1. Bruce Nathan Ames was an American biochemist who was a professor of biochemistry and Molecular Biology Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and was a senior scientist at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute.
18 Facts About Bruce Ames
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Bruce Ames invented the Ames test, a widely used assay for easily and cheaply evaluating the mutagenicity of compounds.
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Bruce Ames, raised in New York City, was a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science.
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Bruce Ames was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1970.
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Bruce Ames is a recipient of the Bolton S Corson Medal in 1980, Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 1985, the Japan Prize in 1997, the National Medal of Science in 1998 and the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal in 2004, among many others.
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Bruce Ames' research focuses on cancer and aging and he has authored over 550 scientific publications.
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Bruce Ames is among the few hundred most-cited scientists in all fields.
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Bruce Ames was interested in mutagens as they relate to cancer prevention and aging.
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Bruce Ames received more than $650,000 in support from the National Foundation for Cancer Research between 1998 and 2007.
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Bruce Ames was married to Giovanna Ferro-Luzzi Ames, who was a professor of biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Bruce Ames died of complications from a fall on October 5,2024 at a hospital in Berkeley, California at the age of 95.
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The Bruce Ames test became widely used as an initial screen for possible carcinogens and has been used to identify potential carcinogens previously used in commercial products.
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The ease with which Bruce Ames test allows widely used chemicals to be identified as possible carcinogens made him an early hero of environmentalism.
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Subsequent work in Bruce Ames' lab involved looking at an overview of what was mutagenic or carcinogenic, and to what degree.
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Bruce Ames continued to test various natural and man-made compounds, and discovered that, despite what he and others had assumed, naturally occurring compounds were not turning out to be benign as compared to man-made ones.
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Bruce Ames's continued work eventually led to his falling out of favor with many environmentalists.
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Bruce Ames argued against the banning of synthetic pesticides and other chemicals such as Alar which have been shown to be carcinogenic.
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Bruce Ames published results showing that many ordinary food products would be found carcinogenic according to the same criteria.