John McDonald, Professor, Associate Dean for Biology Program Development, CSO Ovarian Cancer Institute

Ph.D., Genetics, University of California Davis

Email:
Phone: 404-385-6630
Fax: 404-894-0519
Office: Parker H. Petit Biotechnology (IBB) 3314

Cancer Biology

IIn the McDonald lab, we are taking an integrated systems approach to the study of cancer. This means that we view cancer not as a defect in any particular gene or protein, but as a de-regulated cellular/inter-cellular process. An understanding of such complex processes requires the implementation of experimental approaches that can provide an integrative holistic or 'systems' view of intra-and inter-cellular process. We employ a number high-throughput genomic (e.g., RNA-seq, microarray) technologies to gather systems data on the status of cancer cells. We strive to integrate into our research program, the exceptional strengths that exist at Georgia Tech in the fields of engineering and the computational sciences.

Our current goals are: 1) development of a generalized cancer diagnostic using mass spectrometric metabolic profiling; 2) development of small non-encoding RNAs as potential therapeutic agents and the use of functionalized nanoparticles (nanohydrogels)for their targeted delivery to cancer cells; 3) exploring the significance of mRNA splice variants in the onset and progression of cancer.

Recent Publications

[Additional Publications]

Lili L, Matyunina L, Walker LD, Benigno B, McDonald JF. 2013. Molecular profiling predicts the existence of two functionally distinct classes of ovarian cancer stroma. BioMed Research International (in press)

Mezencev R, Wang L, Xu W, Kim B, Sulchek TA, Daneker GW , McDonald JF. 2013. Molecular analysis of the inhibitory effect of N-acetyl-L-cysteine on the proliferation and invasiveness of pancreatic cancer cells. Anti-Cancer Drugs (in press)

Roman M., Wang L., McDonald JF. 2012. Identification of inhibitors of ovarian cancer stem-like cells by high-throughput screening. Journal of Ovarian Research; Oct 18;5(1).

Xu W., Mezencev R., Kim B., Wang L., McDonald JF., Sulchek T. 2012. Cell stiffness is a biomarker of the metastatic potential of ovarian cancer cells. PLoS ONE 7(10).

Arora G, Mezencev R, McDonald JF. 2012. Human Cells Display Reduced Apoptotic Function Relative to Chimpanzee Cells. PLoS ONE 2012;7(9).

Shubin W. Shahab, Lilya V. Matyunina, Christopher G. Hill, Lijuan Wang, Roman Mezencev, L. DeEtte Walker and John F. McDonald. 2012. The Effects of MicroRNA Transfections on Global Patterns of Gene Expression in Ovarian Cancer Cells are Functionally Coordinated. BMC Medical Genomics Aug 1 5:33.

Nakamura T, Jing C, Xinhua Y, Li J, Chen JP, King SB 3rd, Chronos N, McDonald JF, Hou D. 2012. Vasomotor function and molecular responses following drug-eluting stent in a porcine coronary model. International Journal of Cardiology June: 21; DOI:10.1016/j.bbr.2011.03.031.

Mittal VK, McDonald JF. 2012. R-SAP: a multi-threading computational pipeline for the characterization of high-throughput RNA-sequencing data. Nucleic Acid Reseaech. Jan. 28 ; Journal

Shahab S, Matyunina LV, Mittal VK, Wang L, Hill CG, Walker LD, McDonald JF. MicroRNAs Indirectly Regulate Other MicroRNAs in Ovarian Cancer Cells. The British Journal of Medicine and Medical Research Feb 22, 2(2): 172-194; Journal

Medrzycki M, Zhang Y, McDonald JF and Fan Y. 2012. Profiling of linker histone variants in Ovarian Cancer. Front. Biosci. Jan 1;17:396-406. Journal