John R. Porter, PhD
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John R. Porter, PhD
Professor, Biological Sciences
Research Professor, Pharmacognosy
Director, Graduate Program in Biological Sciences
Contact Info:
Office: STC 371
McNeil Science & Technology Center
Voice: 215.596.3157
Fax: 215.596.8710
Email: j.porter@usciences.edu
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Education
- BS, Biology, Pittsburg State University (Kansas), 1975
- PhD, Botany, University of Montana, 1979
Prior Positions
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1979-1981
- Visiting Assistant Professor, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, 1981-1982
Memberships in Professional Organizations
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- American Chemical Society
- American Society for Microbiology
- American Society of Pharmacognosy (Webmaster)
- Sigma Xi
Teaching Responsibilities
- Cell Biology
- Biological Sciences Seminar I & II
- Evolutionary Biology
- Advanced Pharmacognosy
- Current Research in Pharmacognosy
- Advanced Ethnobotany
- Research Ethics
Research Interests
The lab focuses on various aspects of natural products production from both biological and chemical perspectives. Current projects include molecular analysis of the production of the anti-cancer compound podophyllotoxin by plant endophytic fungi, analysis of the proteasome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a therapeutic target, identification of compounds that regulate ubiquitylation as new drugs, studies of compounds that induce biliary atresia, and discovery of antimicrobial/antifungal natural products.
Selected Recent Publications
Jaiswal, V., DerMarderosian, A., and Porter, J.R. “Anthocyanins and polyphenol oxidase from dried arils of pomegranate Punica granatum L.” Journal of Food Science 118: 11-16 (2010).
Porter, J.R. “ Podophyllum endophytic fungi.” in Medicinal Plant Biotechnology, R Arora, ed. CABI Publ., Wallingford, UK, in press (2010).
Porter, J.R. “Plant fungal endophytes: Interactions, metabolites and biosyntheses in R. Ikan, ed. Selected Topics in the Chemistry of Natural Products (ISBN 981-270-569-4). World Scientific Publ., Chap 15, pp 503-580 (2008).
Eyberger, A.L., Dondapati, R., and Porter, J.R. “Two endophyte fungal isolates from Podophyllum peltatum produce podophyllotoxin.” Journal of Natural Products 69(8), 1121-1124 (2006).
Porter, J.R. “Information literacy in biology education: An example from an advanced cell biology course.” Journal of Cell Biology Education 4, 335-343 (2005).