John A. Pollock, PhD

Dr. John Pollock Professor of Biological Sciences and the Lambert F. Minucci Endowed Chair in Engineering & Computational Sciences at Duquesne University.

Dr. Pollock is a graduate of Syracuse University with a BS in Physics with a second major in Philosophy, MS Physics and PhD in Biophysics. Post-doctoral training was at the California Institute of Technology, where he studied the molecular neurogenetics of the developing eye and brain.

Dr. Pollock’s current research involves identifying the molecular mechanisms that define neuroinflammation and hypersensitivity and the impact of nanotherapeutic immunomodulation. Their work reveals significant sex difference in pain and pain-relief, which is studied through behavior, expression profiling, and molecular cell biology with advanced microscopy. Collaborating with Jelena Janjic, Ph.D[DJP1] ., they use dual labeled nanoparticles that permit the tagging of circulating monocytes and macrophages as well as provide for the delivery of drugs to just the site of inflammation. The labeled cells naturally aggregate at the injury. With celecoxib nanoemulsion, neuroinflammatory hypersensitivity can be relieved with a single ultra-low dose of medicine that provides longterm relief and accelerated healing. They have shown that while females develop pain on the same time course and same degree as males, the same ultralow dose of nanotherapeutic only provides an attenuated relief, not the complete relief that males achieve. This observation indicates that pain and pain-relief processing is sexually dimorphic. Modification of the nanotherapeutic with slightly increased dose of drug per droplet provides equivalent attenuation of hypersensitivity in both male and female rats. Distinct molecular mechanisms are being revealed in males as compared to females.

In addition to his research, Dr. Pollock is Director of the Partnership in Education and has created several related informal science education projects including films for young people and the general public. Board games, award winning iOS/Android apps and Emmy® Awards television have all been produced along with standards aligned teacher resources. All the materials are available for free from the project web site and YouTube channel. Individual productions have been assessed with pre-post surveys with published reports.

Among other awards, Dr. Pollock was named an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2017, by the Apple Corporation, elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2018.  In part, because of his extensive and diverse mentoring, he received national recognition and was honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring by the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation, class of 2015.  In 2020, he received the Science Educator award from the Society for Neuroscience / Dana Foundation. Dr. Pollock is engaged in community service and among other activities is a Trustee and member of the Board for the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

Selected publications:

Basic Science Publications

Vichare R, Crelli C, Liu L, McCallin R, Cowan A, Stratimirovic S, Herneisey M, Pollock JA, Janjic JM (2023) Folate-conjugated near-infrared fluorescent perfluorocarbon nanoemulsions as theranostics for activated macrophage COX-2 inhibition. Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio) 13, 15229 (2023). PubMed PMID: 37709807

Deal B, Phillips K, Crelli C, Janjic JM, Pollock JA. RNA-Seq Reveals Sex Differences in Gene Expression during Peripheral Neuropathic Inflammation and in Pain Relief from a COX-2 Inhibiting Theranostic Nanoemulsion. Int. J. Mol.Sci.(2023), 24, 9163. PubMed PMID: 37298117

Deal B, Reynolds LM, Patterson C, Janjic JM, Pollock JA. Behavioral and inflammatory sex differences revealed by celecoxib nanotherapeutic treatment of peripheral neuroinflammation. Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio) 12, 8472 (2022). PubMed PMID: 35637203

Janjic JM, Balogh M, Adena SKR, Fitzpatrick A, Pollock JA, Gorantla V, Shepherd AJ (2021) Targeted Imaging and Therapeutic Technologies in Neuro-regeneration. Chapter 6. In: Reconstructive Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine: The Emerging Interface (1st ed.). CRC Press.

