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Christian Hong, PhD

Associate Professor

Pharmacology & Systems Physiology | College of Medicine

Education/Credentials
  • PhD: Virginia Tech (Mathematical Modeling)
  • MS: Virginia Tech (Mathematical Modeling)
  • BS: Virginia Tech (Biology)
Contact Information
Research Interests

Our lab is interested in the molecular mechanism of circadian rhythms and its functional role in cell cycle controls. Circadian rhythms are periodic physiological events that recur about every 24 hours. The importance of circadian rhythms is well recognized in many different organisms’ survival as well as in human physiology.

Misregulation in circadian rhythms may lead to different conditions such as depression, familial advanced sleep phase syndrome (FASPS), delayed sleep phase syndr...

Peer Reviewed Publications

Chakravarty, Suchana; Hong, Christian I; Csikász-Nagy, Attila 2023. Systematic analysis of negative and positive feedback loops for robustness and temperature compensation in circadian rhythms. NPJ systems biology and applications, 9 1, 5

Fawad, Jibraan A; Luzader, Deborah H; Hanson, Gabriel F; Moutinho, Thomas J; McKinney, Craig A; Mitchell, Paul G; Brown-Steinke, Kathleen; Kumar, Ajay; Park, Miri; Lee, Suengwon; Bolick, David T; Medlock, Greg L; Zhao, Jesse Y; Rosselot, Andrew E; Chou, C James; Eshleman, Emily; Alenghat, Theresa; Hong, Christian I; Papin, Jason A; Moore, Sean R 2022. Histone deacetylase inhibition by gut microbe-generated short chain fatty acids entrains intestinal epithelial circadian rhythms. Gastroenterology, ,

Lee, Suengwon; Hong, Christian I 2022. Organoids as Model Systems to Investigate Circadian Clock-Related Diseases and Treatments. Frontiers in genetics, 13 , 874288

Park, Miri; Cao, Yuhui; Hong, Christian I 2022. Methods for Assessing Circadian Rhythms and Cell Cycle in Intestinal Enteroids. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 2482 , 105-124

Rosselot, Andrew E; Park, Miri; Kim, Mari; Matsu-Ura, Toru; Wu, Gang; Flores, Danilo E; Subramanian, Krithika R; Lee, Suengwon; Sundaram, Nambirajan; Broda, Taylor R; McCauley, Heather A; Hawkins, Jennifer A; Chetal, Kashish; Salomonis, Nathan; Shroyer, Noah F; Helmrath, Michael A; Wells, James M; Hogenesch, John B; Moore, Sean R; Hong, Christian I 2022. Ontogeny and function of the circadian clock in intestinal organoids. The EMBO journal, 41 2, e106973

Lee, Kang Kug Paul; Matsu-Ura, Toru; Rosselot, Andrew E; Broda, Taylor R; Wells, James M; Hong, Christian I 2021. An integrated microfluidic bubble pocket for long-term perfused three-dimensional intestine-on-a-chip model. Biomicrofluidics, 15 1, 014110

Liu, Xiao; Chen, Ahai; Caicedo-Casso, Angélica; Cui, Guofei; Du, Mingjian; He, Qun; Lim, Sookkyung; Kim, Hang J; Hong, Christian I; Liu, Yi 2020. Author Correction: FRQ-CK1 interaction determines the period of circadian rhythms in Neurospora. Nature communications, 11 1, 346

Weng, Jun-Cheng; Hong, Chi Ieong; Tasi, Jeng-Dau; Shen, Chao-Yu; Su, Pen-Hua; Wang, Shu-Li 2020. The association between prenatal endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure and altered resting-state brain fMRI in teenagers. Brain structure & function, 225 5, 1669-1684

Baek, Mokryun; Virgilio, Stela; Lamb, Teresa M; Ibarra, Oneida; Andrade, Juvana Moreira; Gonçalves, Rodrigo Duarte; Dovzhenok, Andrey; Lim, Sookkyung; Bell-Pedersen, Deborah; Bertolini, Maria Celia; Hong, Christian I 2019. Circadian clock regulation of the glycogen synthase (gsn) gene by WCC is critical for rhythmic glycogen metabolism in Neurospora crassa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116 21, 10435-10440

Liu, Xiao; Chen, Ahai; Caicedo-Casso, Angélica; Cui, Guofei; Du, Mingjian; He, Qun; Lim, Sookkyung; Kim, Hang J; Hong, Christian I; Liu, Yi 2019. FRQ-CK1 interaction determines the period of circadian rhythms in Neurospora. Nature communications, 10 1, 4352

