Description
John is an accomplished lipid biochemist and structural biologist with an interest in understanding molecular pathology of disease. He earned his Ph.D. from Wake Forest School of Medicine where he received training in lipid biochemistry under the late Dr. Lawrence Rudel studying the role of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in the initiation of cardiovascular disease. He rounded out his training during his postdoctoral fellowship under Dr. Sean Davidson at the University of Cincinnati developing sophisticated lipoprotein separation technologies and mass spectrometry applications to define the compositional and structural details of high-density lipoproteins. His work has resulted in numerous publications, invited speakerships and accolades including a Spotlight Award from Journal of Lipid Research recognizing him as a “Rising Star in the Lipid Field.” In addition to his lipoprotein research, John is involved in the development of high-throughput structural proteomics technologies leveraging mass spectrometry to define the key structural changes in proteins that allow them to bind complementary partners and drive molecular function.
John currently serves as a Senior Scientist and Chemical Biology Team Lead in the Biological Sciences Division. He is an active member of the American Heart Association's Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology and holds joint appointments in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Cincinnati and Department of Neurology at Oregon Health Sciences University. He continues his theme of developing and applying cutting-edge technologies to probe difficult-to-study macromolecular complexes such as lipoproteins which is supported by funding from multiple agencies including the Department of Energy and National Institutes of Health. John also happily serves as a mentor to junior scientists to foster their growth and development within PNNL and their field of interest.