海角社区

Chemist Robert P. Hammer Who Helped Revolutionize Genome Sequencing Named NAI Fellow

Today鈥檚 industry standard of whole genome analysis, used by many to track their ancestry, and in some cases genetic traits and predispositions, is based on the universal DNA array, invented by an 海角社区 chemist and his colleagues at Weill Cornell Medicine and University of Minnesota in the 1990s. Robert P. Hammer, William A. Pryor Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, holds 39 US and international patents and is now being inducted as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, or NAI.

  

 

鈥淭he first thing I thought of when someone congratulated me on the NAI fellowship,鈥� Hammer recalls, 鈥渋s that I鈥檝e had the good fortune to have great mentors and collaborators, and that鈥檚 what you need to do science and innovate these days.鈥�
 
Hammer started his career as an assistant professor at 海角社区 in 1992 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship focused on oligonucleotide chemistry with Professor Albert Eschenmoser at the Federal Institute of Technology, or ETH, in Zurich, Switzerland.
 
鈥淚t was difficult interviewing for academic positions in the US from Switzerland,鈥� Hammer remembers. 鈥淚 coordinated one trip where I did five interviews in what was probably two to three weeks. At 海角社区, I met a dynamic group of people in the chemistry department and they had just hired five or six highly talented people in the last year or two, including Isiah Warner, Steve Soper, and Robin McCarley. 海角社区 was a great fit for me.鈥�
 
In his early days at 海角社区, Hammer often reached out to his former PhD advisor at the University of Minnesota, George Barany, for advice and assistance. But he also received what he calls 鈥渟trong鈥� mentorship and support from his new 海角社区 colleagues.
 
鈥淢y chemistry colleagues Rich Gandour [now at Virginia Tech], George Stanley [2018 Rainmaker], Mary Barkley [now at Case Western Reserve], and Andy Maverick were all immensely helpful in looking at things I鈥檇 written. They helped me organize my teaching and attract good graduate students to my lab,鈥� he says. 鈥淕eorge Stanley in particular was key to making sure assistant professors were included in graduate student recruiting and had good student collaborators in their research groups.鈥�

 

... he kept us all focused on what was the most important鈥攎entoring students, teaching, and getting research done. A very wise person. If you said something stupid like, 鈥業鈥檒l spend my time doing X,鈥� and X was a complete waste of time, he鈥檇 say, 鈥楧on鈥檛 do X. Do Y.鈥�

鈥淎s far as advice I received as an assistant professor,鈥� Hammer continues, 鈥淚 remember some pithy phrases from Rich Gandour, but mostly he kept us all focused on what was the most important鈥攎entoring students, teaching, and getting research done. A very wise person. If you said something stupid like, 鈥業鈥檒l spend my time doing X,鈥� and X was a complete waste of time, he鈥檇 say, 鈥楧on鈥檛 do X. Do Y.鈥� I鈥檇 go on about joining some committee and he鈥檇 say, 鈥榃ell, you鈥檙e already on a number of committees that are doing really good work. Focus on mentoring and teaching.鈥� He got his point across.鈥�
 
Hammer is the first to admit that he wasn鈥檛 much of a science prodigy as a kid. Although he was interested in math and science, he wasn鈥檛 sure what he wanted to do in life. His mother always encouraged him to become a doctor, so Hammer entered college as a psychology pre-medicine major. But he quickly realized that his interest was in chemistry. The main reason for that was Professor Steve Zumdahl, his freshman chemistry teacher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
 
鈥淗e was a dynamic lecturer,鈥� Hammer says. 鈥淎nd while the subject was difficult, he made it fun through great demonstrations and his overwhelming love of the subject.鈥�
 
Hammer switched his major to chemistry with an emphasis on biochemistry as he鈥檇 always had an interest in biology.
 
鈥淭he next game changer for me was taking Advanced Organic Chemistry Laboratory with Professor Scott Denmark,鈥� Hammer recalls. 鈥淗e emphasized the discovery side of chemistry and that doing a reaction could yield unexpected results that one could figure out. I realized in that class that I wanted to do chemistry for a living. In his laboratory, I learned the beginnings of the craft and science of synthetic organic chemistry.鈥�
 
鈥淚 began to understand that you could make a new organic chemical from 鈥榓ir, earth, fire, and water,鈥欌�� Hammer continues. 鈥淭hat was just so cool; you could distill things or separate them using chromatography and apply some of the theory I鈥檇 learned in books to new discoveries and make a compound no one had ever made before.鈥�
 
After getting his BS with Distinction in Chemistry, Hammer went to graduate school at the University of Minnesota, focusing on synthetic peptide chemistry.
 
鈥淭here I learned that organic chemistry and science in general is a collaborative endeavor,鈥� he says. 鈥淕eorge [Barany, PhD advisor] taught me how to organize my ideas and how to work with other talented scientists to make the whole project greater than the sum of our individual efforts.鈥�
 
鈥淭he thing that excited me the most in graduate school was that when you had an idea or observed something, you could test it out, and then improve on your process or idea,鈥� Hammer continues. 鈥淭he ability to design experiments and determine whether your hypothesis was right or not was fun鈥攁nd of course, sometimes it was a total disaster! Occasionally, it didn鈥檛 work at all! 鈥� But you learned something from that experience. As George told me, 鈥榃hen you fall down you make sure you pick something up on your way back up.鈥� You make sure you understand what happened and learn something from it. 鈥極h, my design was wrong,鈥� or, 鈥楳y hypothesis was not correct,鈥� or, 鈥楽omething different is happening.鈥欌��

 

Together, they developed universal arrays to look for mutated DNA in tissue or blood samples for early detection of cancer. This work revolutionized the world of genome sequencing, reducing the time required from years to mere days, and is now the basis for all 鈥渘ext generation鈥� DNA sequencing used in diagnostics and genetics.