Ballweg, Richard; Lee, Suengwon; Han, Xiaonan; Maini, Philip K; Byrne, Helen; Hong, Christian I; Zhang, Tongli 2018. Unraveling the Control of Cell Cycle Periods during Intestinal Stem Cell Differentiation. Biophysical journal, 115 11, 2250-2258

Bellman, Jacob; Kim, Jae Kyoung; Lim, Sookkyung; Hong, Christian I 2018. Modeling Reveals a Key Mechanism for Light-Dependent Phase Shifts of Neurospora Circadian Rhythms. Biophysical journal, 115 6, 1093-1102

Lee, Kang Kug; McCauley, Heather A; Broda, Taylor R; Kofron, Matthew J; Wells, James M; Hong, Christian I 2018. Human stomach-on-a-chip with luminal flow and peristaltic-like motility. Lab on a chip, 18 20, 3079-3085

Matsu-Ura, Toru; Dovzhenok, Andrey A; Coradetti, Samuel T; Subramanian, Krithika R; Meyer, Daniel R; Kwon, Jaesang J; Kim, Caleb; Salomonis, Nathan; Glass, N Louise; Lim, Sookkyung; Hong, Christian I 2018. Synthetic Gene Network with Positive Feedback Loop Amplifies Cellulase Gene Expression in Neurospora crassa. ACS synthetic biology, 7 5, 1395-1405

Matsu-Ura, Toru; Moore, Sean R; Hong, Christian I 2018. WNT Takes Two to Tango: Molecular Links between the Circadian Clock and the Cell Cycle in Adult Stem Cells. Journal of biological rhythms, 33 1, 5-14

Liu, Xiao; Dang, Yunkun; Matsu-Ura, Toru; He, Yubo; He, Qun; Hong, Christian I; Liu, Yi 2017. DNA Replication Is Required for Circadian Clock Function by Regulating Rhythmic Nucleosome Composition. Molecular cell, 67 2, 203-213.e4

Caicedo-Casso, Angélica; Kang, Hye-Won; Lim, Sookkyung; Hong, Christian I 2016. Corrigendum: Robustness and period sensitivity analysis of minimal models for biochemical oscillators. Scientific reports, 6 , 18504

Lee, Kang Kug; Labiscsak, Laszlo; Ahn, Chong H; Hong, Christian I 2016. Spiral-based microfluidic device for long-term time course imaging of Neurospora crassa with single nucleus resolution. Fungal genetics and biology : FG & B, 94 , 11-4

Matsu-Ura, Toru; Dovzhenok, Andrey; Aihara, Eitaro; Rood, Jill; Le, Hung; Ren, Yan; Rosselot, Andrew E; Zhang, Tongli; Lee, Choogon; Obrietan, Karl; Montrose, Marshall H; Lim, Sookkyung; Moore, Sean R; Hong, Christian I 2016. Intercellular Coupling of the Cell Cycle and Circadian Clock in Adult Stem Cell Culture. Molecular cell, 64 5, 900-912

Ren, Yan; Hong, Christian I; Lim, Sookkyung; Song, Seongho 2016. Finding Clocks in Genes: A Bayesian Approach to Estimate Periodicity. BioMed research international, 2016 , 3017475

Rosselot, Andrew E; Hong, Christian I; Moore, Sean R 2016. Rhythm and bugs: circadian clocks, gut microbiota, and enteric infections. Current opinion in gastroenterology, 32 1, 7-11

Aihara, Eitaro; Mahe, Maxime M; Schumacher, Michael A; Matthis, Andrea L; Feng, Rui; Ren, Wenwen; Noah, Taeko K; Matsu-ura, Toru; Moore, Sean R; Hong, Christian I; Zavros, Yana; Herness, Scott; Shroyer, Noah F; Iwatsuki, Ken; Jiang, Peihua; Helmrath, Michael A; Montrose, Marshall H 2015. Characterization of stem/progenitor cell cycle using murine circumvallate papilla taste bud organoid. Scientific reports, 5 , 17185

Caicedo-Casso, Angélica; Kang, Hye-Won; Lim, Sookkyung; Hong, Christian I 2015. Robustness and period sensitivity analysis of minimal models for biochemical oscillators. Scientific reports, 5 , 13161

