- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
He made a difference: a huge difference.
Dr. Casida, 88, a world-renowned entomologist and toxicologist at UC Berkeley who died June 30 of a heart attack in his home, was a global authority on how pesticides work and their effect on humans.
A distinguished professor emeritus of environmental science, policy and management and of nutritional sciences and toxicology, Dr. Casida was the founding director of the campus's Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory.
When awarded the Wolf Prize in Agriculture in 1993, the Wolf Foundation lauded his “research on the mode of action of insecticides as a basis for the evaluation of the risks and benefits of pesticides and toxicants, essential to the development of safer, more effective pesticides for agricultural use." according to a UC Berkeley News Service story. "His discoveries span much of the history of organic pesticides and account for several of the fundamental breakthroughs in the fields of entomology, neurobiology, toxicology and biochemistry.”
“John probably had a greater impact on his field of pesticide toxicology than any scientist of his generation,” said Hammock, founding director (1987-present) of the UC Davis NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) Superfund Research Program and 25-year director of the UC Davis NIH/NIEHS Combined Analytical Laboratory. “His laboratory at Berkeley provided me with the most exciting years of my scientific career. In his own work, John moved from strength to strength creating numerous entire fields along the way. His scientific insight and drive were a constant stimulation to drive for innovation and excellence. Whenever I had an opportunity, I encouraged others to join his team. John was an inspiration and role model, not only because John came in early and stayed late, but also because he did science for the fun of discovery and taught for the joy of teaching.”
“John continued his high productivity until his death with major reviews on pesticides in 2016, 2017, and 2018 in addition to numerous primary papers,” Hammock noted. “He was working on primary publications as well as revising his toxicology course for the fall semester at the time of his death. Pesticide science was the theme of his career, and we live in a world with far safer and more effective pest control agents because of his effort.”
Professor John Casida opened multiple new fields ranging from fundamental cell biology through pharmaceutical discovery. "He pioneered new technologies throughout his career, from being one of the first to use radioactive compounds for pesticide metabolism through studies with accelerator mass spectrometry, photoaffinity labeling and others," Hammock related. "Yet the greatest impact of his career probably lives on in the numerous scientists he trained, now carrying on his traditions of excellence in science. These scientists are around the world in governmental, industrial and academic careers.”
Sarjeet Gill, Distinguished Professor, UC Riverside
"This project also allowed me to build a long lasting friendship with Bruce Hammock who also was on the same project. Since John was always very focused, I often challenged John's patience with my practical jokes. I am sure he knew who the culprit(s) were but he never revealed he knew.
“The research experiences in John's lab made an indelible impression on me that drove me to return to the United States from Malaysia for an academic career in the UC system. Personally, I have lost an incredible mentor, and the scientific community lost the most preeminent pesticide toxicologist in the last two centuries. John changed the way we investigated mechanisms of toxicity at all levels. I certainly will miss him dearly.
Bruce Hammock, Distinguished Professor, UC Davis 
"After telling him I was there to be his graduate student, he replied he had no money for students. My retort was that I had a fellowship. He then told me that students were not space effective, and I promised not to take up much space. He continued that students were not time effective, and I promised not to take his time. In retrospect, Sarjeet must have really soured him on graduate students a few hours earlier."
"Months later, Sarjeet and I were sharing a desk-lab bench in the windowless closet next to the 'fly room' when Dr. Casida walked in. He had noted we both listed him as our major professor and asked if there was anything, he could do to encourage us to leave. When in unison we replied 'No!,' he politely left without accepting us, but soon we both had a desk and bench.
"So a few paces after Sarjeet, I initiated the most thrilling four years of my life. John's introduction to experimental science was marvelous with the perfect balance of inspiration, instruction and tremendous freedom. I was privileged to learn from a wonderful group of individuals and, of course, I made my most enduring of friendships with Sarjeet Gill. In addition to science, John taught a life-family-science balance by example. John was my life long mentor in science and in life but also evolved as a colleague and friend.
"Three more delightful years passed and John then took me to lunch at the faculty club. As I was about to leave the laboratory for the U.S. Army, he gave me sagely advice such as he had had it easy during the Sputnik period and I would have it hard. Then he went on to tell me than most people in the laboratory did not find my practical jokes nearly as funny as I did. I did not reveal that Sarjeet had both planned and executed most of them. Thus, Sarjeet succeeded in disrupting my Berkeley career from beginning until the end.
