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

• Ryder KM, Bobo Tanner S, Carbone L, Williams JE, Taylor HM, Bush A, Pintea V, Watsky MA. Teriparatide is safe and effectively increases bone biomarkers in institutionalized individuals with osteoporosis. J Bone Miner Metab. 2009 Oct 6; [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19806302
• Merrett K, Liu W, Mitra D, Camm KD, McLaughlin CR, Liu Y, Watsky MA, Li F, Griffith M, Fogg DE. Synthetic neoglycopolymer-recombinant human collagen hybrids as biomimetic crosslinking agents in corneal tissue engineering. Biomaterials. 2009 Oct;30(29):5403-8. Epub 2009 Jul 2. PMID: 19576630
• Tokumura A, Carbone LD, Yoshioka Y, Morishige J, Kikuchi M, Postlethwaite A, Watsky MA. Elevated serum levels of arachidonoyl-lysophosphatidic acid and sphingosine 1-phosphate in systemic sclerosis. Int J Med Sci. 2009 Jun 5;6(4):168-76. PMID: 19521548
• Liu W, Deng C, McLaughlin CR, Fagerholm P, Lagali NS, Heyne B, Scaiano JC, Watsky MA, Kato Y, Munger R, Shinozaki N, Li F, Griffith M. Collagen-phosphorylcholine interpenetrating network hydrogels as corneal substitutes. Biomaterials. 2009 Mar;30(8):1551-9. Epub 2008 Dec 20. PMID: 19097643
• 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

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