Gunnar Boysen, PhD

Research Program: Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Faculty Rank: Associate Professor Campus: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College: College of Public Health Department: Environmental Health Sciences

Cancer Research Interest

• Disease Site Focus: Breast, Head and Neck, Thoracic/ Lung
• Research Focus Area: Prevention, Treatment, Detection, Carcinogenesis, Diagnosis/ Prognosis
• Type of Research: Basic
• Research Interest Statement: Dr. Boysen is associate professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. His research interest is in lifestyle-exposure-gene-interactions (LEGI) and how these affect carcinogenesis. He has been studying DNA and protein adducts to understand the internal dose exposures and metabolism, as well as how this is determined by genetic background and modified by nutritional components. Dr. Boysen received his PhD in chemistry from University of Kaiserslautern Germany in 2002 in collaboration with the University of Minnesota Cancer Center in Minneapolis, MN, for work on DNA and protein adducts derived from PAH and tobacco-specific nitrosamines. He then pursued a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina using several protein adducts to study species differences in biotransformation of 1,3-butadiene. During this time, he became interested in compound-compound interactions and the effects of co-exposures on carcinogen metabolism. He developed an adductomics tool to enable comprehensive profiling of reactive compounds in mixtures. More recently he develops personalize therapy, targeting metabolic reprogramming of metastases.

Contact Information

• Email Address: GBOYSEN@UAMS.EDU
• Profiles Research Networking Software: View Profile

Active Grants

• NIH/Nat. Inst. of Environmental Health Sciences – 1R01ES036931
  “Understanding the origins of the mutational landscape in cancer”
  Principal Investigator
  2/24/2025 – 1/31/2028

