MITCHELL A. WATSKY, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Physiology

The University of Tennessee College of Medicine

Address

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

360 Nash Addition

151 East Street

Memphis, TN 38163

Tel: (901) 448-8206; Fax: (901) 448-7126;

Education

Ph.D. Institution: Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Physiology

Postdoctoral: Mayo Foundation, Department of Physiology and Biophysics

Research Interests

The primary research interests in the lab involve ophthalmic physiology, the cellular mechanisms of wound healing, and epithelial transport in the cornea. Over four million cases of corneal disease occur annually, where the transparent front surface of the eye becomes cloudy due to injury, disease, or genetic defects. The loss of corneal transparency often results from the cornea's cellular response to the initial corneal insult. To help prevent the loss of vision that results from a cloudy cornea, it is necessary to achieve a basic understanding of the cellular mechanisms involved in the corneal wound healing response. Patch clamp, microelectrode, and imaging technology are combined with ophthalmic surgical techniques to study the influence of ion channels, gap junctions and tight junctions on the physiology of both normal corneas and corneas undergoing the healing process. We also examine the influence of growth factors, lipids, and various pharmacological agents on the transport and healing properties of the cells in the cornea.

Links

Physiology - Mitchell A. Watsky

Recent Publications

• Rafat M, Li F, Fagerholm P, Lagali NS, Watsky MA, Munger R, Matsuura T, Griffith M. PEG-stabilized carbodiimide crosslinked collagen-chitosan hydrogels for corneal tissue engineering. Biomaterials. 2008 Oct;29(29):3960-72. Epub 2008 Jul 21. PMID: 18639928
• Merrett K, Fagerholm P, McLaughlin CR, Dravida S, Lagali N, Shinozaki N, Watsky MA, Munger R, Kato Y, Li F, Marmo CJ, Griffith M. Tissue-engineered recombinant human collagen-based corneal substitutes for implantation: performance of type I versus type III collagen. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2008 Sep;49(9):3887-94. Epub 2008 May 30. PMID: 18515574
• Carbone LD, Rosenberg EW, Tolley EA, Holick MF, Hughes TA, Watsky MA, Barrow KD, Chen TC, Wilkin NK, Bhattacharya SK, Dowdy JC, Sayre RM, Weber KT. 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, cholesterol, and ultraviolet irradiation. Metabolism. 2008 Jun;57(6):741-8. PMID: 18502255
• Yin Z, Tong Y, Zhu H, Watsky MA. ClC-3 is required for LPA-activated Cl- current activity and fibroblast-to-myofibroblast differentiation. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2008 Feb;294(2):C535-42. Epub 2007 Dec 12. PMID: 18077605
• Liu W, Merrett K, Griffith M, Fagerholm P, Dravida S, Heyne B, Scaiano JC, Watsky MA, Shinozaki N, Lagali N, Munger R, Li F. Recombinant human collagen for tissue engineered corneal substitutes. Biomaterials. 2008 Mar;29(9):1147-58. PMID: 18076983
• Carbone LD, Warrington KJ, Barrow KD, Pugazhenthi M, Watsky MA, Somes G, Ingels J, Postlethwaite AE. Pamidronate infusion in patients with systemic sclerosis results in changes in blood mononuclear cell cytokine profiles. Clin Exp Immunol. 2006 Dec;146(3):371-80. PMID: 17100755

view complete list of references (pubmed link)