Richard M. Higashi, PhD

Research Program

Structural Biology

Research Interests


Education

Education/Training

Diploma, University of Hawaii, Chemistry, 1977

Ph.D., University of California, Davis, Environmental, 1987

Postdoc, UC Bodega Marine Laboratory, Molecular Biology, 1987-1989

Research and Professional Experience

1984-1985      
Technical Subcommittee, State Environmental Hazards Assessment Committee, California Department of Food & Agriculture

1986-1987      
Reviewer, Draft Phase I Toxicity Identification Evaluation procedure, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

1986-1990      
Technical Advisory Group, U.S. EPA-California Water Quality Control Board, North Coast NPDES Permit to Louisiana-Pacific Corp. and Simpson Paper Co.

1989-2000                  
Assistant Research Chemist, UC Bodega Marine Laboratory

1995               
Technical Advisor, California Regional Water Quality Control Board and RMC Lonestar Inc. on broad-screen analyses for water-column small-molecule organic and fulvic compounds

1998-present  
Co-leader, Analytical and Biomarkers Core, UC EPA Center for Ecological Health Research

1998               
Review Panel, EPA-DOE-NSF-ONR Joint Bioremediation Program

1998-1999      
Technical Committee, Evaporation Ponds section, 1990 Plan Update by San Joaquin Valley Drainage Implementation Program/University of California

1998-present  
Head, Environmental Chemistry Group, UC Crocker Nuclear Laboratory

2000               
Review Panel, DOE-Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation (NABIR) Program

2001-present  
Component Lead, Biogeochemistry and Bioavilability Component, EPA-Pacific Estuarine Ecosystem Indicators Research Program

2001-2006             
Associate Research Chemist, Center for Health & Environment and Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, UC Davis

2002               
Review Panel, USEPA Superfund Minority Institutions

2003               
Invited panelist, DOE Office of Science workshop on “Research Opportunities for Studies of Contaminant Transport in Fluvial Systems at the Savannah River Site”

2003               
Review Panel, USEPA Superfund Minority Institutions

2004               
Peer Review of Propanil Regulations for California EPA

2004   
Review Panel, NSF Division of Earth Sciences, Major Research Instrumentation Program

2006-present  
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

2006-present  
Scientist, James Graham Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville

Publications

Tjeerdema RS, Fan TW-M, Crosby DG, Higashi RM.  Effects of pentachlorophenol on intermediary metabolism and intracellular pH in abalone (Haliotis rufescens) as measured by in vivo 31P NMR spectroscopy.  J Biochem Toxicol 6:45-56, 1991.

Fan TW-M, Higashi RM, Macdonald JM.  Emergence and recovery response of phosphate metabolites and intracel-lular pH in intact Mytilus edulis as examined in situ by in vivo 31P NMR. Biochim Biophys Acta 1092:39-47, 1991.

Higashi RM, Cherr GN, Shenker JM, Macdonald JM, Crosby DG.  A polar high molecular mass constituent of bleached kraft mill effluent is toxic to marine organisms. Environ Sci Technol 26:2413-20, 1992.

Fan TW-M, Lane AN, Higashi RM.  Hypoxia does not affect rate of ATP synthesis and energy metabolism in rice shoot tips as measured by 31P NMR in vivo.  Arch Biochem Biophys 294:314-8, 1992.

Fan TW-M, Higashi RM, Lane AN.  Temperature dependence of arginine kinase reaction in the tail muscle of live Sycionia ingentis as measured in vivo by 31P NMR driven saturation transfer.  Biochim Biophys Acta 1135:44-9, 1992.

Cherr GN, Fan TW-M, Pillai MC, Shields T, Higashi RM.  Electrophoretic separation, characterization, and quantification of biologically active lignin-derived macromolecules, Analyt Biochem 214:521-27, 1993.

Fan TW-M, Colmer TD, Lane AN, Higashi RM.  Determination of metabolites by 1H NMR and GC: analysis for organic osmolytes in crude tissue extracts, Analyt Biochem  214:260-71, 1993.

