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Dr. Alexis Aspée

E-mail: 
alexis.aspee@usach.cl

Biography: 
PhD. Alexis Aspéé completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Santiago of Chile and later he did his post-doctorate at the University of Ottawa, Canada from 2001 to 2003. 
Since 2007 he has leaded 25 theses for undergraduate and graduate students and in 2014 he was awarded the Elsa Abuin Prize, highlighting his career and academic quality at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology.

 

Research Area: 

During the last few years, our group has focused its research on developing new strategies to study free radical processes and mechanisms involved in amino acid and protein oxidation, such as spontaneous weak level chemiluminescence. Recently, we developed and applied nitroxide pre-fluorescent probes to monitor free radical formation in a wide variety of chemical systems, including zeolites, polymer films, and proteins. Furthermore, the use of these probes was extended to evaluate polyphenolic antioxidants in hydrogen and/or electron transfer-based reactions towards nitroxides, both in homogeneous and in microheterogeneous systems. These methodologies have allowed us to understand better antioxidant and free radical oxidation mechanisms in complex systems in concomitance with the use of time resolve techniques to monitor transient and free radical formation photoinduced by laser excitation of molecular probes and their reaction with proteins, amino acids, and also nitroxide and phenolic antioxidants.

Projects: 
  • 2015 FONDEQUIP EQM 150084
    GC MS MS
    Gas Chromatography Platform coupled to Mass / Mass Spectrometry for  development multidisciplinary research at the University of Santiago of Chile in volatile compounds study in cross-cutting problems.
  • 2014-2018 FONDECYT-Chile 1140240 (Principal Investigator) Photoinduced free radicals and excited triplet states formation in organised biological mimetic systems.
  • 2014-2018 FONDECYT-Chile 1141142 (Coinvestigator) Role of tryptophan residues in the aggregation and fragmentation of peptides and proteins induced by peroxyl and carbón centered radicals.
  • 2013-2015 FONDECYT-3130697 Postdoctorado /Dr. Christian Aliaga (Patrocinante) Photochemistry of organic molecules in homogeneous and constrained media
  • 2017-2019 FONDECYT-3170590 Postdoctorado /Dr. Francisco Mura (Patrocinante) Nueva perspectiva de sondas duales nitróxido-fluoróforo en péptidos: estudio de su interacción con bicapas lipídicas.
  • 2017-2021 FONDECYT-1170842 (Co-investigator) Enhancement of endothelium signaling by dietary polyphenols and potassium supplements in control and STZdiabetic rats.
  • 2018-2022 FONDECYT-1180642 (Co-investigator) Oxidative modifications induced by carbonate radical, nitrogen dioxide, and peroxyl radicals on two enzymes of the pentose phosphate pathway: consequences on NADPH release and reduced glutathione recycling.
  • 2019-2023 FONDECYT-1190881 (Principal Investigator) Electron transfer processes in peptides induced by free radicals: Influence of the amino acid sequence, peptide conformation and microenvironment.
Latest Publications: 
  • Bridi R, Gonzalez A, Bordeu E, Lopez-Alarcon C, Aspee A, Diethelm B, Lissi E, Parpinello GP, Versari A. Monitoring peroxides generation during model wine fermentation by FOX-1 assay. Food Chem. 175, 25-28 (2015) ISI 2014: 3.391. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.11.126.
  • E. Dorta, E. Fuentes-Lemus, A. Aspee, E. Atala, H. Speisky, R. Bridi, E. Lissi, C. Lopez- Alarcon, The ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) index does not reflect the capacity of antioxidants to trap peroxyl radicals, RSC Adv. 5, 39899-39902 (2015) ISI 2014: 3.84. DOI: 10.1039/C5RA01645B
  • M. Liras, S. Simoncelli, A. Rivas-Aravena, O. Garcia, J. C. Scaiano, E. I. Alarcon, A. Aspee, Nitroxide amide-BODIPY probe behavior in fibroblasts analyzed by advanced fluorescence microscopy, Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, (2016), 14, 4023 - 4026. ISI 2014: 3.562. DOI: 10.1039/C6OB00533K
  • E. Fuentes-Lemus, E. Dorta, E. Escobar, A. Aspee, E. Pino, M. L. Abasq, H. Speisky, E. Silva, E. Lissi, M. J. Davies, C. Lopez-Alarcon, Oxidation of free, peptide and protein tryptophan residues mediated by AAPH-derived free radicals: role of alkoxyl and peroxyl radicals, RSC Adv.(2016) 6, 57948. ISI 2014: 3.84. 10.1039/C6RA12859A
