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Post-Doctoral Fellows

[Email] Zhang Zhan BS, MS, PhD (Fall 2005- )

I am investigating retinal pigment epithelium RPE from chicken for its functions on eye growth regulation and myopia. I am going to use molecular biological techniques, such as DNA microarray, rt-PCR, western blotting, to study the structural presence and functional activities under certain experimental conditions and treatments.

EDUCATION
Ph.D. 1998 Major Molecular Biology, Mississippi State University
M.S. 1994 Major Wildlife Ecology, Mississippi State University
B.S. 1982 Major Aquatic Biology, Shanghai Fisheries University

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

2005 Cerghet, M., Skoff, R., Bessert, D., Zhang, Z., Mullins, C., Ghandour, S. Proliferation and death of oligodendrocytes, and levels of myelinproteins are differenctially regulated in male and female rodents. J. of Neurosci. (in press).

2005 Zhang Z., Mullins C., Bessert D. and Robert Skoff. Activation of the Casepase Independent Pathway in PLP Overexpresser Mice. American Society for Neurochemistry 2005 Annual meeting. Madison, WI.

2004 Zhang Z., Franklin M., Skoff R., Bessert D. and Mullins C. pH and mitochondrial dysfunction in myelin proteolipid protein gene overexpressors cause glial apoptosis. Society for Neuroscience 2004 annual meeting. San Diego, CA

2004 Zhang Z., Cerghet M., Mullins C., Williamson M., Bessert D. and Robert Skoff. Comparison of In vivo and in vitro subcellular localization of Estrogen Receptors (? & ?) in oligodendrocytes. J. Neurochem. 89:674-684.

2003 Zhang Z., Cerghet M., Mullins C., Zaidi A., Bessert D. and Skoff R. Expression of Estrogen Receptors in oligodendrocytes. Presentation in 34th Annual meeting of American Society of Neurochemistry, Newport, CA.

2002 Zhang Z, Hildebrandt EF, Simbulan-Rosenthal CM, Anderson MG. Sequence-specific binding of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 to the human T cell leukemia virus type-I tax responsive element. Virology. 296(1):107-16.

2000 Zhang Z., Sbrissa D., DeMarco C., Cerghet M., Ikonomov O. & Shisheva A. The phosphoinositide kinase PIKfyve is segregated from the endosomal system. Diabetes Mellitus: Molecular Mechanisms. Keystone 2000 Symposium.

1999 Zhan Zhang and Robert P. Wilson. Reevaluation of the choline requirement of fingerling channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and determination of the availability of choline in common feed ingredients. Aquaculture 180:89-98.

1998 Zhan Zhang and Robert P. Wilson. A modified enzymatic assay for quantifying choline in fish tissue and common feed ingredients. J. Agri. and Food Chemistry. 46:3673-3676.

1998 Zhan Zhang. Dietary requirements of three water-soluble vitamins and choline availability in common feed ingredients for channel catfish. Ph.D. dissertation. Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi.

1997 Wing-Keong Ng, Giovanni Serrini, Zhan Zhang and Robert P. Wilson. Niacin requirement and inability of tryptophan to act as a precursor of NAD + in channel catfish. Aquaculture 152: 273-285.

1996 Giovanni Serrini, Zhan Zhang and Robert P. Wilson. Dietary riboflavin requirement of fingerling channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus. Aquaculture 139: 285-290.

1994 Zhan Zhang. Effect of channel catfish broodstock feeds and age on egg diameter, egg weight, and fry growth and survival. M.S. thesis, 42pp. Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS.

1988 Zhan Zhang, Xinji Xu and Yuehua Li. Marginal analysis of the production function effected in Tilapia output cultured in net-cage in Xuanwu Lake. J. of Fishery Machinery and Instrument (Chinese). 73: 10-12.

1988 Zhan Zhang, Xinji Xu and Haijian Zhang. Analysis of aquaculture management problems using probability tree model. J. of Fisheries in Reservoir and Lakes (Chinese). 34: 30-32.

1987 Zhan Zhang. A trial application of the decision-making model to fresh water aquaculture. J. of Fishery Machinery & Instrument (Chinese). 68:42-44.

