Education:      B.S. Florida State University
                        M.S. Lamar University, Beaumont, TX
                        Ph.D. University of Texas Medical Branch

Research:      

My area of research involves the use of somatic cell mutation assays, in humans and in laboratory animals, to evaluate and monitor the effects of exposure to genotoxic agents. My special interest and expertise involves an assay for the detection of mutations (Vf) in the HPRT reporter gene in human lymphocytes. I have refined and validated this in vivo test by doing prospective studies of human subjects exposed to cytotoxic chemotherapeutic drugs and patients receiving radiation treatment. Using the HPRT mutation assay I have demonstrated the DNA-damaging effects of tobacco smoking, marijuana smoking, and combined exposures to drugs.

In collaboration with Drs. Jonathan B. Ward, Sherif Z. Abdel-Rahman and Jeffrey K. Wickliffe, I am continuing to study the mutagenic effects associated with occupational, environmental and personal life-style exposures to genotoxic agents. This includes studies of genetic susceptibility to the genotoxicity of butadiene, and studies investigating the relationship between polymorphisms in DNA repair genes and the mutagenic effects of cigarette smoking.

Selected Publications 

Ammenheuser, M.M., Hastings, D.A., Whorton, E.B., Jr., and Ward, J.B., Jr.

Frequencies of hprt mutant lymphocytes in smokers, non-smokers, and former smokers. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 30:131-138, 1997.

Ammenheuser, M.M., Berenson, A.B., Babiak, A.E., Singleton, C.R., and Whorton, E.B.,

Jr. Frequencies of hprt mutant lymphocytes in marijuana-smoking mothers and their newborns. Mutat. Res. 403:55-64, 1998.

Abdel-Rahman, S.Z., Ammenheuser, M.M. and Ward, J.B. Jr. Human sensitivity to 1,3-butadiene: role of microsomal epoxide hydrolase polymorphisms. Carcinogenesis 22: 415-423: 2001. 

Ammenheuser, M.M., Bechtold, W.E., Abdel-Rahman, S.Z., Rosenblatt, J.I., Hastings-Smith, D.A. and Ward, J.B. Jr. Assessment of 1,3-butadiene exposure in polymer production workers using HPRT mutation in lymphocytes as a biomarker. Environ. Health Persp. 109(12): 1249-1255: 2001.

Wickliffe, J.K., Ammenheuser, M.M., Salazar, J.A., Abel-Rahman, S.Z., Hastings-Smith, D.A., Postlewait, E.M., Lloyd, R.S. and Ward, J.B., Jr. A model of sensitivity: 1,3-butadiene increases mutant frequencies and genomic damage in mice lacking a functional microsomal epoxide hydrolase gene, Environ. Mol. Mutagen., 42: 106-110, 2003.