Chen, Shuang; Brunskill, Eric W; Potter, S Steven; Dexheimer, Phillip J; Salomonis, Nathan; Aronow, Bruce J; Hong, Christian I; Zhang, Tongli; Kopan, Raphael 2015. Intrinsic Age-Dependent Changes and Cell-Cell Contacts Regulate Nephron Progenitor Lifespan. Developmental cell, 35 1, 49-62

Cockrell, Allison L; Pirlo, Russell K; Babson, David M; Cusick, Kathleen D; Soto, Carissa M; Petersen, Emily R; Davis, Miah J; Hong, Christian I; Lee, Kwangwon; Fitzgerald, Lisa A; Biffinger, Justin C 2015. Suppressing the Neurospora crassa circadian clock while maintaining light responsiveness in continuous stirred tank reactors. Scientific reports, 5 , 10691

Dovzhenok, Andrey A; Baek, Mokryun; Lim, Sookkyung; Hong, Christian I 2015. Mathematical modeling and validation of glucose compensation of the neurospora circadian clock. Biophysical journal, 108 7, 1830-9

Hong, Christian I; Zámborszky, Judit; Baek, Mokryun; Labiscsak, Laszlo; Ju, Kyungsu; Lee, Hyeyeong; Larrondo, Luis F; Goity, Alejandra; Chong, Hin Siong; Belden, William J; Csikász-Nagy, Attila 2014. Circadian rhythms synchronize mitosis in Neurospora crassa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111 4, 1397-402

Moore, Sean R; Pruszka, Jill; Vallance, Jefferson; Aihara, Eitaro; Matsuura, Toru; Montrose, Marshall H; Shroyer, Noah F; Hong, Christian I 2014. Robust circadian rhythms in organoid cultures from PERIOD2::LUCIFERASE mouse small intestine. Disease models & mechanisms, 7 9, 1123-30

Zámborszky, Judit; Csikász-Nagy, Attila; Hong, Christian I 2014. Neurospora crassa as a model organism to explore the interconnected network of the cell cycle and the circadian clock. Fungal genetics and biology : FG & B, 71 , 52-7

Lee, Kang Kug; Ahn, Chong H; Hong, Christian I 2013. Circadian rhythms in Neurospora crassa on a polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic device for real-time gas perturbations. Biomicrofluidics, 7 4, 44129

Hong, Christian I; Zámborszky, Judit; Csikász-Nagy, Attila 2009. Minimum criteria for DNA damage-induced phase advances in circadian rhythms. PLoS computational biology, 5 5, e1000384

Hong, Christian I; Jolma, Ingunn W; Loros, Jennifer J; Dunlap, Jay C; Ruoff, Peter 2008. Simulating dark expressions and interactions of frq and wc-1 in the Neurospora circadian clock. Biophysical journal, 94 4, 1221-32

Dunlap, J C; Loros, J J; Colot, H V; Mehra, A; Belden, W J; Shi, M; Hong, C I; Larrondo, L F; Baker, C L; Chen, C-H; Schwerdtfeger, C; Collopy, P D; Gamsby, J J; Lambreghts, R 2007. A circadian clock in Neurospora: how genes and proteins cooperate to produce a sustained, entrainable, and compensated biological oscillator with a period of about a day. Cold Spring Harbor symposia on quantitative biology, 72 , 57-68

Hong, Christian I; Conrad, Emery D; Tyson, John J 2007. A proposal for robust temperature compensation of circadian rhythms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104 4, 1195-200

Loros, J J; Dunlap, J C; Larrondo, L F; Shi, M; Belden, W J; Gooch, V D; Chen, C-H; Baker, C L; Mehra, A; Colot, H V; Schwerdtfeger, C; Lambreghts, R; Collopy, P D; Gamsby, J J; Hong, C I 2007. Circadian output, input, and intracellular oscillators: insights into the circadian systems of single cells. Cold Spring Harbor symposia on quantitative biology, 72 , 201-14

Zámborszky, Judit; Hong, Christian I; Csikász Nagy, Attila 2007. Computational analysis of mammalian cell division gated by a circadian clock: quantized cell cycles and cell size control. Journal of biological rhythms, 22 6, 542-53

Mehra, Arun; Hong, Christian I; Shi, Mi; Loros, Jennifer J; Dunlap, Jay C; Ruoff, Peter 2006. Circadian rhythmicity by autocatalysis. PLoS computational biology, 2 7, e96

Tyson, J J; Hong, C I; Thron, C D; Novak, B 1999. A simple model of circadian rhythms based on dimerization and proteolysis of PER and TIM. Biophysical journal, 77 5, 2411-7