Thomas J. Knobloch, MS, PhD

Associate Professor – Practice
Environmental Health Sciences

Email
knobloch.1@osu.edu
Phone
614-292-4168
Office
434 Cunz Hall, 1841 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210
Links
Thomas J. Knobloch

Biography

Dr. Knobloch is an National Cancer Institute-trained molecular biologist whose work emphasizes discovery of prognostic biomarkers of carcinogenic progression and predictive biomarkers for cancer prevention using early phase human clinical trials. His interest within the disease landscape emphasizes dietary and functional food intervention strategies impacting high at-risk mucosa (HARM), especialy the microenvironment of the oral cavity.

Populations of interest for his research include those at elevated risk from behavioral (smoking), occupational (firefighters), and environmental (harmful algal blooms cyanotoxins) exposures that contribute to higher risk of disease.

Most recently (2025), in work lead by Dr. Yael Vodovotz in Food Science and Technology with fellow Investigator Dr. Mark H. Weir in Environmental Health Sciences, Dr. Knobloch investigated the intersection of bioactive natural products derived from food processing “waste,” triple bottom line sustainability and beneficial health outcomes (President’s Research Excellence program, Accelerator Grant).

Education

B.S. Biology
Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, John Carroll University
M.S. Ichthyology Morphometrics and Diatom Phylogenetics
John Carroll University
Ph.D. Molecular
Cellular and Developmental Biology, The Ohio State University
NCI Fellowship in Molecular Carcinogenesis

Research interests

My research program includes several key interests:

  1. Characterizing malignant molecular progression of epithelial carcinogenesis in cancers associated with tobacco smoking, alcohol consumtion, and HPV infections (oral cancers, cervical cancers).
  2. The use of food-based interventions as implementable cancer risk-reduction strategies, with special emphasis on the bioactive phytochemicals present in black raspberries.
  3. The emerging role of bacterial cyanotoxins released during harmful algal blooms in the promotion of liver cancer in susceptible populations.
  4. Investigating the knowledge gap surrounding effective harm reduction and reducing cancer risk in firefighting personnel.

My work is fundamentally translational in nature and emphasizes the integrated participation of genomic (epigenetic, SNPs), transcriptional (expression signatures), metabolic (bioactive signaling cascades), and microbiomic (host-bacterial ecosystems) landscapes

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