Joshua J. Coon, PhD

Dr. Coon's research emphasis resides in bioanalytical chemistry, mass spectrometry and proteomics. His research group has the overarching goal of catalyzing evolution in the rapidly developing field of proteomics and to use these technologies to address fundamental problems in developmental biology. With emphasis on ion chemistry and instrumentation, the group seeks to develop and apply new enabling mass spectrometry-based (MS) proteomic technologies. These cutting-edge tools allow them to examine, with unprecedented chemical detail and sensitivity, the molecular events that commit human embryonic stem cells (hES cells) to exit the pluripotent state. Here the group is focused on both intracellular signaling and the epigenetic regulation of pluripotency. For the former they ask which branches of the FGF signaling pathway are active in hES cells and which proteins/networks are phosphorylated upon differentiation. Epigenetics is believed to play a critical role in the establishment and maintenance of pluripotency; thus, the group has also aimed its new technologies at interpreting the epigenetic codes and monitoring how these messages change during hES cell differentiation.