Ariane Jansma, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Dr. Ariane Jansma is a biochemist and molecular structural biologist specializing in NMR spectroscopy. She originally studied chemistry at Pepperdine University and immediately after graduation went to work in the biotech industry in San Diego. She fell in love with NMR spectroscopy and structure elucidation during her time at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and Novartis. After several years in industry, she had an opportunity to begin a Ph.D. program at UCSD and decided to pursue structure elucidation of proteins, which brought her to the field of biochemistry. While her intentions were originally to return to the biotech industry following graduation, the opportunity to work as a TA made her discover a real passion for teaching. During her postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute, she had the opportunity to mentor several high school students doing internships there. This finalized her plans to pursue an academic career at an undergraduate institution where she could combine her love of teaching and research. PLNU has been the perfect fit and Jansma looks forward to many more years teaching in the classroom and directing students in her research lab.

Education

  • Ph.D., Biochemistry, University of California San Diego
  • M.S., Analytical Chemistry, San Diego State University
  • B.S. Chemistry, Pepperdine University
  • B.A. Spanish, Pepperdine University

Courses Taught

  • Advanced Biochemistry – CHE/BIO 4050
  • Advanced Biochemistry Lab – CHE/BIO 4050L
  • General Chemistry I – CHE 1052
  • General Chemistry II – CHE 1053
  • General Chemistry II Lab – CHE 1053L
  • General, Organic, Biochemistry – CHE 1003
  • General, Organic, Biochemistry Lab – CHE1003L

Experience in Field

  • Point Loma Nazarene University, Assistant Professor, 2014 – present
  • The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010 – 2014
  • University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Graduate Researcher, 2004 – 2009
  • Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), Research Associate in NMR spectroscopy, 2002 – 2004
  • DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Contracted Research Technician, NMR spectroscopy, 2001 – 2002

See More Research Interests

Research in the Jansma lab focuses on using NMR spectroscopy to investigate the interactions between viral proteins and PDZ domains from host cells. Members of the PDZ domain family play a key role in the development of multicellular organisms and are often found as components of multidomain scaffolding proteins involved in cell polarity and signal transduction pathways. Viral proteins commonly target PDZ domains to hijack their host cells as a means to enhance replication, disseminate within the host, and transmit to new hosts. Projects in the lab employ NMR in combination with protein mutagenesis and binding assays focused on the interactions between PDZ domains from several different proteins with ligands from Dengue Virus (DENV) and Tick borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). The lab also has an ongoing collaboration with The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla focused on the structural basis for the interaction between the E7 oncoprotein from the human papillomavirus (HPV) and a host transcription factor.

Professional and Community Involvement

  • American Chemical Society, 2010 – present
  • Protein Society, 2008 – present
  • Manuscript Reviewer, Journal of Molecular Biology, 2013 – present
  • Faculty of 1000 manuscript reviewer, 2011 – 2014
  • Friends of Rose Canyon, VP, Board of Directors, 2011 – present
  • Association for Women in Science, 2005 – 2012
  • National SMART Conference mentor, 2012
  • Angel Tree coordinator, 2008 – 2013

Awards and Honors

  • NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, NIH, 2010 – 2013
  • Molecular Biophysics Training Grant, NIH, 2006 – 2008
  • Teaching Assistant Excellence Award, Dept. of Chemistry, UCSD, 2006

Dissertations, Presentations, and Publications

  • "Salanga, C.L.*; Jansma, A.L.*; Dyer, D.P.; Handel, T.M. “Distinct signaling and glycosaminoglycan-binding properties of the CC chemokine receptor type 10 ligands, CCL27 and CCL28.” 2016, Manuscript in final preparation for submission to PLoS One.
  • * Authors contributed equally"
  • Jansma AL, Martinez-Yamout MA, Liao R, Sun P, Dyson HJ, Wright PE. “The high-risk HPV16 E7 oncoprotein mediates interaction between the transcriptional coactivator CBP and the retinoblastoma protein pRb.” J. Mol. Biol., 2014, 426(24): 4030 – 48.
  • Severin, I.; Gaudry, J. P.; Johnson, A.; Kungl, A.; Jansma, A.; Gesslbaur, B.; Mulloy, B.; Power, C.; Proudfoot, A. I. E.; Handel, T. M.  2010. Characterization of the chemokine CXCL11 – heparin interaction suggests two different affinities for glycosaminoglycans. J. Biol. Chem.  285 (23), 17713 – 17724 
  • Jansma, A.; Kirkpatrick, J.; Hsu, A.; Handel, T. M.; Nietlspach, D.  2010. NMR Analysis of the Structure, Dynamics, and Unique Oligomerization Properties of the Human Chemokine CCL27. J. Biol. Chem. 285 (19), 14424 – 14437.
  • Jansma, A.; Handel, T.; M. Hamel, D.  2009.  Homo- and hetero-oligomerization of chemokines. Methods Enzymol.  461, 31 – 50
  • Winter, J. M.; Jansma, A.; Handel, T. M.; Moore, B. S.  2008. Formation of the Pyridazine Natural Product Azamerone by Biosynthetic Rearrangement of an Aryl Diazoketone. Angewandte Chemie, 48 (4), 767-770
  • Jansma, A.; Zhang, Q.; Li, B.; Ding, Q.; Uno, T.; Bursrlaya, B.; Liu, Y.; Furet, P.; Gray, N.; Geierstanger, B.  2007. Verification of a Designed Intramolecular Hydrogen Bond in a Drug Scaffold by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.  J. Med. Chem.  50 (24), 5875 – 5877
  • Jansma, A.; Chuan, T.; Albrecht, R. W.; Olson, D. L.; Peck, T. L.; Geierstanger, B. H.  2005. Automated Microflow NMR: Routine Analysis of Five-Microliter Samples  Anal. Chem.  77, 6509 – 6515