- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Triclosan researcher Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, is featured in the Sept. 4 edition of Newsweek in a piece titled "Is Cancer Lurking in Your Toothpaste? (And Your Soap? And Your Lipstick?)"
Writer Alexander Nazaryan led with: "Since cancer seems to be an ever-present enemy, we greet the appearance of its lethal emissaries in prosaic objects with a morbid lack of surprise: carcinogens lurks in coffee, hamburgers, rugs, dry-cleaned clothes, even peanut butter. And it may apparently reside in one of the most popular toothpastes on the market, a toothpaste you've probably thrown into your own shopping cart with nary a second thought."
Of Hammock, he wrote:
"But for others, the chemicals aren't dangerous if used with moderation. Dr. Bruce D. Hammock, for example, runs the Laboratory of Pesticide and Biotechnology at UC Davis and was one of the investigators involved in the study on triclosan and triclocarban. 'There are real risks to triclosan,' Hammock says. 'And there are real benefits.' He welcomes more research into its effects on the human body.
Hammock called triclosan “quite a good antimicrobial” that belongs in the hospital, not on the kitchen counter, Nazaryan wrote. He quoted Hammock: “There's no reason for it to be there" (in hand and dish soaps).
See the full story in Newsweek.
In addition to his duties in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (see his lab research website), Hammock holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and directs the campuswide Superfund Research Program, National Institutes of Health Biotechnology Training Program, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Combined Analytical Laboratory.
The UC Davis provost named him a distinguished professor in 2003. Hammock is a fellow of the Entomological Society of America, a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, and the recipient of the 2001 UC Davis Faculty Research Lecture Award and the 2008 Distinguished Teaching Award for Graduate and Professional Teaching.
Related News:
See the Aug. 13, 2012 UC Davis news release expanding on triclosan: "Triclosan, an antibacterial chemical widely used in hand soaps and other personal-care products, hinders muscle contractions at a cellular level, slows swimming in fish and reduces muscular strength in mice, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the university of Colorado. The findings appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis Entomology and Nematology Photo Gallery for August 2014.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Bruce's Big Battle at Briggs, which draws professors, researchers, visiting scientists, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and undergraduate students and their friends and families, showcases what the internationally known Hammock lab does for camaraderie and fun.
The event amounts to a 10-minute break from their 52 weeks of scientific work.
The water warriors are so proficient that the event actually spans about 8 to 9 minutes, said organizer Christophe Morisseau, associate research scientist.
Hammock, a distinguished professor of entomology who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, launched the water balloon fest in 2003 as a way to build camaraderie and gain relief from the heat. Temperatures soared to 98 degrees on Thursday, July 24, the afternoon of the battle.
For the occasion, the water warriors first filled 2000 small water balloons on the Briggs Hall lawn.
“We did try filling the balloons differently this year to conserve water,” said Hammock lab program manager Cindy McReynolds. “We devised a filling station out of drip line and valves so we could fill the balloons outside and also turn off the water when not in use.”
Thirty-nine people comprise the Hammock lab: 11 postdoctoral fellows, 8 research staff, 7 visiting scholars, 4 graduate students, 4 undergraduates, 4 staff and one part-time student assistant.
The Hammock lab has always enjoyed an international presence. Of the researchers this year, 8 are from China, 3 from France, 2 from Hong Kong, 2 from the Ukraine, and 1 each from India, Japan and Canada.
“They caught on quickly,' said Louisa Suet Yi Lo, administrative assistant. “It didn't take long for them to warm up and they really enjoyed dousing each other, especially the big boss, Bruce Hammock.”
"It was great seeing everyone relaxing and having so much fun," said Grace Bedoian of the administrative staff who will be retiring July 30. "They work hard and they play hard.”
Hammock, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the Entomological Society of America, directs the campuswide Superfund Research Program, National Institutes of Health Biotechnology Training Program, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Combined Analytical Laboratory.
As an extra bonus, the annual battle provides a little water for the thirsty Briggs Hall lawn, which is used by campus wildlife, including ducks, turkeys, squirrels, birds, butterflies and bees.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The 12th annual Bruce Hammock Lab Water Balloon Battle will take place at 3 p.m., Thursday, July 24 on the north side of the Briggs Hall lawn.
Christophe Morisseau, associate research scientist, said the lab has 2000 water balloons to fill; anyone who wants to be a water warrior must participate in the filling, which starts at 1 p.m. by the Briggs loading dock.
All are invited. “Whoever wants to get wet,” Morisseau said. “Children and spouses are always welcome.”
In the past, the water warriors, led by Bruce Hammock and Morisseau, have included professors, researchers, visiting scientistis, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and undergraduate students.
In addition to the water balloons, some favor squirt guns and toy pressurized water blasters. Others hoist half-filled buckets of water for sneak attacks.
So proficient are the water warriors that the “15 minutes of fame” often turns into “10 minutes of aim.”
