A Walk in the Woods with Acorns and Sagebrush

Southern California Local Section of The American Chemical Society Presents A Virtual Seminar in Celebration of Chemists Celebrate Earth Week

A Walk in the Woods with Acorns and Sagebrush

by

Prof. James David Adams

Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of Southern California

Date: April 22, 2026    |     Time: 4:00-5:00 pm

ABSTRACT
Acorns are an important food that come from oak trees. They contain about 10% protein, 35% carbohydrate and 55% fat. Acorn protein contains all 9 essential amino acids. Acorns are eaten by Chinese, Korean and other people but are not a normal food in California. Sagebrush, Artemesia californica, can be made into a liniment to treat pain. It contains 15 monoterpenoids that penetrate into the skin, inhibit transient receptor potential cation channels to relieve pain, then evaporate from the skin. The liniment can be safely used to treat major pain and chronic pain.

SPEAKER BIO
Dr. James Adams received a PhD in Pharmacology from UC San Francisco and was a faculty member at the USC School of Pharmacy for 33 years. He has over 300 publications and has published extensively on California medicinal plants. He learned California Indian Medicine from a California Indian woman for 14 years. He currently teaches Chemistry to pre-Nursing Students at Saint Mary's College in Moraga. He is an Expert in Apoptosis, Delayed Cell Death, Herbal Drugs, Nicotinamide, Ruptured Berry Aneurism, Smart Drugs, Stroke, Toxicity Testing and Parkinsons Disease.

May 2012 - Chumash Healer, Los Angeles, following 14 years of training by Cecilia Garcia, a recognized Chumash Healer

Sept 1981 - University of California, San Francisco (Ph.D., Comparative Pharmacology and Toxicology; Minors: Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Chemistry)

Spring 1975 - University of California, Riverside (Undergraduate, A.B., Biochemistry; Minor: Chemistry)

1993-2025 Associate Professor, School of Pharmacy, USC

1987-1993 - Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California

1985-87 - Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy, Washington State University 1983-85 - Staff Fellow, NIADDK, NIH, Section on Oxidation Mechanisms

1981-83 - Postdoctoral Fellow, Baylor College of Medicine, Institute for Lipid Research 1976-81 - Research Assistant, University of California, San Francisco, Ph.D. program in Biochemical Toxicology

1975-76 - Research Assistant, University of California, Riverside, Ph.D. program in Insect Toxicology

PROFESSIONAL/HONORARY SOCIETIES
1981 - American Association for the Advancement of Science

1986 - International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics

1987 - American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

1988 - Society of Neuroscience

1989 - American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists

1990 - The Oxygen Society

1994 - The American Society for Neurochemistry

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