999). Production of recombinant proteins in plant root exudates. Nat. Biotech. 17 (5): 466-469.

  19. Richardson, M. D., and S. Logendra (1997). Ergosterol as an indicator of endophyte biomass in grass seeds. J.Agri.Food Chem. 52: 3903-3907.

  20. Yue, Q., S. Logendra, A. Freehoff and M. D. Richardson (1997). Alkaloids of turf-type Fine fescue (Festuca sp.). p.285-287. In : Charles W. Bacon and Nicholas S. Hill(Eds). Neotyphodium/Grass interactions.

  21. Logendra, S., and M. D. Richardson (1997). Ergosterol as an indicator of endophyte biomass in grass tissue. P.267-270. In : Charles W. Bacon and Nicholas S. Hill (Eds). Neotyphodium/Grass interactions.

  22. Richardson M. D., S. Logendra, B. B. Clarke and J. F. White jr. (1997). Bioactivity of Epichloë festucae against Sclerotinia homoeocarpa. (Poster presentation at the 61st annual meeting of Mycological Society of America).

  23. Richardson M. D., and S. Logendra (1997). An analysis of apoplastic solutes in endophyte infected grasses. Agronomy abstract: 127.

  24. Logendra, S., and H. W. Janes (1995). Diurnal pattern of ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase activity in tomato. Abstract No. 606, Hort.Science 28(5).

  25. Janes, H. W., and S. Logendra (1992). Tomato production in an enclosed environment. Abstract No. 661, Hort.Science 27(6).

  26. Logendra, S., and H. W. Janes (1992). Light duration effects on carbon partitioning and translocation in tomato. Scientia Hortic. 52:19-25.

  27. Logendra, S. (1991). The Biosphere 2. (Seminar presentation at Piscataway High School, Piscataway, New Jersey.)

  28. Logendra, S., H. W. Janes and R. MacElroy (1991). Factors affecting in vitro tomato fruit growth. Abstract No. 391. Hort. Science 26(6)

  29. Logendra, S., J. D. Putman and H. W. Janes (1990). The influence of light period on carbon partitioning, translocation and growth in tomato. Scientia Hortic. 42:75-83.

  30. Logendra, S., M. Hsueh, and H. W. Janes (1990). The effect of the age of the ovary on growth and final fruit size of tomato grown in tissue culture. Abstract No. 110. Hort. Science 25(9).

  31. Logendra, S., M. Hsueh, and H. W. Janes. (1990). Tomato fruit size as affected by root mass in tissue culture. Abstract No. 111. Hort Science 25 (9).

  32. Logendra, S., and H. W. Janes (1989). Light period effects on carbon partitioning, translocation and growth in tomato plants grown under similar daily total radiation and carbon fixed. Abstract No. 248. Hort. Science 25 (7).

  33. Logendra, S., J. D. Putman and H. W. Janes (1988). Light period effects on growth, carbon partitioning and translocation in young tomato plants. Abstract No. 601. (Poster presentation at the American Society of Plant Physiologists meeting).

  34. Logendra, S., J. D. Putman and H. W. Janes (1987). Effect of photosynthetic period on carbon partitioning and translocation in young tomato plants. Abstract No. 378. Hort. Science 22(5).