Dr. Aftab Ahmed
Website: https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/aftab-ahmed
College: College of Pharmacy
Overview of scholarly research/creative activity:
This research focuses on purifying and characterizing the amino acid sequence of plant proteins with a potential anticancer property. These medicinal herbs and spices used in daily life include ajwain and black seeds. Hands-on experience in electrophoresis, FPLC/HPLC, and mass spectrometry.
Specific projects working on:
Hemp (Cannabis sativa) has been a versatile plant for thousands of years. Recreational and medicinal use of cannabis surged in the United States but was outlawed in 1937. Cannabis was filed as a schedule 1 controlled substance. The war on drugs made quality research extremely difficult. Hemp itself is not psychoactive; however, the flowers containing THC are. The present poster is focused on analyzing cannabis seeds proteome employing top-down proteomics in union with; size exclusion chromatography, high-resolution ESI QTOF LC/MS/MS, and De Novo protein sequencing bioinformatics tools. Cannabis sativa seeds were ground and defatted in hexane, and proteins were extracted in PBS buffer for two days at 4°C. The extracted proteins were precipitated in 80% ammonium sulfate, dialyzed using MWCO 3500 dialysis tube in water, and lyophilized. Protein fractions were carried out using gel filtration chromatography with a HiLoad 16/600 Superdex-200 pg column and an automated FPLC system. Fractions were analyzed using 10% Tris/tricine SDS-PAGE electrophoresis. Protein modification was performed using performic acid oxidation succeeded by tryptic digestion at room temperature and 37°C. The tryptic digest of hemp seeds was reviewed using high-resolution Q-TOF LC/MS/MS. De Novo protein sequences and database search were established using PeakStudio-X. Bioinformatic analysis was conducted using the SwissProt Viridiplantae database, with a false discovery rate <1% .
Number of students looking to work with:
1-2
When students are needed:
Fall 2023
Interterm 2024
Spring 2024
Summer 2024
What students need to work with Dr. Ahmed:
No specific requirements
What students would be doing:
Lab experiments
Time commitment for students:
Meet once/week, expected time commitment dependent upon credit hours selected.
Additional information:
Relevant publication from Ahmed lab:
https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-019-2804-1
https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-022-03616-y
https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/pharmacy_articles/760/