"John and his laboratory at Berkeley provided me with the most exciting years of my scientific career. In his own work, John moved from strength to strength creating numerous entire fields along the way. His scientific insight and drive were a constant stimulation to drive for innovation and excellence. Whenever I had an opportunity, I encouraged others to join his team. John was an inspiration and role model, not only because John came in early and stayed late, but also because he did science for the fun of discovery and taught for the joy of teaching."
Professor Casida is survived by his wife, artist and sculptor Kati Casida, sons Mark and Eric Casida, and two grandchildren.
(See more remembrances by UC Davis-affiliated scientists trained by Professor Casida on the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology website)
Related Information:
- John Casida Obituary, UC Berkeley News Service
- For the Fun of Science: A Discussion with John E. Casida (Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology)
- Still Curious: An Overview of John Casida's Contributions to Agrochemical Research (JAFC)
- Curious about Pesticide Action, by John E. Casida (JAFC)
(UC Berkeley New Service contributed to this post)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
What do you get?
An epic battle during the 15th annual Bruce Hammock Lab Water Balloon Battle on the Briggs Hall lawn at the University of California, Davis.
Who won? It was not distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
It was undergraduate student Andrew Kisin of the lab of Aldrin Gomes, UC Davis Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior.
Hammock, clutching three water balloons, didn't stand a chance as Kisin raced toward him with a container full of water. The rest is history. Drenched history.
The annual battle amounts to 15 minutes, or "15 Minutes of Aim." That's how long it takes for the some 40 participants to toss 2,000 water balloons. Currently 28 researchers--from the United Staes, China, France, Ukraine, Lebanon, Japan and Korea--work in the Hammock lab. They include postdoctoral scholars, researchers, graduate students, visiting scholars, visiting graduate students, visiting summer students, short-term visiting scholars and student interns.
Trained as a entomologist, chemist and toxicologist--and who now focuses his research on human health, Bruce Hammock is known for his work on using natural chemical mediators to control inflammation and intractable pain. He co-discovered the soluble epoxide hydrolase, and many of his more than 1100 publications and patents are on the P450 branch of the arachidonate cascade where the soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) degrades natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory compounds.
Kisin, a second-year UC Davis student from San Jose, just enrolled at UC Davis a week ago. Majoring in biological sciences, he joined the Gomes lab to study "the effects of drugs such as ibuprofin on organs and may also study how proteasomes contribute to aging."
The annual event is open to all UC Davis personnel and their families. They fill the balloons, toss them and clean up the remnants--and then look forward to next year's battle.
Odds are that you won't find many water warriors like Bruce Hammock, whose credentials rival noted academicians worldwide. A native of Little Rock, Ark., who holds a doctorate from UC Berkeley, Bruce joined the UC Davis faculty in 1980. He is the founding director (1987-present) of the UC Davis NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) Superfund Research Program and is a founding member (1990-present) of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has directed the UC Davis NIH/NIEHS Combined Analytical Laboratory for 25 years.
Highly honored by his peers, Hammock is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, which honors academic invention and encourages translations of inventions to benefit society. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the Entomological Society of America, and the recipient of the Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism, sponsored by the America Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He is the first McGiff Memorial Awardee in Lipid Biochemistry. The Eicosanoid Research Foundation recently honored him for work on oxidized lipids.
But on one day in July--for 15 minutes--Bruce Hammock turns from academician to water warrior. And yes, he's excels at that, too! See what happened to his doctoral student Cindy McReynolds in one of the photos below.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's how long it takes to toss 2,000 water balloons.
Or, rather, that's how long it takes the Bruce Hammock laboratory at the University of California, Davis, to toss 2,000 water balloons.
The 15th annual Bruce Hammock Lab Water Balloon Battle will take place at 3 p.m., Tuesday, July 3 on the north side of the Briggs Hall lawn, outside Hammock's office.
That's when Hammock, a UC Davis distinguished professor who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, turns water warrior.
Hammock lab researcher Christophe Morisseau, who coordinates the annual event, says balloon filling will begin at 1 p.m. on the grass by the loading dock. "Our policy: no filling, no throwing," he said, adding that you can also BYOB (Bring Your Own Balloons) or water guns. The event is open to all who want to get wet--including children and spouses.
