Linus
Pauling Institute
Prize for Health Research
Presented to Dr. Bruce Ames
At the banquet on May 18, the first Linus Pauling Institute Prize for Health Research was presented to Dr. Bruce Ames, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Director of the Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of California at Berkeley. The Prize, consisting of a medal featuring a portrait of Linus Pauling and $50,000, recognizes excellence in the field of orthomolecular medicine, especially the study of micronutrients, vitamins, and phytochemicals in promoting optimal health and in the prevention and treatment of disease. The prize money was generously contributed to LPI by a donor who wishes anonymity. Dr. Ames is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a 1998 recipient of the National Medal of Science, which acknowledged him for "changing the direction of basic and applied research on mutation, cancer, and aging". He devised a widely used bacterial assay, the Salmonella Mutagenicity Assay or simply, the "Ames test", for determining the mutagenicity of chemicals that has had enormous importance in preventing their commercial introduction. Dr. Ames is a leading proponent of the hypothesis that oxidative damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids leads to aging and age-related disease, such as cancer, cataracts, and heart disease. According to Dr. Ames, such damage may be ameliorated by dietary antioxidants like vitamins C and E. Dr. Ames has also stressed the role of chronic inflammation in cancer and has become interested in the possible causal role of B vitamin deficiencies, including folate, B6, and B12, in cancer and brain dysfunction.
In his presentation
of the award, Dr. Richard Scanlan, Dean of Research emeritus at Oregon
State University and the chair of the Prize Selection Committee, noted
that "Bruce Ames has been described as the quintessential scientist.
His enviable record of scientific accomplishments has resulted in approximately
450 scientific publications, and he is one of the most cited authors from
the 1970s to the present." Scanlan continued, "Like Pauling,
Bruce Ames has been highly effective in communicating important health
care information to legislative bodies, to policy makers, and to the general
public." Scanlan quoted from several of the nomination letters, one
of which noted that "Dr. Ames' brilliance in linking the methods
and precepts of molecular biology to modern nutrition, translating this
work to the promotion of health and prevention of chronic diseases, and
working to apply these efforts to public health—together with his
training of an international legion of scientific leaders—truly embodies
the attributes and principles associated with Linus Pauling."
Last updated November, 2001