Dr. John Cidlowski is the Chief of the Laboratory of Signal Transduction, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health, where he has served, as such, since 1997. Dr. Cidlowski is  the Head of the Molecular Endocrinology Group at NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences since 1995. Furthermore, Dr. Cidlowski works as an Adjunct Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill in both the Department of Nutrition and the Department of Physiology. He is also a Research Associate Professor at UNC in the Department of Biochemistry (1982-present). His involvement at UNC also extends to the Curriculum in Toxicology (1995-present) and the Lineberger Cancer Research Center, Cell Biology Program (1982-present). Before becoming a tenured professor at UNC, Dr. Cidlowski was a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Vermont, College of Medicine. Prior to that, he was a Research Associate in Physiology at Dartmouth Medical School, where he did his Postdoctoral Fellowship (1975-1977) and a Teaching Assistant in Endocrinology at the Medical College of Georgia, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1975.

Dr. Cidlowski’s research is extraordinarily extensive and has earned him grant support stretching over decades. His Glucocorticoid Action in Synchronized Cells work was funded from 1978-1995; his Glucocorticoids and Lymphocyte Catabolism studies were funded for 18 years (1977-1995); and Vitamin B6 and Steroid Hormone Action received continuous support from 1983-1995.

The Primary Scientific Contributions from the Cidlowski Laboratory are as follows: first paper to show protolysis fundamental component of apoptosis; first utilization of flow cytometry to analyze apoptosis; first paper showing that steroid receptors are regulated during the cell cycle; first direct evidence for post transcriptional modification of glucocorticoid receptor; first in vivo data to show that vitamin B6 is modulator of steroid receptor mediated gene expression; discovery of homologous down regulation of glucocorticoid receptors and elucidation of a novel intragenic regulation element that manifest this response; first elucidation of the nuclease responsible for the 50 kilobase cleavage of DNA during apoptosis; first demonstration that phosphorylation affects the transcriptional activity of glucocorticoid receptors; elucidation of the mechanism of dominant negative action of the β isoform of the human glucocorticoid receptor; demonstration of mutual co-antagonism of NF6B and the glucocorticoid receptor; first demonstration that normal intracellular potassium inhibits the activation of caspases;  first demonstration that cell shrinkage and K+ ion efflux are necessary for the activity of apoptosis; first demonstration of plasma membrane depolarization as a critical step in apoptosis; first demonstration of A and B forms of the human glucocorticoid receptor; identification of Kv 1.3 as a apoptosis regulated K+ channel; separation of Cell Shrinkage from other characteristics of apoptosis; first description of FADD as a Nuclear apoptotic protein; and first demonstration of translational control of Glucocorticoid receptor protein expression. 

Dr. Cidlowski maintains membership in 6 professional societies, and has served on countless boards, committees, teams, and study sections throughout his career. He has served on numerous editorial boards and currently is the Editor for Molecular Endocrinology, Cell Death and Differentiation, Steroids, and J. Steroid Biochemistry. He has received numerous international travel grants, and has been honored as the Plenary Lecturer by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (2005), the Strategic Research Institute (2003) and the International Congress of Hormonal Steroids (2002). Moreover, Dr. Cidlowski has received several awards from his alma mater, the Medical College of Georgia, and the W.U. Gardner Memorial Lectureship from Yale University (1997). Dr. Cidlowski has authored or co-authored over 240 articles in endocrinology and biochemistry journals. As the graduated students and postdoctoral fellows he has supervised since the 1970s will attest, he has much to teach within the medical community.