Douglas Thomas
· Associate Professor of Communication (USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism) / Design Strategy, Business of InnovationVerifiedUniversity of Southern California · Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation Program
Active 1991–2026
About
Douglas Thomas is a professor at the USC Iovine and Young Academy and the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. Over the past two decades, his research has focused on the intersection of technology and culture. He is the author and editor of multiple books covering topics such as computer hackers, cybercrime, computer viruses, the culture of video games, and the digital revolution in education. In 2006, he founded the journal Games & Culture, the first academic journal dedicated to studying the culture of video games, and in 2007, he organized a major video game conference in Tokyo, helping to launch the field of Game Studies. Thomas has concentrated on the relationship between games and learning, leading to a long-standing collaboration with John Seely Brown. Their joint efforts resulted in the creation of the concept called 'gamer disposition,' which was named one of Harvard Business Review's 'Breakthrough Ideas.' Additionally, they published the book 'A New Culture of Learning' in 2011, which has been translated into multiple languages and is read worldwide. He has been a featured keynote speaker at numerous major educational conferences across the United States, Asia, and Europe, and has consulted with the governments of South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore on educational reform. He has also helped shape and advise the curriculum and missions of many U.S. school systems.
Research topics
- Psychology
- Psychoanalysis
- Computer Science
- Artificial Intelligence
- Psychotherapist
- Medicine
- Nursing
Selected publications
Redox Biology · 2026-04-15
articleOpen accessSenior authorCorrespondingOur laboratory has established that the free radical signaling molecule nitric oxide (NO) is an endogenous regulator of epigenetic methylation through direct inhibition of the Fe(II)/2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase (2-ODD) family, including histone demethylases (KDMs)[1, 2], mRNA demethylases (FTO, ALKBH5) [3], and DNA demethylases (TETs, ALKBH2) [4]. We previously showed that NO alters 38 histone post-translational modifications (PTMs) and genome-wide transcription in breast cancer cells [3]. Here, we comprehensively quantify 76 histone modifications, including 30 combinatorial marks on adjacent residues not resolved in the original analysis, and systematically profile methyl-modifying enzyme expression. We identify four coordinated histone PTM axes converging on a chromatin compaction signature: (i) H3K9 methylation accumulation with selective K9me1K14ac remodeling, (ii) H4K20me1→me2/me3 conversion, (iii) a novel H3K27-K36 combinatorial landscape shift, and (iv) preferential depletion of hyperacetylated H4 species. A composite Chromatin Compaction Score integrating all 76 PTMs with literature-based valence assignments confirms progressive compaction, validated independently by PCA. ChIP-seq reanalysis reveals that H3K9me2 accumulates predominantly at intergenic regions while K9ac undergoes activity-dependent redistribution governed by baseline chromatin state, with near-perfect reciprocal H3K9me2 gain at silent loci. Systematic enzyme profiling shows coordinated upregulation of 13/18 detected KDMs alongside methyltransferase downregulation, a compensatory response that fails to overcome direct enzymatic inhibition by NO. This compaction signature is associated with tumor-permissive gene silencing: DNA repair genes are downregulated, chromatin remodeling complexes suppressed, and IDH1 downregulation creates a feed-forward loop compounding 2-ODD inhibition. These findings establish NO-mediated KMD inhibition as a driver of coordinated chromatin compaction linked to pro-tumorigenic gene silencing.
2025-02-19
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingHeresy was a vital element both in C. G. Jung's personal life and in the psychology that he developed. The heretical tradition offers a lens for revealing points of congruence between analytical psychology and Queer theory that makes the Jungian model particularly compatible with the psychological needs of LGBTQI+ individuals. However, an open letter from a trans-identified patient shares how they felt misunderstood and unsupported by their analyst's adherence to an orthodoxy of established Jungian concepts. Somehow a heresy had become a new orthodoxy. An exploration of the emotions underlying the dialectic between orthodoxy and heresy concludes the paper.
Jung and the Queer Dialectic: A Heretical Tradition
Psychological Perspectives · 2024-10-01 · 1 citations
article1st authorCorresponding2023-08-11
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book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingConfrontation With the Erotic Unconscious
2023-08-11
book-chapter1st authorCorresponding2023-08-11
book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
Frequent coauthors
- 5 shared
John Seely Brown
- 4 shared
Lawrence D. Green
- 2 shared
Robert E. Terrill
- 2 shared
Sarah Projansky
- 2 shared
John Louis Lucaites
- 2 shared
Leah Ceccarelli
University of Cincinnati
- 2 shared
Thomas S. Frentz
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
- 2 shared
William M. Purcell
Education
- 1990
B.A., Communication
University of California, Santa Barbara
- 1992
M.A., Communication
University of California, Santa Barbara
- 1996
Ph.D., Communication
University of California, Santa Barbara
Awards & honors
- Gamer Disposition named one of Harvard Business Review's 'Br…
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