Donald G Phinney, Ph.D.

Dr. Phinney received his B.A. in Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of Vermont and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He then completed his post-doctoral studies at the Fox Chase Cancer Center where he was awarded an American Cancer Society Fellowship to examine the transcriptional regulation of the JunB oncogene. Dr. Phinney then spent nine years at Tulane University Health Sciences Center where he advanced through the ranks to Professor of Immunology and Microbiology and Associate Director of Research for the Center for Gene Therapy. He joined Scripps Florida in 2009 and is currently a Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine.

The Phinney lab combines basic and translational research and drug discovery to deliver highly efficacious cell-based and drug-based therapies for the treatment of skeletal-related pathologies and cancer. Currently the lab is pursuing several different areas of investigation to achieve these goals. One area of focus is directed at enhancing the potency and improving the efficacy of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapies, which are widely used in regenerative medicine for the treatment of ischemic and immune-related diseases. These efforts have culminated in the development of a Clinical Indications Prediction (CLIP) Scale that may be used to develop MSC-based therapies tailored to specific disease indications. Ongoing work is directed at validating the CLIP scale and expanding its range of applications. Another area of focus is directed at understanding the molecular mechanism that drive skeletal pathology in response to diet-induced obesity, mechanical unloading (disuse), and chronological aging using mouse models. In these studies, emphasis is on evaluating how these conditions impact the frequency and function of nice resident skeletal stem cells in bone marrow and developing therapeutics to preserve bone integrity. Lastly, the laboratory is also pursuing development of small molecule therapeutics to augment the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of existing chemotherapeutics and immuno-therapies for treating breast cancer.