Sex: Female
Education:
- Doctor of Philosophy in Toxicology, Texas A&M University
- Master of Science in Toxicology, University of the Philippines Los Baños
- Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, University of the Philippines Los Baños
Field of Specialization
Environmental Bioremediation
Insecticide Resistance
Biodegradation
Chemical Biology
Cotton
Researches:
Article title: Advice on assistance and protection provided by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: Part 1. On medical care and treatment of injuries from nerve agents
Authors: Christopher M. Timperley, Jonathan E. Forman, Mohammad Abdollahi, Abdullah Saeed Al-Amrm, et al.
Publication title: Toxicology 415:56-69, March 2019
Abstract:
The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has provided advice on assistance and protection in relation to the Chemical Weapons Convention. In this, the first of several papers describing the SAB's work on this topic, we describe advice given in response to questions from the OPCW Director-General in 2013 and 2014 on the status of available medical countermeasures and treatments to organophosphorus nerve agents. This paper provides the evidence base for this advice which recommended to the OPCW pretreatments, emergency care, and long-term treatments that were available at the time of the request for this class of chemical warfare agent (CWA). It includes a bibliography of over 140 scientific references, which can be used as a platform for watching future medical countermeasure developments. The information provided in this paper should serve as a valuable reference for medical professionals and emergency responders who may have no knowledge of the symptoms and treatment options of exposure to nerve agents.
Full text available upon request to the author
Article title: Advice on assistance and protection by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: Part 2. On preventing and treating health effects from acute, prolonged, and repeated nerve agent exposure, and the identification of medical countermeasures able to reduce or eliminate the longer term health effects of nerve agents
Authors: Christopher M. Timperley, Mohammad Abdollah, Abdullah Saeed Al-Amri, Augustin Baulig, et al.
Publication title: Toxicology 413:13-23, February 2019
Abstract:
The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has provided advice in relation to the Chemical Weapons Convention on assistance and protection. We present the SAB's response to a request from the OPCW Director-General in 2014 for information on the best practices for preventing and treating the health effects from acute, prolonged, and repeated organophosphorus nerve agent (NA) exposure. The report summarises pre- and post-exposure treatments, and developments in decontaminants and adsorbing materials, that at the time of the advice, were available for NAs. The updated information provided could assist medics and emergency responders unfamiliar with treatment and decontamination options related to exposure to NAs. The SAB recommended that developments in research on medical countermeasures and decontaminants for NAs should be monitored by the OPCW, and used in assistance and protection training courses and workshops organised through its capacity building programmes.
Full text available upon request to the author
Article title: Advice from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on riot control agents in connection to the Chemical Weapons Convention
Authors: Christopher M. Timperley, Jonathan E. Forman, Pal Aas, Mohammad Abdollah, et al.
Publication title: RSC Advances 8:41731, December 2018
Abstract:
Compounds that cause powerful sensory irritation to humans were reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in response to requests in 2014 and 2017 by the OPCW Director-General to advise which riot control agents (RCAs) might be subject to declaration under the Chemical Weapons Convention (the “Convention”). The chemical and toxicological properties of 60 chemicals identified from a survey by the OPCW of RCAs that had been researched or were available for purchase, and additional chemicals recognised by the SAB as having potential RCA applications, were considered. Only 17 of the 60 chemicals met the definition of a RCA under the Convention. These findings were provided to the States Parties of the Convention to inform the implementation of obligations pertaining to RCAs under this international chemical disarmament and non-proliferation treaty.
Article title: Innovative technologies for chemical security
Authors: Jonathan E. Forman, Christopher M. Timperley, Pål Aas, MohammadAbdollahi, et al.
