John Bucher, PhD, chief scientist in the NIEHS division of the National Toxicology Program (DNTP), retired in April after nearly four decades at the institute. According to his colleagues, his scientific achievements, innovative thinking and mentorship will leave a lasting impression.
Throughout his career, Bucher developed his knowledge of the health effects of many environmental factors, such as fluoride and cell phone radiation. He has also expanded the understanding and adoption of non-animal approaches to toxicology research.
Reducing the use of animals
After receiving his undergraduate degree in biology from Knox College in Illinois, Bucher earned a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then studied pharmacology as a doctoral student at the University of Iowa.
Later, Bucher drew insights from pharmacology when developing ways to reduce the use of animals in toxicology research and to study chemicals more quickly and efficiently. His achievements in this regard were particularly rewarding, he said.
“Traditional toxicology studies are often expensive and time-consuming, and it can take years to publish results,” Bucher said. “I am proud that my colleagues and I realized this was unsustainable and worked to develop new experimental approaches.”
In 1991, Bucher, left, helped the NTP publicize its review of fluoride, with former NIEHS and NTP Director David Rall, MD, PhD, Center; and Mike Gallo, Ph.D., former chair of the NTP Council of Scientific Advisers. (Image credits to NIEHS)intellectual influence
In the early 2000s, Boucher carried his lead by promoting such approaches in contributions to a strategic roadmap. National Toxicology Program(https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/) (NTP). Rick Woichick, Director of the NIEHS and NTP, noted that “John brought bold thinking to the field, and played a pivotal role in transforming toxicology into a more predictive science.”
“We wanted to identify potential risks to human health from a wide range of chemicals via high-throughput screening, using robotics and associated bioinformatic technologies,” Boucher explained.
This new focus represents a paradigm shift in toxicology, and was a major influence on a 2007 report by the National Research Council entitled “Toxicity testing in the twenty-first century: vision and strategy. The publication led to a federal partnership that still exists today.
Collaborators include researchers from DNTP, the National Human Genome Research Institute, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). More information about this A joint effort, called Tox21(https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/tox21/index.html)Available.
Bucher spoke with Mary Wolf, PhD, DNTP’s acting deputy director for policy and communications, during a July 2017 peer review of NTP’s technical reports. (Image credits to Steve McCaw / NIEHS)Leadership in NIEHS, NTP
Boucher joined the NIEHS as a toxicologist in 1983, eventually rising to leadership positions. He became co-director of NTP in 2007. Bucher worked with former NIEHS and NTP Director Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., to transform the institute’s NTP-related efforts into an internal research unit, DNTP. He became the Scientific Director of DNTP in 2011.
“John has been an amazing and consistent force at the NIEHS and the NTP,” Birnbaum said. “In his quiet way, he pushed science forward, and his retirement left a huge gaping hole.”
Some of Bucher’s other contributions and achievements are listed below (see second sidebar for more highlights). He emphasized that all efforts were collaborative.
Boucher portrait, taken in the 1990s. (Image credits to NIEHS)- facilitate shaping Interagency Coordination Committee for Validation of Alternative Methods(https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/niceatm/iccvam/index.html) and the Office of Health Assessment and Translation.
- Develop and adopt systematic review methods for evaluating the environmental health literature.
- Coordinated research responses to the chemical spill in the Elk River, West Virginia, at the request of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, and the methyl isocyanate poisoning incident in Bhopal, India, at the request of the U.S. Department of State.
His guidance was important
Nigel Walker, PhD, of DNTP, said Bucher supervised studies of a variety of exposures while at the National Institute of Health, ranging from acrylamide to zinc. “He covered literally everything, from the ground up,” Walker joked.
“For 10 years as his deputy, I’ve had the good fortune to see John work so closely,” he continued. “John was instrumental in helping me and many others get to where we are today. He challenged us and provided us with opportunities as we had to rise to the level of solving complex problems.
“Due to John’s leadership, the NTP brand is viewed globally as the gold standard in toxicology research. We wish him a wonderful retirement.”
(Jesse Saffron, JD, is the media relations coordinator for the NIEHS Office of Communications and Public Liaison.)
Check out these papers for more details on Bucher’s research and ideas. – so.
Gwen WM, Auerbach SS, Parham F, Stout MD, Widianata S, Mutlo E, Collins B, Pulse RS, Merrick PA, Ferguson S, Ramayahgari S, Bucher GR, Sparrow B, Tui H, Gorosby G , Machisky N., Shah R.; , Balik-Meisner MR, Mav D, Phadke DP, Roberts G, DeVito MJ. 2020. Evaluation 5 days in vivo Rat liver and kidneys with high-throughput transcripts for quantification of standard doses from apical findings. Toxicol Science 176 (2): 343–354.
Ginsburg GL, Pauline Vidnik K, Solomon GM, Elliott KC, Vandenberg GG, Baron S Jr., Bucher Jr.. 2019. New tools for toxicology and an emerging paradigm shift in environmental health decision-making. Environ Health Perspect 127 (12): 125002.
Ronnie A, Boyles L, Wolf Miss, Bowsher Jr., Thayer K. 2014. Systematic review and integration of evidence for literature-based environmental health science assessments. Environ Health Perspective 122 (7): 711-718.
Tice RR, Austin CB, Cavelock RG, Bowsher Jr.. 2013. Improving the Characterization of Human Risks of Chemicals: Tox21 Update. Environ Health Perspective 121 (7): 756-765.
Walker NJ, Bowsher Jr. 2009. Twenty-first century model for assessing the health risks of nanomaterials? Toxicol Science 110(2): 251–254.
Collins FS, Gray General Motors, Bowsher Jr.. 2008. Toxicology. Transformation of environmental health protection. Science 319 (5865): 906-907.
Boucher Jr. 1987. Methyl isocyanate: a review of health effects research since Bhopal. Fundam Apple Toxicol 9 (3): 367-379.
from San Jose News Bulletin https://sjnewsbulletin.com/environmental-factor-may-2021-john-bucher-who-studied-toxic-agents-from-the-ground-up-retires-from-niehs/
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