Florastina Payton-Stewart, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Courses

Dr. Florastina Payton-Stewart received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1999 and her PhD in Bioorganic Chemistry at Tulane University in 2007.  After receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Payton-Stewart held a postdoctoral position at Tulane University Medical School from 2007-2010.  She is the recipient of various honors, such as the Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans Fellowship, the GALA Dissertation Writing Fellowship, the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium Fellowship and the Susan G. Komen Postdoctoral Fellowship.  She has mentored and trained several undergraduate students on projects related to the biological activity of natural phytoalexins. She joined the Chemistry department faculty at Xavier University in August 2010.

Dr. Payton-Stewart’s research focuses on identifying novel endocrine therapeutics by incorporating two discrete disciplines, synthetic chemistry and molecular biology.  This project involves the design, synthesis, characterization, and biological screening of novel anti-cancer agents.  The research further involves understanding the molecular mechanism and biological activity of naturally occurring plant phytoalexins and their analogs as they pertain to breast carcinomas.

RCMI at Xavier University: Center for Cancer Research”, National Institutes of Health, Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI)  NIH-NCRR          8/1/2010 – 7/31/2013 

Mague, J.T., Alworth, W.L., Payton, F.L.  Curcumin and derivatives.  Acta Crystallographica 60C: 608-610.  2004.
Payton, Florastina, Sandusky, Peter, and Alworth, William.  Curcumin: An NMR Study.  Journal of Natural Products 70 (2), 143-146, 2007.
Boue, S., Tilghman, S., Elloitt, S., Zimmerman, C., Williams, KY, Payton-Stewart, F., Miraflor, A., Howell, M., Shih, BY, Carter-Wientjes, CH, Segar, C., Beckman, BS., Wiese, TE., Cleveland, T., McLachlan, J., and Burow, ME.  Identification of the potent phytoestrogen glycinol in elicited soybean (Glycine max).  Endocrinology 150 (5): 2446-53, 2008.
Payton-Stewart, F., Schoene, N., Kim, Y., Burow, M.E., Cleveland, T., Boue, S., and Wang, T.  Molecular effects of soy phytoalexins glyceollin in human prostate cancer cells, LNCaP.  Molecular Carcinogenesis 48 (9): 862-71, 2009.
Zimmermann, C., Tilghman, S., Boue, S., Salvo, V.A., Elloitt, S., Williams, K., Skripnikova, E.V., Ashe, H., Payton-Stewart, F., Vanhoy-Rhodes, L., Fonseca, J.P., Corbitt, C., Collins-Burow, B., Howell, M., Lacey, M., Shih, B., Carter-Wientjes, C., Cleveland, T., McLachlan, J., Wiese, T., Beckman, B., Burow, M.E.  Glyceollin I, a novel anti-estrogen phytoalexin isolated from activated soy.  J Pharmacol Experimental Therapeutics 332 (1): 35-45, 2010.
Payton-Stewart, Florastina, Boue, M. Stephen, Elliott, Steven, Zimmerman, Carla M.,  Skripnikova, Elena V., Ashe, Hasina, Tilghman, Syreeta L., Beckman, Barbara S., McLachlan, John A., Bhatnagar, Deepak, Wiese, Thomas E., Erhardt, Paul, Burow, Matthew E.  Glyceollin I enantiomers distinctly regulate ER-mediated gene expression.  Steroids 75 (12): 870-878, 2010.
Payton-Stewart*, Florastina, Jiang*, Quan, Elliott, Steven,  Driver, Jennifer,  Zhang, Qiang, Zheng,  Shilong,  Bhatnagar, Deepak , Boue, M. Stephen,  Wiese, E. Thomas, Burow, E. Matthew, Wang , Guangdi.   Effects of 7-O Substitutions on Estrogenic and Anti-Estrogenic Activities of Daidzein Analogues in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells  J. Med. Chemistry 53 (16): 6153-6163.
Payton-Stewart, Florastina, Bose, Rumu, Alworth, William, L., Kumar, Addanki, Ghosh, Rita.  4-methylcatechol-Induced Oxidative Stress in Metastatic Melanoma Cells Leads to Intrinsic Apoptotic Pathway.  Biochemical Pharmacology 81 (10): 1211-1218, 2011.
Winfield, L.; Payton-Stewart, F. Celecoxib and Bcl-2: Emerging Possibilities for Anticancer Drug Design. Future Medicinal Chemistry 4 (3): 361-383, 2012.