Publication title: Pure and Applied Chemistry 90(10):1527–1557, October 2018
Abstract:
Advances across the chemical and biological (life) sciences are increasingly enabled by ideas and tools from sectors outside these disciplines, with information and communication technologies playing a key role across 21 st century scientific development. In the face of rapid technological change, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (“the Convention”), seeks technological opportunities to strengthen capabilities in the field of chemical disarmament. The OPCW Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in its review of developments in science and technology examined the potential uses of emerging technologies for the implementation of the Convention at a workshop entitled “Innovative Technologies for Chemical Security”, held from 3 to 5 July 2017, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event, organized in cooperation with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine of the United States of America, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and the Brazilian Chemical Society, was attended by 45 scientists and engineers from 22 countries. Their insights into the use of innovative technological tools and how they might benefit chemical disarmament and non-proliferation informed the SAB’s report on developments in science and technology for the Fourth Review Conference of the Convention (to be held in November 2018), and are described herein, as are recommendations that the SAB submitted to the OPCW Director-General and the States Parties of the Convention. It is concluded that technologies exist or are under development that could be used for investigations, contingency, assistance and protection, reducing risks to inspectors, and enhancing sampling and analysis.
Article title: Advice from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on isotopically labelled chemicals and stereoisomers in relation to the Chemical Weapons Convention
Authors: Christopher M. Timperley, Jonathan E. Forman, Mohammad Abdollahi, Abdullah Saeed Al-Amri, et al.
Publication title: Pure and Applied Chemistry 90(10):1647-1670, September 2018
Abstract:
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an international disarmament treaty that prohibits the development, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. This treaty has 193 States Parties (nations for which the treaty is binding) and entered into force in 1997. The CWC contains schedules of chemicals that have been associated with chemical warfare programmes. These scheduled chemicals must be declared by the States that possess them and are subject to verification by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW, the implementing body of the CWC). Isotopically labelled and stereoisomeric variants of the sched- uled chemicals have presented ambiguities for interpretation of the requirements of treaty implementation, and advice was sought from the OPCW’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in 2016. The SAB recommended that isotopically labelled compounds or stereoisomers related to the parent compound specified in a schedule should be interpreted as belonging to the same schedule. This advice should benefit scientists and diplo- mats from the CWC’s State Parties to help ensure a consistent approach to their declarations of scheduled chemicals (which in turn supports both the correctness and completeness of declarations under the CWC). Herein, isotopically labelled and stereoisomeric variants of CWC-scheduled chemicals are reviewed, and the impact of the SAB advice in influencing a change to national licensing in one of the State Parties is discussed. This outcome, an update to national licensing governing compliance to an international treaty, serves as an example of the effectiveness of science diplomacy within an international disarmament treaty.
Article title: Advice on chemical weapons sample stability and storage provided by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to increase investigative capabilities worldwide
Authors: Christopher M. Timperley, Jonathan E. Forman, Mohammad Abdollahi, Abdullah Saeed Al-Amri, et al.
Publication title: Talanta
Abstract:
The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has provided advice on the long-term storage and stability of samples collected in the context of chemical weapons investigations. The information they compiled and reviewed is beneficial to all laboratories that carry out analysis of samples related to chemical warfare agents and is described herein. The preparation of this report was undertaken on request from the OPCW Director-General. The main degradation products for chemicals on the Schedules in the Annex on Chemicals of the Chemical Weapons Convention are tabulated. The expertise of the 25 scientists comprising the SAB, a review of the scientific literature on environmental and biomedical sample analysis, and answers to a questionnaire from chemists of nine OPCW Designated Laboratories, were drawn upon to provide the advice. Ten recommendations to ensure the long-term storage and stability of samples collected in relation to the potential use of chemical weapons were provided and are repeated here for the consideration of all laboratories worldwide.
Article title: Antimicrobial Activity of New Phorbins from Jatropha curcas Linn. (Euphorbiaceae) Leaves
Authors: Andrzej Kowalski, Jan Pałyga, Ewa Górnicka-Michalska
Publication title: Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung C 66(9-10):441-6, September 2011
Abstract:
The crude methanol extract of Jatropha curcas leaves exhibited activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Mycobacterium phlei, Candida albicans, and Trichophyton mentagrophytes but was inactive against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In a bioassay-directed fractionation, two new phorbins were isolated and analysed by spectroscopic methods. Isolate 1 was characterized as an analogue of pheophytin b with a phytyl moiety containing three double bonds which are at positions P2/P3, P6/P7, and P10/P11. Compound 2 was characterized as methyl pheophorbide a with 132-OH and 17- and 17(1)-CH3 moieties. It is active against Serratia marcescens.
