Overview

Dr. Ames is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley , and a Senior Scientist at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) .

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and he was on their Commission on Life Sciences. He was a member of the board of directors of the National Cancer Institute, the National Cancer Advisory Board, from 1976 to 1982. He was the recipient of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Prize (1983), the Tyler Environmental Prize (1985), the Gold Medal Award of the American Institute of Chemists (1991), the Glenn Foundation Award of the Gerontological Society of America (1992), the Lovelace Institutes Award for Excellence in Environmental Health Research (1995), the Honda Prize of the Honda Foundation, Japan (1996), the Japan Prize, (1997), the Kehoe Award, American College of Occup. and Environ. Med. (1997), the Medal of the City of Paris (1998), the U.S. National Medal of Science (1998), The Linus Pauling Institute Prize for Health Research (2001), and the American Society for Microbiology Lifetime Achievement Award (2001).

His over 450 publications have resulted in his being among the few hundred most-cited scientists (in all fields).

The Laboratory of Bruce Ames, PhD

Dr. Ames’ research focuses on identifying mutagenic agents that damage human DNA and the defenses against them. He is also working to elucidate the consequences of DNA damage for cancer and aging. Ames has discovered that deficiencies of certain micronutrients–such as vitamins B12, B6, C, E, folate, and niacin, and the minerals iron and zinc–appear to mimic radiation in damaging DNA. He and his group have found that folate deficiency breaks chromosomes due to massive incorporation of uracil into human DNA.

The group’s recent work indicates that deficiency of vitamin B12 or B6, both very common, causes similar high uracil levels and DNA damage. Micronutrient deficiency may explain why the quarter of the population that eats the fewest fruits and vegetables has double the cancer rate for most types of cancer when compared with the quarter that consumes the most fruits and vegetables.
The group has found that aging may be caused, in good part, by oxidants produced as by-products of normal metabolism, which alter mitochondrial function. The mitochondria of old rats, when compared to young rats, were found to be impaired in many ways. Feeding old rats the normal mitochondrial metabolites, acetyl carnitine and lipoic acid, reversed much of the impairment. The group is investigating the effect of these metabolites on lifespan and brain function, and is exploring the extension of their studies to humans.