Dr. Dong received his Ph.D degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2000, and finished his postdoctoral training in Penn Stat University and University of Rochester. Dr. Dong is an expert on signaling mechanisms that regulate cartilage and osteoblast development from mesenchymal stem cell using various in vitro cell models. He has published his research in several prestigious journals such as: Development, Oncogene and Molecular Endocrinology. He has also received a significant funding from the Airlift Research Foundation and NIH to investigate the critical effects of Notch signaling on skeletal stem cells, cartilage, and bone.