Collaborators Continue to Advance Bruce Hammock’s Lifetime Research Targeting Chronic Pain

The late UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock would have been proud.

His lifetime research targeting and alleviating chronic pain in a wide range of diseases, continues to advance. 

Hammock, an internationally renowned scientist who died Jan. 5, 2026 at age 78, is celebrated for co-discovering soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH)--an enzyme in the human body that breaks down regulatory fatty acids--and for his 50-year research on sEH inhibitors that led to therapeutic drug discoveries targeting such diseases as pain, eye and kidney disease, traumatic brain injury and stroke, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer's disease.

Today (Oct. 8) the Nature Neuroscience journal published Hammock-linked research led by his collaborator, Feixiong Cheng, director of the Genome Center at the Cleveland Clinic, that tackles Alzheimer’s disease. 

Co-authors include Hammock and his protégé, Cindy McReynolds Brown, chief executive officer of EicOsis Human Health LLC,  the company that the two co-founded in 2011 to fulfill Hammock’s commitment to find safer and more effective ways to treat chronic pain. 

“Bruce Hammock spent decades uncovering the biology of soluble epoxide hydrolase and demonstrating its potential as a therapeutic target,” Brown said. “He is remembered not only for his scientific accomplishments, but also for the strong collaborations he built and the many scientists he brought together throughout his career.”

The article, “Combining Genetics with Real-World Patient Data enables Ancestry-Specific Target Identification and Drug Discovery in Alzheimer’s Disease,” is online at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-026-02472-0. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1038/s41593-026-02472-0.

“Although high-throughput DNA/RNA sequencing technologies have generated massive genetic and genomic data in human disease, these findings have not been translated into new patient treatments,” the authors wrote in their abstract. “To address this problem, we utilized Mendelian randomization (MR) and large patient-level genetic and functional genomic data to evaluate druggable targets using Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as a prototypical example.”

 “In summary, combining genetics and real-world patient data identifies ancestry-specific therapeutic targets and medicines for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases if broadly applied.”

Newly Funded Clinical Trial

In addition, Hammock’s legacy extends to more clinical trials. EicOsis recently received notice that the Alzheimer’s Association will fund its clinical trial to investigate drug candidate therapy for Alzheimer’s disease patients. “Part the Cloud,” a global research funding initiative for Alzheimer’s Association, announced the latest funding, a $7 million investment for worldwide researchers. To date, Part the Cloud has funded 88 clinical trials of innovative potential treatments. 

“These two announcements highlight both his impact on science and the collaborators that continue to advance the field forward,” said Brown, who holds a doctorate in pharmacology and toxicology from UC Davis.  

Brown said that the new clinical trial funding  "represents an important expansion of the clinical development program for EC5026 into Alzheimer’s disease and will investigate the ability of sEH inhibition to improve key pathways associated with neuroinflammation and early Alzheimer’s disease." The study is expected to start in early 2027 and enroll 50 participants with Alzheimer’s in Toronto, Canada.

Part the Cloud's strategy, according to its news announcement, is that “No single treatment approach will be enough to defeat Alzheimer's. This infusion of funds will enable testing of a wide range of strategies--from drug combination approaches, to a repurposed diuretic (drugs that help your body get rid of extra water and salt), to the program's first artificial intelligence (AI)-designed antibody therapy.”

The Alzheimer’s Association, a worldwide voluntary health organization dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) care, support and research, relates on its website that AD is most common among the older population, 65 and over. After age 65, the risk of Alzheimer's doubles every five years. After age 85, the risk reaches nearly one-third.”

EicOsis’ lead clinical candidate, EC5026, is also being advanced across multiple therapeutic areas in which neuroinflammation and dysregulated inflammatory signaling contribute to disease, including a Phase 1b study in Parkinson’s disease patients and in treating pain in patients with spinal cord injury. "EC5026 has been shown to be safe and have a favorable pharmacokinetic profile for once-daily dosing in healthy volunteers and is currently undergoing clinical trials in patient populations," Brown said.

Bruce Hammock

Hammock, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 1980, held a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. His chemistry, toxicology, biochemistry, entomology and human health research led to elected membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors; scores of professional honors and awards; and accolades from administrators, colleagues, researchers, alumni and students.

Hammock traced the beginnings of his research back to his graduate student days at UC Berkeley. While investigating "how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly," Hammock and fellow graduate student Sarjeet Gill (now a UC Riverside Distinguished Professor Eemeritus at UC Riverside, co-discovered soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH). For the past 50 years, Hammock had been studying sEH inhibitors, leading to drugs that target such diseases as diabetes, hypertension (heart disease), Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. 

A Horse Named Hulahalla

One of his first success stories occurred in 2011 with a horse named Hulahalla, part of the UC Davis Center for Equine Health, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine (now the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine). Hulahalla, a descendant of Triple Crown Winner Seattle Slew, “developed severe laminitis in both of her front feet that did not respond to traditional treatment,” according to an article in the August 2025 issue of The Northwest Horse Source. “The prognosis was grim. As a last chance option…Hammock and veterinary anesthesiologist Dr. Alonso Guedes treated her with a compound that Dr. Hammock had developed to regulate inflammation and pain. Miraculously, she made a complete recovery just a few days after the first dose and has remained happy and healthy for more than a decade.”

In honor of Hammock, UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal is organizing a public memorial, "Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Bruce Hammock" at 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10 in the California Hall, UC Davis campus.