Photo of Jimmy Orjala

Jimmy Orjala


Professor, College of Pharmacy
Director of Graduate Studies for Pharmacognosy graduate program, College of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences
Associate Head for Research, University of Illinois at Chicago

Contact

Address:

900 South Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL

Office Phone:

(312) 996-5583 (work)

Related Sites:

About Heading link

Research Interests:
1. Discovery, isolation, and structure elucidation of biological active metabolites from cultured cyanobacteria.
2. Application of sensitive analytical techniques to the structure elucidation and biological characterization of natural products.

Teaching and Supervision Heading link

PSCI Ph.D. Thesis Research (PSCI 599), 8/26/2024 – 12/6/2024
PSCI Ph.D. Thesis Research (PSCI 599), 6/10/2024 – 8/2/2024
PSCI Ph.D. Thesis Research (PSCI 599), 1/8/2024 – 4/26/2024
PSCI 520 Pharmacog Research Techniques (PSCI 520), 8/22/2023 – 12/2/2023
PSCI Ph.D. Thesis Research (PSCI 599), 8/21/2023 – 12/1/2023
PSCI 531 Spectroscopy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PSCI 531), 8/20/2023 – 12/1/2023
PDAT 4 immunology, 8/8/2023 – 12/12/2023
PDAT 2: GI/Endocrine (PHAR 502), 1/16/2023 – 4/28/2023
PDAT5: Cardiovascular (PDAT) 5: Cardiovascular), 1/16/2023 – 4/28/2023

Selected Grants

Research Training in Natural Product Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health)., 8/1/2024 - 7/31/2029, Obligated Amount: $253764; Anticipated Amount: $1217204

Gut Bacterial O-demethylation, Purdue University., 9/1/2022 - 8/31/2024, Obligated Amount: $48048; Anticipated Amount: $48048

Pregnane X receptor (PXR)-activating gut bacterial metabolites, Purdue University., 4/8/2022 - 3/31/2025, Obligated Amount: $110428; Anticipated Amount: $110428

Discovery of Anticancer Agents of Diverse Natural Origin, Ohio State University., 5/15/2020 - 4/30/2025, Obligated Amount: $1654949; Anticipated Amount: $1654949

Role of a conserved gene cluster family in promoting motility behavior in proteobacteria and in mediating host interactions, National Science Foundation., 8/15/2019 - 7/31/2024, Obligated Amount: $546571; Anticipated Amount: $546571

Research Training in Natural Product Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health)., 1/1/2019 - 7/31/2024, Obligated Amount: $1317731; Anticipated Amount: $2100520

Selected Publications

Weiss, Márcio B, Borges, Ricardo M, Sullivan, Peter, Domingues, João PB, da Silva, Francisco HS, Trindade, Victória GS, Luo, Shangwen, Orjala, Jimmy, Crnkovic, Camila M. (2024). Chemical diversity of cyanobacterial natural products.. Nat Prod Rep. doi:10.1039/d4np00040d.

Khin, Manead, Davis, Lydia J, Lantvit, Daniel D, Orjala, Jimmy, Burdette, Joanna E. (2024). Aulosirazole Stimulates FOXO3a Nuclear Translocation to Regulate Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Progression in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer (HGSOC) Cells. Molecular Pharmacology, 106, (3), molpharm-ar-2024-000921. doi:10.1124/molpharm.124.000921.

Aldrich, Leslie N, Burdette, Joanna E, de Blanco, Esperanza Carcache, Coss, Christopher C, Eustaquio, Alessandra S, Fuchs, James R, Kinghorn, A Douglas, MacFarlane, Amanda, Mize, Brittney K, Oberlies, Nicholas H, Orjala, Jimmy, Pearce, Cedric J, Phelps, Mitch A, Rakotondraibe, Liva Harinantenaina, Ren, Yulin, Soejarto, Djaja Doel, Stockwell, Brent R, Yalowich, Jack C, Zhang, Xiaoli. (2022). Discovery of Anticancer Agents of Diverse Natural Origin. Journal of Natural Products, 85, (3), 702-719. doi:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.2c00036.

Davis, Lydia J, Maldonado, Amanda C, Khin, Manead, Krunic, Aleksej, Burdette, Joanna E, Orjala, Jimmy. (2022). Aulosirazoles B and C from the Cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. UIC 10771: Analogues of an Isothiazolonaphthoquinone Scaffold that Activate Nuclear Transcription Factor FOXO3a in Ovarian Cancer Cells. Journal of Natural Products, 85, (3), 540-546. doi:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c01030.

Sullivan, Peter, Krunic, Aleksej, Davis, Lydia J, Kim, Hwan Seung, Burdette, Joanna E, Orjala, Jimmy. (2021). Phormidepistatin from the Cyanobacterium UIC 10484: Assessing the Phylogenetic Distribution of the Statine Pharmacophore. Journal of Natural Products, 84, (8), 2256-2264. doi:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c00334.

Ióca, Laura P, Dai, Yitao, Kunakom, Sylvia, Diaz‐Espinosa, Jennifer, Krunic, Aleksej, Crnkovic, Camila M, Orjala, Jimmy, Sanchez, Laura M, Ferreira, Antonio G, Berlinck, Roberto GS, Eustáquio, Alessandra S. (2021). A Family of Nonribosomal Peptides Modulate Collective Behavior in Pseudovibrio Bacteria Isolated from Marine Sponges**. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 60, (29), 15891-15898. doi:10.1002/anie.202017320.

Sullivan, Peter, Krunic, Aleksej, Burdette, Joanna E, Orjala, Jimmy. (2020). Laxaphycins B5 and B6 from the cultured cyanobacterium UIC 10484. The Journal of Antibiotics, 73, (8), 526-533. doi:10.1038/s41429-020-0301-x.

Li, Shasha, Newmister, Sean A, Lowell, Andrew N, Zi, Jiachen, Chappell, Callie R, Yu, Fengan, Hohlman, Robert M, Orjala, Jimmy, Williams, Robert M, Sherman, David H. (2020). Control of Stereoselectivity in Diverse Hapalindole Metabolites is Mediated by Cofactor‐Induced Combinatorial Pairing of Stig Cyclases. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 59, (21), 8166-8172. doi:10.1002/anie.201913686.

May, Daniel S, Crnkovic, Camila M, Krunic, Aleksej, Wilson, Tyler A, Fuchs, James R, Orjala, Jimmy E. (2020). 15N Stable Isotope Labeling and Comparative Metabolomics Facilitates Genome Mining in Cultured Cyanobacteria. ACS Chemical Biology, 15, (3), 758-765. doi:10.1021/acschembio.9b00993.

Professional Leadership

American Society of Pharmacognosy, American Society of Pharmacognosy, 11/15/2019 - 4/11/2023

Education

Degrees:
PhD, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, 1993
Diploma of Pharmacy, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, 1988