John Fong, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Pennsylvania
Education
Ph.D. (Cell and Molecular Biology) Lehigh University Bethlehem, PAMS (Biotechnology) University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PABS (Biotechnology) Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA
Areas of Special Interest
John is interested in stem cell biology and signal transduction. His current work is to investigate the cell signaling pathways that govern the balance between adipogenesis and osteogenesis. He utilizes cell culture and animal studies to understand and characterize the molecular mechanisms of progressive osseous heteroplasia (POH) caused by inactivating mutations in the GNAS gene. John joined our lab in the fall of 2013 as a post-doctoral researcher. In his doctoral work, he studied the cell signaling pathways that regulate gap junction intercellular communication in cells. He also contributed to the NIH’s pilot knock-out mouse project (KOMP) when he was a senior research associate at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. He has been a member of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) since 2009
Peer Reviewed Publications:
Ramaswamy, G., J. Fong, N. Brewer, H. Kim, D. Zhang, Y. Choi, F.S. Kaplan, and E.M. Shore (2018). Ablation of Gsa signaling in osteoclast progenitor cells adversely affects skeletal bone maintenance. Bone 109, 86-90.
Pignolo, R.J., G. Ramaswamy, J.T. Fong, E.M. Shore, and F.S. Kaplan (2015). Progressive osseous heteroplasia: diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Applic. Clin. Genet. 8, 37-48.
John T. Fong, and Falk M. EGF induces efficient Cx43 gap junction endocytosis in mouse embryonic stem cells via phosphorylation of Ser262, Ser279/282, and Ser368. FEBS letter. March 2014; 588(5):836-44.
John T. Fong, Kells RM, and Falk M. Two tyrosine-based sorting signals in the Cx43 C-terminus cooperate to mediate gap junction endocytosis. Molecular Biology of the Cell. September 2013; 24(18):2834-48.
Thévenin AF, Kowal TJ, John T. Fong, Kells RM, Fisher CG, and Falk MM. Proteins and mechanisms regulating gap junction assembly, internalization and degradation. Physiology. March 2013; 28(2): 93-116.
Falk MM, John T. Fong, Kells RM, O’Laughlin MC, Kowal TJ, and Thevenin AF. Degradation of endocytosed gap junctions by autophagosomal and endo-/lysosomal pathway: A perspective. J. Membr. Biol. August 2012; 245(8):465-76.
John T. Fong, Kells RM, Gumpert, Marzillier JY, Davidson MW, and Falk MM. Internalized gap junctions are degraded by autophagy. Autophagy. May 2012; 8(5): 794-811.
Cassimeris L, Caruso Silva V, Miller E, Ton Q, Molner C, and John Fong. Fueled by Microtubules: Does tubulin dimer/polymer partitioning regulate intracellular metabolism? Cytoskeleton (Hoboken). March 2012; 69(3):133-43. [Epub 2012 Mar 5]
Merits and Awards
Cum Laude, Dean’s listDepartmental Nemes Fellowship – Biological Sciences, Lehigh University – fall 2012