skip page navigationOregon State University

Faculty


Roderick Dashwood, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator and Director, Cancer Chemoprotection Program, Linus Pauling Institute

Professor, Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology

Helen P. Rumbel Professor for Cancer Prevention

Office: 479 Linus Pauling Science Center

Telephone: (541) 737-5086

Fax: (541) 737-5077

Email Address: rod.dashwood@oregonstate.edu

Mailing/Express Delivery Address:
Roderick Dashwood, Ph.D.
Linus Pauling Institute
Oregon State University
307 Linus Pauling Science Center
Corvallis, OR 97331


Education

1982 B.S., Biological Sciences (Cellular Toxicology), University of Plymouth, UK
1983 M.S., Toxicology, University of Surrey, UK
1986 Ph.D., Genetic Toxicology/Carcinogenesis, University of Portsmouth and ICI Central Toxicology Laboratory, UK

Professional Experience

1986-1990 Post-doctoral Associate, Department of Food Science and Technology, Oregon State University (OSU)
1990-1995 Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Biochemistry, University of Hawaii (UH)
1995-1998 Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Biochemistry, UH
1997-1998 Foreign Research Fellow, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan
1998-2002 Principal Investigator, Linus Pauling Institute, OSU
Associate Professor, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, OSU
Member of the Carcinogenesis Core, NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Center, OSU
1998-present Member of the NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Center, OSU
Adjunct Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, OSU
Adjunct Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, OSU
2001-present Director, Cancer Chemoprotection Program, Linus Pauling Institute, OSU
2002-present Principal Investigator, Linus Pauling Institute, OSU
Professor of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, OSU

Honors and Awards

1995 Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching
1997 Regents' Medal for Excellence in Research
1997, 2007 Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research Fellowship, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Helen P. Rumble Professor for Cancer Prevention

Professional Activities

Editorial Boards

Mutation Research Reviews
Pharmacological Research
Clinical Epigenetics
Molecular Carcinogenesis

NIH

Grant Review, National Cancer Institute (NCI)/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) - ad hoc
Grant Review, Cancer Etiology Study Section - ad hoc
National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - ad hoc
Grant Review, Chemo/Dietary Prevention (CDP) Study Section - ad hoc
Grant Review, NCI P01 IRG and Subcommittee E service - ad hoc

Session Chair/Meeting Organizer (2008-present)

Session Chair and member of International Scientific Committee, 4th International Niigata Symposium on Diet and Health, "Integrative functions of diet in anti-aging and cancer prevention", Niigata City, Japan (2008)
Co-chair, LPI "Diet and Optimum Health Conference" (2009)
Session chair, SFRR Asia, Langkawi, Malaysia (2009)
Session chair, International Conference on Nutrition and Physical Activity in Aging, Obesity, and Cancer, Gyenogju, S. Korea (2011)


Research Interests

This lab examines genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of colorectal cancer development. We use human colon cancer cells and whole animal approaches, including transgenic models, to study mutational events in oncogenes and tumor suppressors (e.g., K-ras, beta-catenin, APC), and the influence of dietary chemopreventive agents. Our epigenetic work focuses on dietary phytochemicals and their metabolites as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors (link). Sulforaphane from broccoli, garlic organosulfur and organoselenium compounds, and a short-chain fatty acid derived from gut fermentation of dietary fiber (butyrate) inhibit HDAC activity in cancer cells, and trigger growth arrest/apoptosis. We are now translating this work into human subjects (link).

figure

Rajendran P, Delage B, Dashwood WM, Yu TW, Wuth B, Williams DE, Ho E, Dashwood RH. (2011) Histone deacetylase turnover and recovery in sulforaphane-treated colon cancer cells: competing actions of 14-3-3 and Pin1 in HDAC3/SMRT corepressor complex dissociation/reassembly. Mol Cancer 10:68.


Current Funding

Comparative Mechanisms of Cancer Chemoprevention, National Cancer Institute, NIH (P01 program project grant CA090890), R.H. Dashwood, Program Director and Leader of Project 3 "Chemoprevention of Colon Cancer, HDAC Inhibition and Histone Status"

Dietary HDAC Inhibitors in Colon Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, NIH (R01 grant CA122959), R.H. Dashwood, Principal Investigator


Recent Publications

Hsu A, Wong CP, Williams DE, Dashwood RH, Ho E (2011) Promoter de-methylation of Cyclin D2 by sulforaphane in prostate cancer cells. Clin Epigenetics, in press.

Rajendran P, Ho E, Williams DE, Dashwood RH (2011) Dietary phytochemicals, HDAC inhibition, and DNA damage/repair defects in cancer cells. Clin Epigenetic [Epub ahead of print].

Clarke JD, Hsu A, Williams DE, Dashwood RH, Stevens JF, Yamamoto M, Ho E. (2011) Metabolism and tissue distribution of sulforaphane in Nrf2 knockout and wild-type mice. Pharm Res [Epub ahead of print].

Parasramka M, Ho E, Williams DE, Dashwood RH. (2011) MicroRNAs, diet, and cancer: new mechanistic insights on the epigenetic actions of phytochemicals. Mol Carcinogen [Epub ahead of print].

Lee S-H, Richardson RL, Dashwood RH, Baek SJ. (2011) Capsaicin represses transcriptional activity of beta-catenin in human colorectal cancer cells. J Nutr Biochem [Epub ahead of print].

Li Q, Luo C, Löhr CV, Dashwood RH. (2011) Activator protein-2alpha functions as a master regulator of multiple transcription factors in mouse liver. Hepatol Res 42:776-783.

Rajendran P, Delage B, Dashwood WM, Yu TW, Wuth B, Williams DE, Ho E, Dashwood RH. (2011) Histone deacetylase turnover and recovery in sulforaphane-treated colon cancer cells: competing actions of 14-3-3 and Pin1 in HDAC3/SMRT corepressor complex dissociation/reassembly. Mol Cancer 10:68.

Rajendran P, Williams DE, Ho E, Dashwood RH. (2011) Metabolism as a key to histone deacetylase inhibition. Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol 46:181-199.

Clarke JD, Hsu A, Yu Z, Dashwood RH, Ho E. (2011) Differential effects of sulforaphane on histone deacetylases, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in normal prostate cells versus hyperplastic and cancerous prostate cells. Mol Nutr Food Res 55:999-1009.

Wang R, Dashwood RH. (2011) Endothelins and their receptors in cancer: Identification of therapeutic targets. Pharmacol Res 63:519-524.

Hsu A, Bruno RS, Löhr CV, Taylor AW, Dashwood RH, Bray TM, Ho E. (2011) Dietary soy and tea mitigate chronic inflammation and prostate cancer via NFkappaB pathway in the Noble rat model. J Nutr Biochem 22:502-510.

Wang R, Dashwood WM, Nian H, Löhr CV, Fischer KA, Tsuchiya N, Nakagama H, Ashktorab H, Dashwood RH. (2011) NADPH oxidase overexpression in human colon cancers and rat colon tumors induced by 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP). Int J Cancer 128:2581-2590.

Wang W, Jariyasopit N, Schrlau J, Jia Y, Tao S, Yu T-W, Dashwood RH, Zhang W, Wang X, Simonich SL (2011) Concentration and phytochemistry of PAHs, NPAHs, and OPAHs and toxicity of PM2.5 during the Beijing Olympic Games. Environ Sci Technol 45:6887-6895.