Article title: Free-Enzyme Bioremediation of Pesticides A Case Study for the Enzymatic Remediation of Organophosphorous Insecticide Residues
Authors: Colin Scott, Cameron Begley, Matthew J. Taylor, Gunjan Pandey, et al.
Publication title: ACS Symposium Series 1075:155-174, January 2011
Abstract:
Free-enzyme bioremediation is a recently developed technology that allows rapid detoxification of pesticide residues in surface waters, such as irrigation tail water, and potentially from other wettable materials such as soil and the surfaces of commodities. Here we consider the advantages of this technology compared with other pesticide bioremediation strategies, as well as its current limitations and challenges for the future. We exemplify the development of free-enzyme bioremediants with a case study, the Landguard (TM) OP-A organophosphate bioremediant, highlighting the enzymatic, physical and toxicological properties of the enzyme that predispose it to be an effective and efficient environmental bioremediant and the applications explored for it to date.
Article title: Paralytic shellfish toxin concentration and cell density changes in Pyrodinium bahamense - Noctiluca scintillans feeding experiments
Authors: Rhodora V. Azanza, Lourdes J. Cruz, Flerida A. Cariño, Alelea G. Blanco, Vito M. Butardo, Jr.
Publication title: Toxicon 55(5):1017-23, October 2009
Abstract:
For the first time the potential of Noctiluca scintillans, a non-toxic mixotrophic dinoflagellate, in bioconverting and/or excreting saxitoxin has been illustrated, thus contributing to the limited knowledge on the aspects of toxin pathways in the food chain/web and predator-prey preferences. Noctiluca growth rate increased with higher Pyrodinium concentration but the ratio of Noctiluca to Pyrodinium should at least be 1:250 cells per mL. Noctiluca fed with Pyrodinium alone was found to decrease in number suggesting that the nutrients from this prey were insufficient. This was confirmed by the improved cell density of Noctiluca upon addition of 0.01% casitone to the Pyrodinium-fed Noctiluca. The alternative prey (Gymnodinium sanguineum) slowed down the grazing impact of Noctiluca on Pyrodinium. Noctiluca depleted Gymnodinium earlier than Pyrodinium showing preference over a prey with less saxitoxin. After the feeding experiments, total saxitoxin levels decreased to 72% in the Noctiluca-Pyrodinium setup whereas no saxitoxin was detected in the Noctiluca culture fed with Pyrodinium and G. sanguineum. It is possible that Gymnodinium can provide some nutrients needed to make Noctiluca more efficient in bioconverting saxitoxin.
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Article title: Photosynthetic Protein from Chlorella vulgaris Strain Bt-09 May Be Responsible for the Coping Mechanism Against Cadmium Toxicity
Authors: P. B. Lintongan, F. A. Cariño, G. C. Rivero
Publication title: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 72(6):1232-9, July 2004
Abstract:
No available
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Article title: Characterization of the Cadmium-Binding Capacity of Chlorella vulgaris
Authors: H. P. Carr, F. A. Cariño, M. S. Yang, M. H. Wong
Publication title: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 60(3):433-40, April 1998
Abstract:
No available
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Article title: A Juvenile Hormone Binding Protein from the House Fly and Its Possible Relationship to Insecticide Resistance
Authors: Frederick W. Plapp, Jr., Flerida A. Cariño, and Victor K. Wei
Publication title: Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology 37(1):64-72, January 1998
Abstract:
High-affinity juvenile hormone 1 (JH) binding to protein was demonstrated in house fly adults and larvae. Techniques were developed to optimize isolation of the protein and measurement of binding kinetics. Resistant flies showed a significant decrease in JH affinity and a significant increase in JH binding site numbers compared to susceptibles. Genetic tests showed these changes mapped to chromosomes 5 and 2, respectively, the chromosomes that play a major role in metabolic resistance to insecticides. With larvae, purification of the binding protein was achieved with photolysis in combination with ammonium sulfate fractionation of cytosols. The purified protein had a molecular weight of ca. 22 kDa and occurred as a dimer. The 12 N-terminal amino acids were identified. Possible relationships of JH binding proteins and metabolic resistance to insecticides are discussed.
