A comparative untargeted metabolomics analysis of açaí fruit, food powder, and botanical dietary supplement extracts

Açaí is a palm fruit native to the Amazon region which has gained popularity due to its health benefits including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Our group previously found an increased probability of serious adverse events when anticancer drugs and botanical dietary supplements containing açaí were used synchronously. The objective of this work is to develop an efficient method for the untargeted characterization of various açaí extracts that can be potentially used for the chemical characterization of subsequent biological assessments.

Presenter: Angela I. Calderón, PhD (Professor - Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison College of Pharmacy, Auburn University)

Angela I. Calderón, Ph.D. is a Gilliland Endowed Professor in the Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison College of Pharmacy, Auburn University. She received her B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Panama, Panama City, Republic of Panama (1990), MSc. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois under the supervision of Dr. Djaja Djendoel Soejarto and Dr. Cindy K. Angerhofer (1997), and Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland under the guidance of Prof. Kurt Hostettmann (2002). Then, she conducted her postdoctorate on biomedical applications of mass spectrometry at Prof. Richard B. van Breemen’s laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago (2006-2008). She joined the faculty at Auburn University College of Pharmacy as an Assistant Professor in August 2008.

Dr. Calderón specializes in natural drug products research, specifically applications of mass spectrometry to natural products drug discovery, and quality and safety assessment of botanical dietary supplements. Over the last fourteen years, she has authored 52 publications, 1 US patent, and 5 book chapters. She also has received research funding from agencies that include the National Institutes of Health, American Society of Pharmacognosy, United States Pharmacopeia, Auburn University Research Initiative in Cancer (AURIC), and botanical dietary supplements industry.