At 海角社区, Hammer鈥檚 research focus became peptide and nucleic acid chemistry. Within a year, he鈥檇 won the 海角社区 College of Basic Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award and soon started collaborating with his PhD advisor鈥檚 brother, Francis Barany, who had some ideas of ways to make arrays for nucleic acid applications, including DNA sequencing applications for detecting low-level amounts of mutations in samples from cancer patients. Working together, Hammer and the Barany brothers developed zip code chemistry and universal DNA arrays to look for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and mutated DNA to detect low-level cancer mutations. This work helped revolutionize the world of genomics, and is now the basis for all 鈥渘ext generation鈥� DNA sequencing used in diagnostics and genetics.
 
Hammer also worked with William Hansel [the late Gordon Cain Professor at 海角社区 and researcher at Pennington Biomedical Research Center] on curcumin, which gives turmeric its yellow color and had been proposed to be both an anti-inflammatory and an anti-cancer agent.
 
鈥淔ormulating it as a drug was difficult, however, because curcumin is insoluble in everything,鈥� Hammer says. 鈥淏ill had been working on using peptides to target drugs at certain tissues in the body, so we tried conjugating curcumin to an LHRH-peptide, which is very soluble in water, and this made the curcumin both soluble and targeted. Those discoveries led to patents I鈥檓 very proud of.鈥�
 
Using peptides and nucleic acids for health became Hammer鈥檚 main research focus.
 
鈥淚n biological chemistry, there are four major types of molecules that make up the cellular machinery, and they are proteins or peptides, nucleic acids, lipids, and polysaccharides,鈥� Hammer explains. 鈥淸Professor in the 海角社区 Departments of Chemistry and Biological Sciences] Roger Laine, who was inducted as an NAI fellow this past year, is working on sugars, while I work on peptides and nucleic acids. At 海角社区, my office was almost as messy as Roger鈥檚.鈥�
 
In 2003, the year after he became full professor and director of the 海角社区 Peptide and Protein Facility, Hammer won the 海角社区 Distinguished Faculty Award.
 
鈥淎s I started rising through the professorial ranks, something I learned is that once you develop a good-sized research group, your group would rather not have you in the lab. Students want to be independent, and that鈥檚 what you want, too,鈥� Hammer remarked. 鈥淢y role became to mentor and train them and help them train each other how to do the work necessary to test our hypotheses. Once I became full professor, I did almost no lab work while working with large amounts of lab data produced by my students. Of course, you want your students to be safe and give them good initial training, but it is difficult to get in the lab with all of the other responsibilities you have as a faculty member.鈥�

 

鈥淢y induction is largely due to working with great colleagues; all of my patents are collaborative with either colleagues or students or my colleagues鈥� students. The only way I was able to get this NAI fellowship is by working with other highly talented and innovative people.鈥�

In 2008, Hammer left 海角社区 to work in industry on pharmaceutical research.
 
鈥淕oing from academia to industry was a cool transition for me because it allowed me to get back into the lab. I was able to spend about 50 percent of my time in the lab teaching and training others and doing cutting-edge research in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector.鈥�
 
Hammer is currently Director of Technical Operations at in Cambridge, Massachusetts, developing peptides as investigational drugs. One drug candidate he helped discover, called zilucoplan, is now in a phase III clinical trial for a rare neuromuscular immune disease called myasthenia gravis, or MG. Zilucoplan is designed to be an inhibitor of the complement system, which is part of the innate immune system. The innate immune system is distinct from the adaptive immune system, which makes antibodies to foreign agents like viruses and bacteria. In humans, the complement system works in concert with the adaptive immune system, but sometimes it reacts when it shouldn鈥檛, leading to pathologies like autoimmune disorders.
 
鈥淏y inhibiting the complement system, we can prevent it from attacking healthy cells and tissues when it doesn鈥檛 need to,鈥� Hammer explains. 鈥淭his can reduce the severity of a disease like MG, which causes weakness in your muscles鈥攖ypically the face and neck, but it can be generalized. MG can be fatal if it attacks the muscles that control breathing.鈥�
 
Hammer is hopeful that, if approved, zilucoplan will be an effective therapy for patients with a wide range of complement-based diseases for which there are limited therapies or only ones that are extremely expensive and therefore not available to all patients.
 
Regarding his NAI fellowship, Hammer makes a point of sharing the honor with many of his former colleagues and students at 海角社区 as well as collaborators at other institutions.
 
鈥淢y induction is largely due to working with great colleagues; all of my patents are collaborative with either colleagues or students or my colleagues鈥� students,鈥� Hammer concludes. 鈥淭he only way I was able to get this NAI fellowship is by working with other highly talented and innovative people.鈥�

 

 

Elsa Hahne
海角社区 Office of Research & Economic Development
225-578-4774
ehahne@lsu.edu