1986 Zhan Zhang. A practical linear programming model for aquaculture. Journal of Aquaculture Information (Chinese). 120: 29-31.

[Email] Vivian Choh PhD, MSc, BSc (Fall 2001+)

I am investigating the role of the brain during emmetropisation, the process in young animals that regulates growth of their eyes to avoid refractive errors such as myopia (short-sightedness).

Education
Ph.D., University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada: Vision Science & Biology
M.Sc., University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada: Physiology & Program in Neuroscience
B.Sc., University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada: Physiology (Minor: Physics)

Publications
Conference Presentations
Choh V, Lew MY, Nadel MW, Wildsoet CF (2005). Effects of interchanging hyperopic defocus and form deprivation stimuli in normal and optic nerve-sectioned chicks. Vision Res (in press).

Choh V, Padmanabhan V, Wildsoet CF (2005). Colchicine attenuates the minus lens but not plus lens compensation in chicks. (ARVO abstract #1989).

Feldkaemper MP, Choh V, Schaeffel F, Wildsoet CF (2005) Does intraocular coupling of retinal gene expression in the chick require an intact optic nerve? (ARVO abstract #3330).

Choh V, Banh J, Wildsoet CF (2004). Thickness and histological changes in optic nerve-sectioned chick retina. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (ARVO abstract#47).

Choh V, Yi M, Wildsoet CF (2003). Effects of interchanging form-deprivation and incremental hyperopic defocus stimuli on normal and optic nerve-sectioned chick eyes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (ARVO abstract#1992).

Choh V, Wildsoet CF (2002).Effects of interchanging diffusers and negative lenses on optic nerve–sectioned chicken eyes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (ARVO abstracts).

Choh V, Wildsoet CF (2002) Time course of axial changes to ocular components of optic nerve-sectioned chick eyes. Abstracts of 9th International Conference on Myopia, Hong Kong Section, 35.

Wong M, Yi M, Wildsoet CF (2001). Negative lens-induced myopia and form deprivation myopia involve different mechanisms: New evidence from the chick using an exchange paradigm. Optom Vis Sci 78 (Suppl): 89.

Choh, V., Yi, M. and Wildsoet, C.F. (2003). Effects of interchanging form-deprivation and incremented hyperopic defocus stimuli on normal and optic nerve-sectioned chick eyes. 2003 ARVO Abstract Program CD-ROM. E-abstract #1992.

Choh, V. and Wildsoet, C.F. (2002). Time course of axial changes to ocular components of optic nerve-sectioned chick eyes. 9th International Conference on Myopia Programme and Abstract Book, Book 1: 35.

Choh, V. and Wildsoet, C.F. (2002). Effects of interchanging diffusers and negative lenses on optic nerve-sectioned chicken eyes. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 43: E-abstract #190. Available at www.iovs.org.

Choh, V., Sivak, J.G. and Irving, E.L. (2001). Axial thickness and front surface curvature of the ocular lens in form-deprived chicken eyes during accommodation. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 42(4): S55.

Choh, V. and Sivak, J.G. (2001). "Form-deprivation myopia is associated with loss of lenticular accommodation in chicks", in Vision Science and Its Applications, OSA Technical Digest, Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C., pp. 167-170.

Choh, V. and Sivak, J.G. (2000). "Optical changes of accommodating lenses in myopic chicks" in Proceedings of the VIII International Conference on Myopia, ed. F. Thorn, D. Troilo and J. Gwiazda, Conference on Myopia 2000, Inc., Boston, MA., pp. 279-282.

Choh, V. and Sivak, J.G. (2000). "An in situ physiological model to measure lenticular changes during accommodation," in Vision Science and Its Applications, OSA Technical Digest, Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C., pp. 153-156.

Choh, V., Sivak, J.G. and Meriney, S.D. (2000). Focal characteristics of the accommodating lens in situ. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 41(4): S773.

Bantseev, V., Herbert, K., Choh, V., Sivak, J. and Trevithick, J. (1998). Mitochondrial absence and optical disruption at sutures in rat lenses. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 39(4): S310.

