
Robert Turesky, BSc, PhD
Titles
Education
PhD, Nutrition and Food Science, MIT
BSc, Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts
Biography
Expertise
Metabolism, Biomarkers, Mass spectrometry
Awards & Recognition
- Scientific Advisory Board of the United States Environmental Protection Agency from 2016 – 2017
- Chosen as Distinguished Foreign Scientist, Cover Issue, “Novel aromatic amine mutagens, unintentionally formed from azo dyes, in river water in Kyoto” Japanese Journal of Cancer Research, 1998 Sep;89(9): Inside front cover. PubMed PMID: 9818020, 1998
- B.Sc., Magna cum laude, in Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts, Amherst., 1978
Research Summary
The Turesky laboratory seeks to understand the roles of long-term exposures of environmental toxicants and endogenous electrophiles to causative factors for human diseases including cancer. We use human cell lines, primary cells, tissues and biological fluids to investigate the toxicity of carcinogens, characterize their metabolic pathways, and their ability to form DNA and protein adducts in humans. There are several chemicals present in the diet, tobacco smoke, and in traditional medicinal herbs that are the focus of our investigations. The laboratory employs state-of-the-art-mass spectrometry methods to conduct metabolic and biomarker studies in humans.
Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) are potential human carcinogens formed in cooked meat and some arise in tobacco smoke. The chemistry of HAA adduct formation with DNA and blood proteins is under study, to develop biomarkers for human cohorts designed to address the role of these chemicals in the diet and the risk of developing cancer. Our goal is to see if differences in dietary habits or metabolic processing of HAAs and their ensuing DNA and protein adducts, can be employed to better understand chemical exposures interindividual susceptibilities.
Aristolochic acids are nitrophenanthrene derivatives present in herbs of Aristolochia, some of which are still found in traditional herbal remedies. A long-sought analytical method employing archived biopsy samples fixed in formalin and paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues was established for measuring DNA damage, by mass spectrometric methods, of renal cancer patients exposed to aristolochic acid, a potent urothelial carcinogen present in some traditional Chinese medicines. This analytical approach allows us to retrospectively screen DNA damage in FFPE tissues for which there is a clinical diagnosis of cancer. We are exploring the versatility of this DNA retrieval method by examination of FFPE samples for DNA adducts associated with hazardous chemicals in cigarette smoke, cooked meats, and air pollution.
DNAand protein adductomics. Novel scanning approaches, by ion trap mass and high resolution accurate mass spectrometry, are under development to screen human biospecimens for a variety of DNA and blood protein adducts formed with carcinogens present in the diet and environment. These screening methods are expected to provide us with a better understanding of the major chemical exposures that damage the genome and proteins, and lead to the onset of diseases including cancer.
Exfoliated urinary cells are being used to develop and characterize DNA adduct biomarkers that may help to explain the origin or urinary tract cancers in tobacco smokers.
Publications
- Bellamri M, Walmsley SJ, Yao L, Rosenquist TA, Weight CJ, Villalta PW, Turesky RJ. Untargeted DNA Adductomics Identifies Aristolochic Acid III as a Potent DNA-Damaging Agent among 11 Substituted Aromatic Genotoxicants in the Rat Urinary System. Chem Res Toxicol. 2025 Jun 16. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.5c00126. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40521810
- Pan TY, Lee JY, Chen JJ, Liu YW, Abishaw AN, Su MW, Lin CW, Hsieh TJ, Peng CY, Turesky RJ, Bellamri M, Kwan AL, Wu CF, Wu MT. Association of ADH1B and ALDH2 genotypes with the risk of lung adenocarcinoma. Pharmacogenet Genomics. 2025 Apr 1;35(3):89-100. doi: 10.1097/FPC.0000000000000555. Epub 2024 Dec 10. PubMed PMID: 39641391.
