Dr. Hagop Atamian

Associate Professor

Biological Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology

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Office Location: Keck Center for Science and Engineering 261

Email: atamian@chapman.edu

Website: https://atamianlab.com/

Education:: American University of Beirut, Bachelor of Science
American University of Beirut, Master of Science
University of California, Riverside, Ph.D.

Biography

Education

2013-18
Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Plant Biology, UC Davis (Mentor: Prof. Stacey L Harmer)

2007-12
Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Dept. of Nematology, UC Riverside

2004-06
M.S. in Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science, American University of Beirut (Mentor: Prof. Yusuf Abou Jawdah)

Research Interests

Dr. Atamian’s research spans two interconnected areas under the umbrella of genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, and machine learning. One part focuses on sustainable agriculture and uses high-throughput sequencing, molecular approaches, and field trials to investigate how plants adapt to environmental stresses such as drought and heat, and how they defend against pests and pathogens. The second part centers on cancer biology and drug discovery, applying computational tools and natural product chemistry to better understand cancer progression and design novel therapeutics targeting pathogenic diseases in both humans and plants. Learn more about Dr. Atamian's research at his lab website. Click here for a complete list of publications.

Keywords

Sustainable Agriculture, Transcriptome, Genome, Bioinformatics, Circadian Clock, Drug Design, Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Cancer Biology, and Machine Learning.

Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications: Ang D., Rakovski C. and Atamian H.S. (2024) De Novo Drug Design Using Transformer-Based MachineTranslation and Reinforcement Learning of an Adaptive Monte Carlo Tree Search. Pharmaceuticals,17: 161-175.; Hsu J.L., Atamian H.S. and Avendano-Woodruff K. (2024) Promoting student interest in plant biology through an inquiry-based module exploring plant circadian rhythm, gene expression, and defense against insects. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, e00166-23.; Abou Jawdah Y., Ezzeddine N., Fardoun A., Kharoubi S., Sobh H., Atamian H.S., Skinner M. and Parker B. (2024) Biological control of three major cucumber and pepper pests: Whiteflies, Thrips, and Spider Mites, in high plastic tunnels using two local phytoseiid mites. Plants, 13: 889.; Kirsch B., Fisher J.B., Piechota T., Hassani M., Suardiaz D.C., Puri R., Cahill J. and Atamian H.S. (2024) Satellite observations indicate that chia uses less water than other crops in warm climates. Communication Biology, 7:1225.; Quides K.W., Lee Y., Hur T. and Atamian H.S. (2023). Evaluation of qPCR to Detect Shifts in Population Composition of the Rhizobial Symbiont Mesorhizobium japonicum during Serial in Planta Transfers. Biology, 12(2), 277.; Atamian H.S., Davila, F.E.L. and Prakash A. (2023). A transcriptomic study of ‘Granny Smith’ apple fruit response to x-ray irradiation using RNA-Seq. Scientia Horticulturae, 311: 111777.; Ang D., Kendall R. and Atamian H.S. (2023) Virtual and in vitro screening of natural products identifies indole and benzene derivatives as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro). Biology, 12: 519.; Atamian H.S. and Funk J.L. (2023) Physiological and transcriptomic responses of two Artemisia californica populations to drought: implications for restoring drought-resilient native communities. Global Ecology and Conservation, 43: e02466; Ordaz N.A., Nagalakshmi U., Boiteux L.S., Atamian H.S., Ullman D. and Dinesh-Kumar S.P. (2023) The Sw-5b NLR immune receptor induces earlier transcriptional changes in response to thrips and mechanical modes of inoculation of Tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 36(11): 705-715.; Brooks C.J., Atamian H.S. and Harmer S.L. (2023) Multiple light signaling pathways control solar tracking in sunflowers. PLOS Biology, 21: e3002344.; Hassani M., Piechota T. and Atamian H.S. (2022) Prediction of cultivation areas for the commercial and an early flowering wild accession of Salvia hispanica L. in the United States. Agronomy 12 (7), 1651; Melo A.A.M., Olabode P.N., Atamian H.S., Nyakundi B., Pacioles C.T. and Prakash A. (2021) Irradiation reduces superficial scald by downregulating ethylene and a-farnesene biosynthetic enzymes in ‘Granny Smith’ apples. Radiation Physics and Chemistry 189: 109650.; Quides K.W. and Atamian H.S. (2021) A microbiome engineering framework to evaluate rhizobial symbionts of legumes. Plant and Soil 463: 631-642; Wimberley J., Cahill J. and Atamian H.S. (2020) De novo sequencing and analysis of Salvia hispanica tissue-specific transcriptome and identification of genes involved in terpenoid biosynthesis. Plants 9: 405-419

Dr. Hagop Atamian

Biography

Education

Research Interests

Keywords

Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications

Faculty Directories by School or College