The Hammock lab works hard and plays hard.
Trained as a entomologist, chemist and toxicologist--and who now focuses his research on human health--Bruce Hammock is known for his work on using natural chemical mediators to control inflammation and intractable pain. He co-discovered the soluble epoxide hydrolase, and many of his more than 1100 publications and patents are on the P450 branch of the arachidonate cascade where the soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) degrades natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory compounds. The founder of several companies, he has helped raise more than $50 million in private capital, and currently is chief executive officer of the Davis-based EicOsis, where an orally active non- addictive drug for inflammatory and neuropathic pain is being developed for human beings companion animals. EicOsis is supported by several seed-fund grants and a NIH/NINDS (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) Blueprint Development Grant.
Highly honored by his peers, Hammock is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, which honors academic invention and encourages translations of inventions to benefit society. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the Entomological Society of America, and the recipient of the Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism, sponsored by the America Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He is the first McGiff Memorial Awardee in Lipid Biochemistry. The Eicosanoid Research Foundation recently honored him for work on oxidized lipids.
The Hammock laboratory has published almost 900 peer-reviewed papers on the sEH enzyme, which Hammock, then a graduate student and colleague Sarjeet Gill (now a UC Riverside professor) discovered in the laboratory of the late UC Berkeley Professor John Casida. (Sadly, Casida died June 30 at age 88 in his Berkeley home.)
At the time of the discovery of the enzyme that regulates epoxy fatty acids, Hammock was researching insect developmental biology and green insecticides. For many years Gill and Hammock were alone in studying this enzyme, but today its importance is well recognized in mammalian biology, with more than 17,000 peer-reviewed papers in the area. Hammock credits the NIEHS for supporting research in this area since the 1970s.
The Hammock lab is international. Those working in his lab include post docs, researchers, graduate students, visiting scholars, visiting graduate students, visiting summer students, short-term visiting scholars and student interns.
Of the 28 researchers currently in the lab, here's the breakdown by country:
- China: 15
- United States: 6
- France: 2
- Ukraine: 2
- Lebanon: 1
- Japan: 1
- Korea: 1
Although the Balloon Battle at Briggs is spearheaded by the Hammock lab, other labs will join in. They include the labs of Aldrin Gomes of the UC Davis Department Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, and Walter Leal of the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
So, if you're around Briggs Hall tomorrow at 3 p.m., stop by and watch the soakfest. The lawn will benefit, and the water warriors--and nearby spectators--will benefit as they cool off in in the summer heat.
But arrive early. These water warriors are pros. Sometimes it's not "15 Minutes of Aim" but "!0 Minutes of Aim."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Hammock lab and the Guodong Zhang lab at the University of Massachusetts published exciting research today (April 30) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that involves hope for patients with obesity-enhanced colon cancer.
Their research showed that inhibiting an enzyme, soluble epoxide hydrolase--discovered in the Hammock lab--may reduce the risk of obesity-enhanced colon cancer and may offer a therapeutic target to block and treat colonic inflammation.
Co-first authors Weicang Wang and Jianan Zhang of the Zhang lab, and Jun Yang of the Hammock lab/UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, noted that 30 percent of Americans are obese, and these individuals have a 30 to 60 percent higher risk of developing colon cancer. It is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Colon inflammation is an early symptom of cancer.
“But to date, the mechanisms by which obesity increases cancer risks are not well understood, and there are few effective strategies to prevent obesity-enhanced colon cancer," said Zhang, a former postdoctoral researcher in the Hammock lab and now an assistant professor of food science at UMass where he focuses his research on prevention of colonic inflammation (inflammatory bowel disease) and colon cancer. "Our study showed that soluble epoxide hydrolase and its metabolites are over-expressed in colon of obese mice. In addition, we found that pharmacological inhibition or genetic deletion of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) abolishes obesity-induced inflammation and activation of pro-tumorigenic pathways in colon. These results showed that sEH is an essential enzyme involved in obesity-enhanced colonic inflammation and potentially colon cancer, and pharmacological inhibitors of sEH could be novel agents for prevention of these diseases.”