  • J. Benavides, P. Barrias, N. Piro, A. Arenas, A. Orrego, E. Pino, L. Villegas, E. Dorta, A. Aspee⁎, C. Lopez-Alarcon⁎. Reaction of tetracycline with biologically relevant chloramines, Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, (2017), 178, 171–180. ISI 2014: 2.353. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2017.03.082
  • E. Dorta, A. Aspee, E. Pino, L. Gonzalez, E. Lissi, C. Lopez-Alarcon, Controversial alkoxyl and peroxyl radical scavenging activity of the tryptophan metabolite 3-hydroxy-anthranilic acid, Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, (2017), 90, 332-338. ISI 2014: 2.023
  • A. Aspee, C. Aliaga, L. D. Zuniga-Nunez, J. Godoy, E. Pino, G. Cardenas-Jiron, C. Lopez- Alarcon, JC Scaiano, EI Alarcon, Reaction Kinetics of Phenolic Antioxidants Towards Photo- Induced Pyranine Free Radicals in Biological Models, J. Phys. Chem. B. (2017), 121, 6331-6340. ISI 2014: 3.302. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b02779
  • Daniel Zuniga-Nunez, Pablo Barrias, Gloria Cardenas-Jiron, M. Soledad Ureta-Zanartu, Camilo Lopez-Alarcon, F. Eduardo Moran Vieyra, Claudio D. Borsarelli, Emilio I. Alarcon, Alexis Aspee*, Atypical antioxidant activity of non-phenolic amino-coumarins, RSC Adv. (2018), 8, 1927-1933. ISI 2014: 3.84 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA12000A
  • Fuentes-Lemus E, Silva E, Barrias P, Aspee A, Escobar E, Lorentzen LG, Carroll L, Leinisch F, Davies MJ, Lopez-Alarcon C. Aggregation of α- and β- caseins induced by peroxyl radicals involves secondary reactions of carbonyl compounds as well as di-tyrosine and di-tryptophan formation. Free Radic Biol Med. (2018), 124, 176-188. ISI 2014: 5.784 doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2018.06.005.
  • Daniel Zuniga-Nunez, Ricardo A. Zamora, Pablo Barrias, Cristian Tirapegui, Horacio Poblete, Gloria Cardenas-Jiron, Emilio I. Alarcon, Alexis Aspee. Theoretical rationalisation of the photophysics of a TICT excited state of cinnamoyl–coumarin derivatives in homogeneous and biological membrane models, Phys Chem Chem Phys. (2018) Nov 7;20(43):27621-27629. doi: 10.1039/c8cp04963g.
  • E. Silva, P. Barrias, E. Fuentes-Lemus, C.Tirapegui, A. Aspee, L. Carroll, M. J. Davies, C. Lopez-Alarcon, Riboflavin-induced Type 1 photo-oxidation of tryptophan using a high intensity 365‚ nm light emitting diode, Free Radical Biology and Medicine, (2019), 131, 133-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2018.11.026
  • Francisco Mura, Daniel Zuniga-Nunez, Jean-Maurice Mallet, Solange Lavielle, Pascal Matton, Pablo Barrias, Denis Fuentealba, Alexis Aspee, A microenvironment-sensitive coumarinlabeled peptide for the assessment of lipid-peptide interactions, Dyes and Pigments (2020), 176, 108234
  • Zamora RA, Fuentes-Lemus E, Barrias P, Herrera-Morande A, Mura F, Guixe V, Castro- Fernandez V, Rojas T, Lopez-Alarcon C, Aguirre P, Rivas-Aravena A, Aspee A., Free 11 radicals derived from γ-radiolysis of water and AAPH thermolysis mediate oxidative crosslinking of eGFP involving Tyr-Tyr and Tyr-Cys bonds: the fluorescence of the protein is conserved only towards peroxyl radicals. Free Radic Biol Med. (2020) Feb 17;150:40-52
  • Zúniga-Nunez, D, Mura, F., Zamora, R. A., Poblete, H., Fuentealba, D., Aspee, A. Cinnamoyl– coumarin hybrid derivatives with remarkable fluorescent molecular-rotor properties in mixtures of DPPC:DOPC LUVs, Dyes and Pigments 178 (2020) 108356.
  • Castro, J., Fernandez, F., Olivares, F., Berrios, C., Garrido-Ramirez, E., Blanco, E., Escalona, N., Aspee, A., Barrias, P., Ureta-Zanart, M. S. Electrodes based on zeolites modified with cobalt and/or molybdenum for pesticide degradation: part II—2,4,6-trichlorophenol degradation, J. Solid State Electrochem. (2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-020-04590-6
  • Reyes, J.S., Fuentes-Lemus, E., Aspee, A., Davies, M. J., Monasterio, O., Lopez-Alarcon, C. M. jannaschii FtsZ, a key protein in bacterial cell division, is inactivated by peroxyl radicalmediated methionine oxidation, Free Radic Biol Med. 166 (2021) 53-66. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2021.02.003.