Paul Shipley

Paul Shipley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry within the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. He also serves as Associate Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. His research focuses on natural products chemistry, metabolomics, and NMR-based analysis of medicinal plants and bacteria to investigate chemical differences between species and samples. His work has applications in discovering biological activities, optimizing natural health product formulation, identifying adulterated products, and classifying species by their chemistry.

Dr. Shipley's educational background includes:

• PhD from the University of Washington

Dr. Shipley's research centers on organic chemistry and natural products biosynthesis, with particular emphasis on the biochemistry of secondary metabolism in plants and bacteria. His laboratory develops and applies nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics approaches to define the complex chemistry of medicinal plants, which traditionally has been challenging due to the estimated 30,000 distinct phytochemicals present in an average plant tissue. His work bridges analytical chemistry, plant biochemistry, and statistical analysis to create robust methods for species differentiation and chemical profiling.

Specifically, his lab investigates NMR-based chemical approaches for medicinal plant analysis across various species, comparing results with LC/MS metabolomic analysis and chromatographic separation methods. They develop statistical tools to discriminate between true and false positives in significance analysis and optimize NMR experiments for best discrimination between sample types, with applications in hawthorn chemotaxonomy, cranberry analysis, and other medicinal plant studies.

Dr. Shipley's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on NMR-based metabolomics applied to plant chemistry, particularly for species identification and quality control of natural health products. His work spans multiple plant genera including Crataegus (hawthorn), Vaccinium (cranberry), and Artemisia (sagebrush), with consistent methodological development in statistical analysis and NMR techniques. A notable trend is the application of machine learning algorithms to refine metabolomic data interpretation and the development of robust models for distinguishing between closely related plant species and varieties.

His research program has contributed significantly to:

• Development of new NMR-based approaches for plant metabolome analysis
• Creation of statistical tools for metabolomic data refinement
• Chemotaxonomic studies of medicinal plants with pharmacological relevance
• Identification of cardioprotective compounds in hawthorn species

As a graduate student supervisor in the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Shipley mentors students in organic chemistry, natural products biosynthesis, and analytical methodology development. His research program involves multiple funding sources supporting NMR metabolomics instrumentation, plant collection and analysis fieldwork, statistical methodology development, and collaborative studies with pharmacology and botanical researchers.

Dr. Shipley leads a research laboratory focused on NMR-based metabolomics of medicinal plants and bacteria. His team develops advanced statistical and methodological tools for model improvement in metabolomic analysis, with particular expertise in distinguishing between closely related plant species and varieties. The lab collaborates across disciplines, integrating chemical analysis with biological activity studies to connect phytochemical profiles with potential pharmacological relevance, particularly in cardioprotective compounds found in hawthorn and urinary tract health applications of cranberry compounds.