Hammock, a distinguished professor of entomology who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, launched the water balloon fest in 2003 as a way to build camaraderie and gain relief from the heat.
The Hammock lab works hard and plays hard. Hammock, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the Entomological Society of America, directs the campuswide Superfund Research Program, National Institutes of Health Biotechnology Training Program, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Combined Analytical Laboratory.
DAVIS--Researchers at UC Davis, University of Massachusetts and Harvard Medical School have created a combination drug that controls both tumor growth and metastasis. By combining a COX-2 inhibitor, similar to Celebrex, and an epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitor, the drug controls angiogenesis (blood vessel formation), limiting a tumor's ability to grow and spread. The study appears July 14 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“We've been studying the effects of COX and sEH inhibitors, both by themselves and in combination, for several years,” said senior author and UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock. “We were surprised to find that the dual inhibitor was more active than higher doses of each compound, either individually or together. By combining the two molecules into one we got much greater potency against several diseases and completely unique effects in terms of blocking tumor growth and metastasis.”
Both COX and sEH enzymes control lipid signaling, which has long been associated with inflammation, cell migration, proliferation, hypertension and other processes. COX inhibitors block production of inflammatory and pain-inducing lipids, while sEH inhibitors preserve anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory and analgesic compounds. Separate COX and sEH inhibitors were previously found to work together in reducing inflammation and neuropathic pain.
After testing individual COX-2 and sEH inhibitors, the team synthesized the drug (PTUTB), the first combined COX-2/sEH inhibitor. They then tested the dual inhibitor against human lung and breast tumors, both in vitro and in mice. They found that PTUTB blocked angiogenesis, inhibiting the proliferation of endothelial cells, which are critical to blood vessel formation. This in turn limited tumor growth and metastasis, reducing lung and breast tumor growth by 70 to 83 percent.
In breast and lung cancers, the dual inhibitor blocked angiogenesis, which blocked the growth of solid tumors,” said Hammock. “This represents a new mechanism to control blood vessel and tumor growth.”
“This is particularly important when administering COX-2 inhibitors, which have well-known cardiovascular risks,” he said. “However, the added sEH inhibitor appears to block COX-2's side effects.”
The research was initiated by first author Guodong Zhang when he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Hammock laboratory. Zhang previously demonstrated that sEH inhibitors improve the power of omega-3 fatty acid (fish oil) diets to reduce tumor growth and metastasis, and implicated epoxides of the dietary supplement DHA as the causative agent.
By advancing a new anti-angiogenic compound, the study extends the work of renowned Harvard Medical School physician and researcher Judah Folkman, who illuminated the importance of angiogenesis to tumor growth, inspiring a new class of anti-cancer drugs. Two of the study's authors, Dipak Panigrahy and Mark Kieran, previously worked with Folkman at Harvard Medical School.
Though the research was focused exclusively on cancer, researchers said the dual compound could benefit other conditions, such as macular degeneration.
“If we move beyond cancer, this drug combination could block a number of pathologies, ranging from cardiac hypertrophy to neuropathic pain,” said Hammock. “The compound looks quite powerful for a number of conditions.”
The research teams are continuing their work on several fronts.
“One member of our research team already has made more potent inhibitors with more drug-like properties,” Hammock said. “We are looking at the molecules for a variety of indications alone and in combination, including for kidney disease, fibrotic diseases, pancreatic and colon cancer and other problems.” The molecules are patented by the University of California and are available for license and testing.
Co-author Jun-Yan Liu, who performed the analytical chemistry for the study while a postgraduate researcher at UC Davis, is now examining the efficacy of the compounds in kidney disease and gout at a laboratory in the Shanghai Tenth Peoples Hospital.
“One of the most exciting things about this project was the ability to work with experts in multiple fields to find new drug class and new mechanism that promises to actually help people with cancer,” Liu said.
Other researchers included Sung Hee Hwang, Jun Yang, Lisa M. Mahakian, Yanru Wang, Elizabeth S. Ingham, Sarah Tam, Robert H. Weiss and Katherine W. Ferrara, all of UC Davis, and Hiromi I. Wettersten, formerly of UC Davis and now at UC San Diego.
The research was supported by NIEHS R01 ES02710, Superfund P42 ES04699, NIH/NIOSH U54 OH07550, R01 CA134659, R01 CA112356, R01 CA103828, NIH contract HHSN268201000043C, Research Investments in the Sciences and Engineering (RISE) Program of UC Davis, R01 CA148633, R01 CA135401, R01 DK082690, the Stop and Shop Pediatric Brain Tumor Fund, the C.J. Buckley Pediatric Brain Tumor Fund, the Medical Service of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Asthma Society.--UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, UC Davis Health System Public Affairs
(Editor's Note: Bruce Hammock has a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. He directs the campuswide Superfund Research Program, National Institutes of Health Biotechnology Training Program, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Combined Analytical Laboratory.)