Recent Publications

• Kirman CR, Boysen G, DiNovi MJ, [et al.]. Human health risk assessment for exposures to 1,3-butadiene in the United States with input from an independent science advisory panel. Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology : RTP. 2025 160:105819. PMID: 40204065.
• Georgieva NI, Siegel ER, Šrám RJ, [et al., including Boysen G]. Sex-Specific Formation of 1,2:3,4-Diepoxybutane-Derived Hemoglobin Adducts in 1,3-Butadiene-Exposed Workers. Chemical research in toxicology. 2025. PMID: 40261942.
• Boysen G, Alexandrov LB, Rahbari R, [et al.]. Investigating the origins of the mutational signatures in cancer. Nucleic acids research. 2025 53(1). PMID: 39778866. PMCID: PMC11707540.
• Wang X, Sato AY, Marino S, [et al., including Boysen G]. Generation of BT-Amide, a Bone-Targeted Pyk2 Inhibitor, Effective via Oral Administration, for the Prevention of Glucocorticoid-Induced Bone Loss. Journal of medicinal chemistry. 2024 67(22):20708-20720. PMID: 39540576.
• Jamshidi-Parsian A, Jenkins SV, Tran A, [et al., including Boysen G]. CB-839 induces reversible dormancy in lung tumor-cells. European journal of pharmacology. 2024 982:176912. PMID: 39159716.
• Jenkins SV, Shah S, Jamshidi-Parsian A, [et al., including Boysen G]. Acquired Radiation Resistance Induces Thiol-dependent Cisplatin Cross-resistance. Radiation research. 2024 201(2):174-187. PMID: 38329819. PMCID: PMC10993299.
• Miousse IR, Hale RB, Alsbrook S, [et al., including Boysen G]. Climate Change and New Challenges for Rural Communities: Particulate Matter Matters. Sustainability. 2023 15(23). PMID: 39119507. PMCID: PMC11307925.
• Wongsurawat T, Jenjaroenpun P, Anekwiang P, [et al., including Boysen G]. Exploiting nanopore sequencing for characterization and grading of IDH-mutant gliomas. Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland). 2023:e13203. PMID: 37574201. PMCID: PMC10711254.
• Crosby SV, Ahmed IY, Osborn LR, [et al., including Boysen G]. Similar 5F-APINACA Metabolism between CD-1 Mouse and Human Liver Microsomes Involves Different P450 Cytochromes. Metabolites. 2022 12(8). PMID: 36005645. PMCID: PMC9413144.
• Boysen G, Rusyn I, Chiu WA, Wright FA. Characterization of population variability of 1,3-butadiene derived protein adducts in humans and mice. Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology : RTP. 2022 132:105171. PMID: 35469930. PMCID: PMC9575152.
• Boysen G, Nookaew I. Current and Future Methodology for Quantitation and Site-Specific Mapping the Location of DNA Adducts. Toxics. 2022 10(2). PMID: 35202232. PMCID: PMC8876591.
• Wadley T, Moon SH, DeMott MS, [et al., including Boysen G]. Nanopore Sequencing for Detection and Characterization of Phosphorothioate Modifications in Native DNA Sequences. Frontiers in microbiology. 2022 13:871937. PMID: 35531280. PMCID: PMC9069010.
• Schleiff MA, Crosby S, Blue M, [et al., including Boysen G]. CYP2C9 and 3A4 play opposing roles in bioactivation and detoxification of diphenylamine NSAIDs. Biochemical pharmacology. 2021 194:114824. PMID: 34748821. PMCID: PMC8710044.
• Pujari SS, Jokipii Krueger CC, Chao C, [et al., including Boysen G]. DEB-FAPy-dG Adducts of 1,3-Butadiene: Synthesis, Structural Characterization, and Formation in 1,2,3,4-Diepoxybutane Treated DNA. Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany). 2021. PMID: 34767297. PMCID: PMC10603587.
• Nellis M, Caperton CO, Liu K, [et al., including Boysen G]. Lung metabolome of 1,3-butadiene exposed Collaborative Cross mice reflects metabolic phenotype of human lung cancer. Toxicology. 2021 463:152987. PMID: 34648870. PMCID: PMC9062885.
• Flynn NR, Ward MD, Schleiff MA, [et al., including Boysen G]. Bioactivation of Isoxazole-Containing Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal Domain (BET) Inhibitors. Metabolites. 2021 11(6). PMID: 34203690. PMCID: PMC8232216.
• Schleiff MA, Payakachat S, Schleiff BM, [et al., including Boysen G]. Impacts of diphenylamine NSAID halogenation on bioactivation risks. Toxicology. 2021:152832. PMID: 34107285. PMCID: PMC8513111.
• Boysen G, Arora R, Degner A, [et al.]. Effects of GSTT1 Genotype on the Detoxification of 1,3-Butadiene Derived Diepoxide and Formation of Promutagenic DNA-DNA Cross-Links in Human Hapmap Cell Lines. Chemical research in toxicology. 2020. PMID: 33381973. PMCID: PMC8177101.
• Schleiff MA, Flynn NR, Payakachat S, [et al., including Boysen G]. Significance of Multiple Bioactivation Pathways for Meclofenamate as Revealed through Modeling and Reaction Kinetics. Drug metabolism and disposition: the biological fate of chemicals. 2020. PMID: 33239334. PMCID: PMC7841419.
• Pinson AO, Pouncey DL, Schleiff MA, [et al., including Boysen G]. Significance of Competing Metabolic Pathways for 5F-APINACA Based on Quantitative Kinetics. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). 2020 25(20). PMID: 33092129. PMCID: PMC7587938.
• Nookaew I, Jenjaroenpun P, Du H, [et al., including Boysen G]. Detection and Discrimination of DNA Adducts Differing in Size, Regiochemistry, and Functional Group by Nanopore Sequencing. Chemical research in toxicology. 2020. PMID: 32799528. PMCID: PMC7752846.
• Jenjaroenpun P, Wongsurawat T, Wadley TD, [et al., including Boysen G]. Decoding the epitranscriptional landscape from native RNA sequences. Nucleic acids research. 2020. PMID: 32710622. PMCID: PMC7826254.