Stevens AM, Liu L, Bertovich D, Janjic JM, Pollock JA. Differential Expression of Neuroinflammatory mRNAs in the Rat Sciatic Nerve Following Chronic Constriction Injury and Pain-Relieving Nanoemulsion NSAID Delivery to Infiltrating Macrophages. Int J Mol Sci. (2019); 20(21), 5269. PubMed PMID: 31652890

Saleem M, Deal B, Nehl E, Janjic JM, Pollock JA. Nanomedicine-driven neuropathic pain relief in a rat model is associated with macrophage polarity and mast cell activation. Acta Neuropathol Commun. (2019);7(1):108. PubMed PMID: 31277709

[Video Abstract https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6258/v1]

Janjic JM, Vasudeva K, Saleem M, Stevens A, Liu L, Patel S, Pollock JA. Low-dose NSAIDs reduce pain via macrophage targeted nanoemulsion delivery to neuroinflammation of the sciatic nerve in rat. J Neuroimmunol. (2018);318:72-9. PubMed PMID: 29519721

Vasudeva K, Vodovotz Y, Azhar N, Barclay D, Janjic JM, Pollock JA. In vivo and systems biology studies implicate IL-18 as a central mediator in chronic pain. J Neuroimmunol. (2015);283:43-9. PubMed PMID: 26004155

Vasudeva K, Andersen K, Zeyzus-Johns B, Hitchens TK, Patel SK, Balducci A, Janjic JM, Pollock JA. Imaging neuroinflammation in vivo in a neuropathic pain rat model with near-infrared fluorescence and ¹⁹F magnetic resonance. PLoS One. (2014);9(2):e90589. PubMed PMID: 24587398

Education/STEM Education/Health Literacy

Pollock JA, Kantorski B. Weathering the Storm: Youth Vulnerability and Resilience during the Climate Crisis. npj Climate Action (Nature Portfolio), 4, 82 (2025) PMID: 40922977 

Kantorski B, BruzdewiczK, FedjeK, Bass KM, Pollock JA.  Adolescents’ knowledge of and confidence in vaccines improves with board game play. Discover Education (Nature Portfolio), 4.245 (2025) PMID: 40693043

Kantorski B, BruzdewiczK, Will S, Pollock JA. Cards, Cubes, and Collaboration: A case study of the development of an educational board game. Discover Education (Nature Portfolio), 4.1 (2025): 79. PMID: 40191832 

Pollock JA Telling the stories of neuroscientific discovery to schoolchildren and the public can make an impact. eNeuro 9 April 2024, 11 (4) ENEURO.0078-24 (2024); PubMed PMID: 38594072

Kantorski B, Commisso DR, Sanford-Dolly CW, Pollock JA. The use of a mobile application to teach concussion-related health knowledge. Journal of STEM Outreach. (2020);3(1). PubMed PMID: 34017940

Kantorski B, Sanford-Dolly CW, Commisso DR, Pollock JA. Backward design as a mobile application development strategy. Ed Tech Research and Development. (2019);67:711-31. PubMed PMID: 31148910

Lampe DJ, Kantorski B, Pollock JA. Charles Darwin Synthetic Interview: A 19th Century Scientist Speaks in the 21(st) Century. Journal of STEM Outreach. (2018);1(1). PubMed PMID: 32656506 Note – Darwin Speaks iOS/Android

Wilson AC, Gonzalez LL, Pollock JA. Evaluating learning and attitudes on tissue engineering: a study of children viewing animated digital dome shows detailing the biomedicine of tissue engineering. Tissue Engineering Part A. (2012);18(5-6):576-86. PubMed PMID: 21943030

Ricou J, Pollock JA. The tree, the spiral and the web of life: a visual exploration of biological evolution for public murals. Leonardo. (2012);45(1):18-25. PubMed PMID: 38770276

Lawrence KS, Stilley CS, Pollock JA, Webber SA, Quivers ES. A family-centered educational program to promote independence in pediatric heart transplant recipients. Prog Transplant. (2011);21(1):61-6. PubMed PMID: 21485944

Read more about Dr. Pollock here.

 [DJP1]update link to Dr. Janjic