Article title: Cytochrome P450 in the house fly: Structure, catalytic activity and regulation of expression of CYP6 A1 in an insecticide‐resistant strain
Authors: René Feyereisen, John F. Andersen, Flerida A. Cariño, Michael B. Cohen, Josette F. Koener
Publication title: Pesticide Science 43(3):233 - 239, March 1995
Abstract:
The house fly P450 CYP6Al was cloned and sequenced. This gene was mapped to chromosome V of the house fly. Upstream of the transcription start site are sequences (barbie boxes) that may be related to the inducibility of the gene by phenobarbital. The coding sequence of CYP6Al is interrupted at the Glu364 codon by a single intron of 60 bp, as in five related CYP6 genes that are present on the same chromosome. The catalytic activity of CYP6Al was analyzed in a reconstituted system of house fly P450 reductase and CYP6Al. The cDNAs for these two components of the microsomal P450 system were expressed in Escherichia coli. CYP6Al epoxidized the cyclodiene insecticides heptachlor and aldrin at a high rate. The CYP6Al gene was shown to be constitutively overexpressed in several insecticide-resistant strains, including the multi-resistant Rutgers strain. This high constitutive expression is not caused by an amplification of the CYP6Al gene. Overexpression of the CYP6Al gene is controlled by an incompletely dominant locus on chromosome II, both in larvae and in adults. This shows that overexpression is the result of a mutation affecting a trans-acting factor that regulates CYP6Al expression on chromosome V. Metabolic resistance to insecticides (organophosphorus compounds, carbamates, juvenile hormone analogs etc.) has been mapped repeatedly to chromosome II in the house fly by genetic methods, and these results support the hypothesis of Plapp that a major resistance gene on chromosome II is a regulatory gene.
Full text available upon request to the author
Article title: Constitutive overexpression of the cytochrome-P450 gene CYP6A1 in a house-fly strain with metabolic resistance to insecticides
Authors: F. A. Cariño, J. F. Koener, F. W. Plapp Jr, R. Feyereisen
Publication title: Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 24(4):411-8, May 1994
Abstract:
Messenger RNA levels of the cytochrome P450 gene CYP6A1 were measured in the insecticide resistant Diazinon-R 'Rutgers' strain and in the susceptible strain sbo of the house fly with a cloned cDNA probe. The constitutive expression of the CYP6A1 gene was at least 10 times higher in the Rutgers strain than in the sbo strain. In both strains, CYP6A1 was inducible by phenobarbital treatment of the flies. Analysis of genomic DNA from the two strains indicated that there was no amplification of the CYP6A1 gene in the Rutgers strain. A developmental analysis revealed that CYP6A1 is expressed larvae and adults, and very low levels of CYP6A1 mRNA were detected in eggs and pupae. The constitutive overexpression of CYP6A1 in the Rutgers strain was observed in both larvae and adults. Crosses between the Rutgers strain and the multiply marked sbo strain revealed that the high constitutive expression of CYP6A1 in the Rutgers strain is controlled by one or more loci located on chromosome II.
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Article title: The cDNA and deduced protein sequence of house fly NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase
Authors: J. F. Koener, F. A. Cariño, R. Feyereisen
Publication title: Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 23(4):439-47, July 1993
Abstract:
Antisera to purified house fly NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase were used to select cDNA clones from an expression library of abdomens of phenobarbital-treated house flies. A partial cDNA of 1841 bp containing a TAG termination codon, a consensus polyadenylation site and 269 bp of 3' untranslated sequence was obtained. Sequencing of a genomic clone coupled with mRNA sequencing yielded the complete coding sequence including the starting ATG. The resulting open reading frame of 2013 nucleotides codes for a protein of 671 residues. The native reductase apoprotein has a molecular weight of 76,366 and the deduced molecular weight of the holoenzyme (i.e. with 1 mol of FAD and FMN) is 77,608. The sequence of the house fly P450 reductase protein is highly similar to that of rabbit liver, the overall amino acid positional identity is 54.5% and the overall identity among eukaryotic P450 reductases is about 25%. The P450 reductase gene of 19-23 kb was located on chromosome III, as shown by comparison of RFLP-patterns of the P450 reductase gene in two house fly strains and their hybrids.