In the study, the 18-member team investigated the roles of sEH in obesity-induced colonic inflammation, which included using two different sEH inhibitors and a knockout mouse genetically modified not to produce sEH. Results proved similar in all cases.
They further conducted another study in both lean and obese mice with experimentally induced colon inflammation and used molecular analyses to follow a pathway called Wnt. About 90 percent of sporadic colorectal cancers have activating mutations within the Wnt pathway. The team found that obesity increases activation of Wnt signaling in the colon, but it can be abolished by the two different inhibitors and the knockout.
“The sEH inhibitor blocked obesity-induced colon inflammation,” said Hammock. “This worked even for mice on high fat diets.”
“Colon inflammation is highly associated with a variety of diseases and the inflammation often progresses to colon cancer,” Hammock said. “Weicang Wang, Guodong Zhang and co-workers have done a meticulous job investigating the biologically active fats including fatty acid diols that are associated with the inflammation. By blocking the production of these diols they were able to block the inflammation.”
“The study was an exciting discovery from lipidomics technique,” said co-first author Jun Yang. “The consistent results from pharmacologic inhibition and genetic knockout (KO) as well as the signaling pathway mechanistic studies all support sEH as a potential treatment for obesity-induced colon inflammation."
Co-author Jun-Yan Liu is already collecting human samples to extend the study, and Hammock pointed out that they hope that the soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitor will be in human clinical trials this year.
This work, titled “Lipidomic Profiling Reveals Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase as a Therapeutic Target of Obesity-Induced Colonic Inflammation,” drew grant support from the USDA's National Institute for Food and Agriculture; National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH/NIEHS); NIEHS Superfund Research Program, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
The five UC Davis researchers—Bruce Hammock, Jun Yang, Jia Sun, and Sung Hee Hwang and Debin Wan—are all with the Hammock lab/UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The UMass researchers, in addition to those listed above: Yuxin Wang, Wiepeng Qi, Haixia Yang, and Professor Yeonhwa Park, Department of Food Science, Katherine Sanidad, Food Science and Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program, and Professor Daeyoung Kim of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
Hammock, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, directs two major UC Davis programs; the Superfund Program financed by the National Institute of Environmental Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH-NIEHS); and the NIH Biotechnology Training Program. He began his career reseaching insect pests but switched to human health issues.
To date, the Hammock laboratory has published almost 900 peer-reviewed papers on the sEH enzyme, discovered while Hammock and Sarjeet Gill (now of UC Riverside) were researching insect developmental biology and green insecticides at UC Berkeley. The work, begun in 1969, led to the discovery that many regulatory molecules are controlled as much by degradation as by biosynthesis, Hammock said. These epoxy fatty acid chemical mediators control blood pressure, fibrosis, immunity, tissue growth, and pain and inflammation.
For many years Gill and Hammock were alone in studying this enzyme but today its importance is well recognized in mammalian biology, with more than 17,000 peer-reviewed papers in the area. Hammock credits the NIEHS for supporting research in this area since the 1970s.
A Davis-based company, EicOsis, has received a large grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to move inhibitors to the clinic to treat diabetic neuropathic pain. “We are developing a non-opiate analgesic to treat the chronic pain often associated with diabetes and hope to be in human trials over the next 12 months,” said William Schmidt, vice president of clinical development at EicOsis.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, who researches how to control acute and neuropathic pain, recently received an “outstanding achievement” award from the Eicosanoid Research Foundation at its international meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
His work on the enzyme, soluble epoxide hydrolase and its inhibitors, spans nearly 50 years of research. Human clinical trials of the Davis compounds aimed at controlling pain are expected to begin in 2018.
“The achievement award is lovely and probably the only thing I will ever own from Tiffany Jewelers,” quipped Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Hammock drew appreciation and applause from his colleagues following his plenary lecture on “Control of Acute and Neuropathic Pain by Inhibiting the Hydrolysis of Epoxy Fatty Acid Chemical Mediators: Path to the Clinic.”
In his talk, Hammock traced the history of his work to 1969 in the laboratory of UC Berkeley Professor John Casida. Hammock, where he was a graduate student and later a postdoctoral fellow. At the time, Hammock was researching insect developmental biology and green insecticides when he and colleague Sarjeet Gill (now a UC Riverside professor) discovered the target enzyme in mammals that regulates epoxy fatty acids.
