John Torday, Ph.D.

John Torday, Ph.D.
Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology
Division of Neonatology
Director, Perinatal Research Training Program
Director, Henry L. Guenther Confocal Facility Director

Walter P. Martin Research Center
1124 West Carson St., RB-1
Torrance, CA 90502
Phone:(310)222-8186
Fax: (310)222-3887
E-mail: jtorday@labiomed.org

Dr. Torday is a Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA. He has been a member of the Division of Neonatology, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and a member of the Center of Excellence in Developmental Biology at Los Angeles BioMedical Research Institute (LABioMed) since 1998. He is also the Training Program Director for the Perinatal Biology Research Training Program, the Director of the Henry L. Guenther Cell-Molecular Biology Facility, and the Director of the Center for Evolutionary and Preventative Medicine. He is a member of the Faculty of California State University-Dominguez Hills.

His current research interests are in lung cell phenotypic heterogeneity and the gene regulatory network determinants of lung evolution, particularly as they relate to development, homeostasis, repair and aging. He is particularly interested in using evolutionary biology of the lung as an approach to clinical diagnosis and treatment of chronic lung disease.

Selected Publications from 120 peer-reviewed papers:

1. Torday JS , Rehan V, Perry SF, Hicks JW,Wang T, Maina JN, Weibel ER, Sommer RJ, Hsia CCW, Torday JS. Deconvoluting Lung Evolution: from phenotypes to gene regulatory networks. Integrative and Comparative Biology (published electronically on July 26,2007).

2. Torday JS , Rehan VK.Developmental Cell/Molecular Biologic Approach to the Etiology and Treatment of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. Pediatr Res 2007 Jul;62(1):2-7.

3. Torday JS , Rehan VK. The evolutionary continuum from lung development to homeostasis and repair. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2007 Mar;292(3):L608-11.

4. Torday JS , Rehan VK. Up-regulation of Fetal Lung Parathyroid Hormone-related Protein Gene Regulatory Network Down-Regulates the Sonic Hedgehog/Wnt/ $ catenin Gene Regulatory Network. Pediatr Res. 2006 Oct;60(4):382-8.

5. Torday JS . A Periodic Table for Biology. The Scientist 2004 Jun 18(12): 32-33.

6. Torday JS, VK Rehan . Deconvoluting lung evolution using functional/comparative genomics. Am J Resp Cell Mol Biol. 2004 Jul 31(1):8-12 .

7. Rubin LP, Kovacs CS, Pinar H, DePaepe ME, Tsai S-W, Torday JS and Kronenberg H. Arrested pulmonary alveolar cytodifferentiation and defective surfactant synthesis in mice missing the gene for parathyroid hormone-related protein. Developmental Dynamics 2004, 230: 278-289.

8. Torday JS , Rehan VK. Mechanotransduction determines the structure and function of lung and bone: a theoretical model for the pathophysiology of chronic disease. Cell Biochem and Biophys 2003, 37:235-246.

9. Torday JS . Parathyroid Hormone-related Protein is a Gravisensor in Lung and Bone. Cell Biology. Advances in Space Research 2003, 37:235-246 Oct; 32(8): 1569-1576.

10. Rehan VK, Torday JS . Hyperoxia augments pulmonary lipofibroblast-to-myofibroblast transdifferentiation. J Biochem Biophys 2003, 38:239-249 .

11. Torday JS , Torres E, Rehan VK. The role of fibroblast transdifferentiation in pulmonary alveolarization and injury/repair. Pediatric Pathology and Mol Med 22:1-19, 2003.

12. Boros LG, Torday JS , Lee WNP, Rehan VK. Oxygen-induced metabolic changes and transdifferentiation in immature fetal rat lung lipofibroblasts. Mol Gen and Metabol 77:230-236, 2002.

13. Schultz CJ, Torres E, Londos C, Torday JS. Role of adipocyte differentiation-related protein in lung surfactant phospholipid synthesis. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 283:L288-L296, 2002.

14. Torday JS, Rehan VK, Stretch-stimulated surfactant synthesis is coordinated by the paracrine actions of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) and leptin. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 283:L130-L135, 2002.

15. Torday JS, Sun H, Ling W, Torres E, Sunday ME, Rubin LP. Pre- and postnatal lung development, maturation, and plasticity. Leptin mediates parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) stimulation of fetal lung maturation. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 282:L405-L410, 2002.

16. DeMayo F, Minoo P, Plopper CG, Schuger L, Shannon J, Torday JS. Mesenchymal-epithelial interactions in lung development and repair: are modeling and remodeling one and the same? Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 283:L510-L517, 2002.

17. Torday JS, Torday DP, Gutnick J, and Rehan V. Biologic role of fetal lung fibroblast triglycerides as antioxidants. Pediatr Res 49:1-7, 2001.

18. Sanchez-Esteban J, Cicchiello LA, Wang Y, Tsai S-W, Williams LK, Torday JS, Rubin LP. Mechanical stretch promotes alveolar epithelial type II cell differentiation. J Appl Physiol 91:589-595, 2001.

19. Sanchez-Esteban J, Tsai S-W, Torday JS , Rubin LP. Effects of mechanical forces on lung-specific gene expression. Cellular deformation: Mechanics and mechanisms of physiologic response. Am J Med Sci 316: 200-204, 1998.