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Article title: High-affinity juvenile hormone binding to fat body cytosolic proteins of the bollworm, Heliothis zea: Characterization and interaction with allelochemicals and xenobiotics
Authors: David P. Muehleisen, F.W. Plapp, Jr., J. H. Benedict, F. A. Carino
Publication title: Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology 37(1):64-73, May 1990
Abstract:
High-affinity saturable binding of juvenile hormone (JH) I was demonstrated in crude fat body cytosol preparations from fifth instar larvae of the bollworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie). Separation of binding proteins from JH metabolizing enzymes was achieved by ammonium sulfate fractionation of cytosolic proteins. Binding kinetics for the 70–100% ammonium sulfate fraction indicated a Kd of 4.56 nM and a Bmax of 1.19 pmol/mg protein. Competition experiments showed similar displacement of [3H]JH I from its binding site(s) by JH I and JH III and somewhat less displacement by the synthetic analog, methoprene. The cotton allelochemical myrcene was nearly as competitive as JH I, while its stereoisomer ocimene did not compete at all. The cotton allelochemical gossypol did not compete. The man-made xenobiotic TCDD was a weak competitor. The data establish procedures for JH binding assays in the bollworm and indicate that the same binding protein(s) interacts with insect juvenile hormones, a plant allelochemical, and man-made xenobiotics.
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Article title: Effects of Cotton Allelochemicals on Toxicity of Insecticides and Induction of Detoxifying Enzymes in Bollworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
Authors: David P. Muehleisen, J. H. Benedict, F. W. Plapp, Jr., F. A. Carino
Publication title: Journal of Economic Entomology 82(6):1554-1558, December 1989
Abstract:
Cotton plant allelochemicals were fed to bollworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie), larvae and effects on responses to insecticides and levels of detoxifying enzymes were measured. Addition of 0.1 % gossypol or lyophilized cotton flower buds induced increased tolerance to the easily metabolized organophosphate insecticide methyl parathion. In contrast, feeding freshly excised flower buds to larvae decreased tolerance to methyl parathion. Neither type of diet affected toxicity of the pyrethroid insecticide permethrin. Aldrin epoxidation was induced in larvae fed flower bud diets. Data indicated that bollworm larvae use the same enzymatic pathways to respond to plant allelochemicals and insecticides. Differences in responses may relate most closely to variations in the concentration of allelochemicals in the diet.
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Article title: High affinity TCDD binding to fat body cytosolic proteins of the bollworm, Heliothis zea
Authors: David P. Muehleisen, F. W. Plapp, Jr., J. H. Benedict, F. A. Carino
Publication title: Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology 35(1):50-57, September 1989
Abstract:
Saturable high affinity binding of TCDD to a fat body cytosol protein component of the bollworm Heliothis zea (Boddie) was demonstrated by sucrose density gradient analysis. Scatchard analysis of binding kinetics indicated a Kd value of approximately 2.6 nM and a Bmax of 0.26 pmol/mg protein. Competition studies showed that DDT, gossypol, juvenile hormone 1, and methoprene displaced TCDD from the specific binding sites, while 20-hydroxyecdysone, 3-methylcholanthrene, and phenobarbital did not. Feeding TCDD to H. zea larvae resulted in production of larval-pupal intermediates, similar to those produced by feeding juvenile hormone analogs. Based on these studies we suggest TCDD may be a juvenile hormone agonist and its target may be a protein which also binds juvenile hormone with high affinity.
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