“The work led to the discovery that many regulatory molecules are controlled as much by degradation and biosynthesis,” Hammock said. “The epoxy fatty acids control blood pressure, fibrosis, immunity, tissue growth, pain and inflammation to name a few processes.”
Since then, his laboratory has published almost 900 peer-reviewed papers in the epoxide hydrolase field.
“For many years Sarjeet and I were alone in studying this enzyme and pathway but now its importance is well recognized in mammalian biology with over 17,000 peer reviewed papers in the area,” Hammock said. “The importance of this pathway is now clear.”
Hammock collaborates with scientists worldwide, including UC Davis professors Aldrin Gomes, physiology; Fawaz Haj, nutrition; Robert Weiss, nephrology; Kent Pinkerton, pediatrics; Alan Buckpitt and Pam Lein, School of Veterinary Medicine; Niipavan Chiamvimonvat, cardiology, and Nicholas Kenyon, pulmonology.
“It is always important to realize that the most significant translational science we do in the university is fundamental science,” said Hammock, a native of Little Rock, Ark., who began his academic studies at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, where he received his bachelor's degree in entomology. “The epoxide hydrolase work is a great example going from developmental biology in butterflies to blood pressure and pain in man. However, the extreme and poorly treated pain that I observed as a medical officer in a burn clinic in the Army, is a major driver for me to translate this knowledge to help patients with severe pain. Hopefully, we can start human clinical trials next year.”
“One of the leaders in the lipid field--Bill Lands--stated that 'If the science is not fun, it should not be done.' Certainly, the discovery of a new biochemical pathway that regulates so much of human biology is interesting, and the science to get there is grand fun. A great personal pleasure from this work has been the wonderful scientists that I have collaborated with. They have taught me a lot about diverse fields, and many have become treasured friends.”
EicOsis, a Davis company that he founded, is working to move inhibitors of the soluble epoxide hydrolase into the clinic. They have been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Program to move the inhibitors into human trials targeting chronic or neuropathic pain with a non-opiate analgesic. In parallel. they are developing a drug to treat a commonly fatal pain condition in horses called laminitis as well as arthritic pain in dogs and cats.
Hammock's longtime collaborator, Dipak Panigrahy, a physician and assistant professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and a researcher with Harvard's Center for Vascular Biology Research, praised his “incredible commitment to science and medicine with extraordinary outside-the-box reasoning.”
“His keen intellect and reasoning, ability to communicate complex ideas, and dedication to teaching the next generation of scientists is unparalleled,” Panigrahy said, adding “Bruce is kind, compassionate, inspiring and also a loving husband and father to three incredible kids.”
Panigrahy cited Hammock's many accomplishments that led to the Eicosanoid award. “Bruce pioneered the first class of pharmaceuticals to directly address the cytochrome P450 (CYP) pathway of arachidonic acid metabolism. These soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitors are powerful pharmacological tools to raise EET levels. They are being evaluated in clinical trials for cardiovascular diseases and are being considered for long-term use in diabetes, stroke, cerebral ischemia, dyslipidemia, pain, immunological conditions, eye diseases, neurological diseases, renal disease, organ damage, vascular remodeling, atherosclerosis, ischemia-reperfusion, lung disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases-COPD), graft stenosis, cancer, and other medical conditions.”
“In addition, Dr. Hammock's laboratory has demonstrated that epoxides of omega 3 or fish oil fatty acids are more potent than EETs in many assays, Panigrahy said. “Importantly, Dr, Hammock's studies are providing insight into the outcome of dramatically increasing omega 3 lipids in the U.S. diet."
Hammock, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, has led a team of more than 40 scientists and students with what program manager Cindy McReynolds describes as “unprecedented research with a multidisciplinary, integrated approach to research focused on insect biology, mammalian enzymology, and analytical chemistry.” He has produced more than 1000 publications on a wide range of topics in entomology, biochemistry, analytical and environmental chemistry in high quality journals. The laboratory has generated more than 80 patents.
The Hammock lab is the home of the UC Davis/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research and Training Program. Lab alumni total more than 65 graduates, who now hold positions of distinction in academia, industry and government. The list also includes more than 300 postdoctoral fellows.
The historical research funding base is diverse and includes long-term grants from NIH, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, UC Mosquito Research Program and many private and research foundation contracts and grants.
