Thomas J. Knobloch, M.S., Ph.D.

Associate Professor – Practice

Environmental Health Sciences

Dr. Knobloch in front of the College of Public Health (Cunz Hall)

Contact

1841 Neil Avenue
434 Cunz Hall
Columbus, OH, 43210
Email: knobloch.1@osu.edu
Phone: 614-292-4168
Website: The Ohio State University – Comprehensive Cancer Center – Molecular Carcinogene…
The Cancer Research Experience for the Advancement and Training of Emerging Sci…

I originally trained in graduate school as a natural scientist using phylogenetics and taxonomic-systematics as tools for defining and redefining species relationships in North American Cyprinidae (that's minnows to most of the world). These studies transitioned into taxonomic characterization of Bacillariophyta (diatoms) in fresh water systems in northern Ohio, especially those consumed by algivorous minnows. Eventually this path lead to work with Ohio Department of Natural Resources investigating the invasive species Petromyzon marinus, the sea lamprey and control measures in the Great Lakes' tributaries.

I moved from Cleveland to Columbus just as the original Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute was being finished, and hiring for qualified researchers was at a premium. I was uniquely unqualified for a career in molecular carcinogenesis, but was hired and mentored by physician-scientist Mark A. Dayton. I returned to graduate school and joined the research group of Jas Campbell Lang in the Department of Otolaryngology investigating a novel gene of then unknown function, designated by us as GRS (Glasgow Rearranged Sequence). Later, the gene and its variants was recognized as BCL2A1, a cell death regulator. For the next six years I would immerse myself in head and neck cancer etiology, biology, molecular profiles, treatment options and prevention strategies.

Subsequently, I joined the School of Public Health to continue work in head and neck cancers, with empahsis on oral cancers and the possible role of natural products, such as black raspberries, as dietary cancer prevention tools. This emerging science of black raspberry-mediated cancer chemoprevention was spearheaded by fundatmental studies by Gary D. Stoner, Ph.D., and would eventually shape the next 25 years of my research efforts. Gaining experience as a research fellow via an NCI T32 training grant in molecular carcinogenesis, I continued to work within the Division of Environmental Health Sciences in the new independent College of Public Health. Using both preclinical models of experimental oral carcinogenesis and early phase human clinical trials, I invesigated the striking ability of black raspberry phytochemicals to reduce biomarkers of DNA damage, chronic non-resolving inflammation and oxidative stress — all hallmarks of cancer.

Most recently I have embarked on two newly emerging fields of intense concern: the connection between harmful algal blooms and human health, and the health risks experienced by firefighters. Cyanotoxins associated with algal blooms increase the risk of liver cancer, and can bioaccumulated in fish, and in plants consumed as fresh produce, and contaminate drinking water when processing facilities are overwhelmed by bloom surges. My interest in this area is determining if dietary black raspberry interventions can reduce tumor incidence and burden during cyanotoxin-mediated liver cancer promotion. Firefigthers have career-long exposures to numerous combustion-associated carcinogens and occupational stressors. The leading cause of deaths in firefighters is in flux between cardiac/cardiovascular events and occupation-associated cancers, including lung cancer. Nutritional interventions leveraging specific functional food components can be used to mediate these stressors (proinflammatory cytokines, oxidative damage, non-resolving inflammation) in this high at-risk population.