Fan TW-M, Clifford AJ, Higashi RM.  In vivo 13C NMR analysis of acyl carbon chain composition and organization of perirenal triacylglycerides in rats fed vegetable and fish oils.  J Lipid Res 35:678-89, 1994.

Colmer TD, Fan TW-M, Higashi RM, Läuchli A.  Interactions of Ca2+ and NaCl stress on the ion relations and intracellular pH of Sorghum bicolor root tips:  An in vivo 31P-NMR study.  J Exp Botany 45: 1037-44, 1994.

Fan TW-M, Lane AN, Pedler J, Crowley D, Higashi RM.  Comprehensive analysis of organic ligands in whole root exudate using nuclear magnetic resonance and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.  Analyt Biochem 251:57-68, 1997.

Fan TW-M, Lane AN, Higashi RM.  Selenium biotransformations by a euryhaline microalga isolated from a saline evaporation pond. Environ Sci Technol 31:569-76, 1997.

Fan TW.-M,  Lane AN, Frenkiel TA, Higashi RM.  Anaerobic nitrate and ammonium metabolism in flood-tolerant rice coleoptiles.  J Expl Botany 48:1655-66, 1997.

Higashi RM, Fan TW-M, Lane AN.  Association of deferrioxamine with humic substances and their interaction with cadmium(II) as studied by pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.  The Analyst 123:911-18, 1998.

Fan TW-M, Higashi RM, Lane AN.  Biotransformations of selenium oxyanion by filamentous cyanophyte-dominated mat cultured from agricultural drainage waters.  Environ Sci Technol 32:3185-93, 1998.

Fan TW-M, Lane AN, Martens D, Higashi RM.  Synthesis and structure characterization of selenium metabolites.  The Analyst 123:875-84, 1998.

Schultz LF, Young TM, Higashi RM. Sorption-desorption behavior of phenanthrene elucidated by pyrolysis GCMS studies of soil organic matter.  Environ Toxicol Chem 18:1710-19, 1999.

Fan TW-M, Higashi RM, Lane AN.  Chemical characterization of a chelator-treated soil humate by solution-state multinuclear two-dimensional NMR with FTIR and pyrolysis-GCMS. Environ Sci Technol 34:1636-46, 2000.

Fan, T.W-M., Lane, A.N., Shenker, M., Bartley, J.P., Crowley, D., Higashi, R.M. Comprehensive chemical profiling of gramineous plant root exudates using high-resolution NMR and MS.  Phytochemistry 57: 209-21, 2001.

Fan TW-M, Teh SJ, Hinton DE, Higashi RM.  Selenium biotransformations into proteinaceous forms by foodweb organisms of selenium-laden drainage waters in California.  Aquatic Toxicol 57(1-2):65-84, 2002.

Fan TW-M, Lane AN, Higashi RM.  In vivo and in vitro metabolomic analysis of anaerobic rice coleoptiles revealed unexpected pathways.  Russian J Plant Phys 50:787-93, 2003.

Fan TW, Lane AN, Higashi RM.
  The promise of metabolomics in cancer molecular therapeutics.  Curr Opin Mol Ther 6(6):584-92, 2004. Review.

Teh SJ, Deng X, Deng DF, Teh FC, Hung SS, Fan TW, Liu J, Higashi RM.  Chronic effects of dietary selenium on juvenile Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus).  Environ Sci Technol 38(22):6085-93, 2004.

Fan TW, Lane AN, Higashi RM.  An electrophoretic profiling method for thiol-rich phytochelatins and metallo-thioneins.  Phytochem Anal 15(3):175-83, 2004.

Fan TW, Lane AN, Chekmenev E, Wittebort RJ, Higashi RM.  Synthesis and physico-chemical properties of peptides in soil humic substances.  J Pept Res 63(3):253-64, 2004.

 

 

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