- Turesky RJ, Jones C, Guo J, Cammerrer K, Maertens LA, Antonarakis ES, Lu Z, Spector LG. Biomonitoring PhIP, a Potential Prostatic Carcinogen, in the Hair of Healthy Men of African and European Ancestry. Toxics. 2025 Jan 8;13(1). doi: 10.3390/toxics13010042. PubMed PMID: 39853040; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11769170.
- Bellamri M, Yao L, Tomar R, Vartanian V, Rizzo CJ, Stone MP, Groopman JD, Lloyd RS, Turesky RJ. Mass Spectrometry-Based Method to Measure Aflatoxin B(1) DNA Adducts in Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Tissues. Chem Res Toxicol. 2024 Apr 15;37(4):633-642. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.4c00005. Epub 2024 Mar 18. PubMed PMID: 38498000; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11279702.
- Caipa Garcia AL, Kucab JE, Al-Serori H, Beck RSS, Bellamri M, Turesky RJ, Groopman JD, Francies HE, Garnett MJ, Huch M, Drost J, Zilbauer M, Arlt VM, Phillips DH. Tissue Organoid Cultures Metabolize Dietary Carcinogens Proficiently and Are Effective Models for DNA Adduct Formation. Chem Res Toxicol. 2024 Feb 19;37(2):234-247. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.3c00255. Epub 2024 Jan 17. PubMed PMID: 38232180; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10880098.
- Ragi N, Walmsley SJ, Jacobs FC, Rosenquist TA, Sidorenko VS, Yao L, Maertens LA, Weight CJ, Balbo S, Villalta PW, Turesky RJ. Screening DNA Damage in the Rat Kidney and Liver by Untargeted DNA Adductomics. Chem Res Toxicol. 2024 Feb 19;37(2):340-360. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.3c00333. Epub 2024 Jan 9. PubMed PMID: 38194517; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10922321.
- Walmsley SJ, Guo J, Tarifa A, DeCaprio AP, Cooke MS, Turesky RJ, Villalta PW. Mass Spectral Library for DNA Adductomics. Chem Res Toxicol. 2024 Feb 19;37(2):302-310. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.3c00302. Epub 2024 Jan 17. PubMed PMID: 38231175; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10939812.
- Konorev D, Bellamri M, Wu CF, Wu MT, Turesky RJ. High-Field Asymmetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry Analysis of Carcinogenic Aromatic Amines in Tobacco Smoke with an Orbitrap Tribrid Mass Spectrometer. Chem Res Toxicol. 2023 Aug 21;36(8):1419-1426. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.3c00143. Epub 2023 Jul 18. PubMed PMID: 37462928; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10530005.
- Bellamri M, Brandt K, Cammerrer K, Syeda T, Turesky RJ, Cannon JR. Nuclear DNA and Mitochondrial Damage of the Cooked Meat Carcinogen 2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine in Human Neuroblastoma Cells. Chem Res Toxicol. 2023 Aug 21;36(8):1361-1373. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.3c00109. Epub 2023 Jul 8. PubMed PMID: 37421305; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10626466.
- Bellamri M, Terrell JT, Brandt K, Gruppi F, Turesky RJ, Rizzo CJ. Anthracyclines React with Apurinic/Apyrimidinic Sites in DNA. ACS Chem Biol. 2023 Jun 16;18(6):1315-1323. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.3c00033. Epub 2023 May 18. PubMed PMID: 37200590; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10391585.
- Jaruga P, Tomar R, Kant M, Vartanian V, Sexton B, Rizzo CJ, Turesky RJ, Stone MP, Lloyd RS, Dizdaroglu M. Synthesis and Characterization of (15)N(5)-Labeled Aflatoxin B(1)-Formamidopyrimidines and Aflatoxin B(1)-N7-Guanine from a Partial Double-Stranded Oligodeoxynucleotide as Internal Standards for Mass Spectrometric Measurements. ACS Omega. 2023 Apr 25;8(16):14841-14854. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c01328. eCollection 2023 Apr 25. PubMed PMID: 37125130; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10134230.