Janevski, J., Choh, V. and De Boni, U. (1993). DES induced changes in growth cone morphology in PC12 cells are accompanied by a rise in free intracellular calcium. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Anim., 29A(3): 102A.

Janevski, J., Choh, V. and De Boni, U. (1992). Effects of diethylstilbestrol on NGF induced neurite formation in PC12 cells; An assay of neurotoxicity. Physiology Canada, 23(2): 70.

Papers
Choh, V., Sivak, J.G., Irving, E.L. and Wong, W. (2002). Ultrasound biomicroscopy of the anterior segment in ametropic chicken eyes during accommodation. Ophthal. Physiol. Opt., 22:401.408.

Choh, V., Sivak, J.G. and Meriney, S.D. (2002). A physiological model to measure effects of age on lenticular accommodation and spherical aberration in chickens. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 43(1): 92-98.

Choh, V. and Priolo, S. (1999). Relating clinical study design to basic research. Optom. Vis. Sci., 76(7): 462-467.

Choh, V. and De Boni, U. (1996). Spatial repositioning of centromeric domains during regrowth of axons in nuclei of murine dorsal root ganglion neurons in vitro. J. Neurobiol., 31: 325-332.

Janevski, J., Choh, V., Stopper, H., Schiffmann, D. and De Boni, U. (1993). Diethylstilbestrol alters growth cone morphology of PC12 cells in vitro. Neurotoxicology, 14(4): 505-512.

Theses
Choh, V. (2001). A physiological model to measure optical and biophysical changes during avian accommodation. Ph.D. Thesis, Vision Science and Biology, University of Waterloo.

Choh, V. (1996). Organisation of centromeric domains in nuclei of murine dorsal root ganglion neurons in vitro. M.Sc. Thesis, Department of Physiology, University of Toronto.

Zhan Zhang PhD (Fall 2005+)

[Email] Jodi Rymer PhD, BSc (Summer 2003-Summer 2005)

I am studying the vision differences, particularly changes related to myopia between normal and albino chicks.

Education
Ph.D, UC Berkeley 2003
B.A., Reed College 1996

Publications
Rymer J, Wildsoet CF (2005). The role of the retinal pigment epithelium in eye growth regulation and myopia: a review. Vis Neurosci. 22: 251-61.

Blaug, S, Rymer J, Jalickee S, Miller SS
"P2 purinoceptors regulate calcium-activated chloride and fluid transport in 31EG4 mammary epithelia" Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2003 Apr;284(4):C897-909. Epub 2002 Nov 27.

Maminishkis A, Jalickee S, Blaug SA, Rymer J, Yerxa BR, Peterson WM, Miller SS "The P2Y(2) receptor agonist INS37217 stimulates RPE fluidtransport in vitro and retinal reattachment in rat." Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2002 Nov;43(11):3555-66

Rymer J, Miller SS, Edelman JL "Epinephrine-induced increases in [Ca2+](in) and KCl-coupled fluid absorption in bovine RPE." Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2001 Jul;42(8):1921-9.

Conferences and Presentations

Rymer J, Wildsoet CF, Miller S (2002). Epinephrine decreases cytosolic calcium in chick retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (ARVO abstracts).

Jodi Rymer JM, Choh V, Wildsoet CF (2004). Retinal pigment epithelium function is altered by optic nerve section in chicks. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (ARVO abstract#58).

[Email] Priya Mathur PhD, MSc Pharmacology, BSc (Hons) Human Biology and Physiology (Fall 2002-Fall 2004)

I earned my doctorate in 2001 from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India with a one-year training at the Institute of Experimental Biology at the University of Bonn, Germany. My research interests include Cataract and Myopia. The title of my PhD thesis was "Role of Calpain in Cataractogenesis."

My post-doctoral training began at the Kresge Eye Institute in Detroit, USA where I investigated the mechanism of anterior cataract produced by semiquinolone metabolites of acetaminophen in mice.

I must confess that it was the website of the Wildsoet Lab which first got me interested in myopia research and I think it will intrigue you too. In my present project I am studyng the mechanism underlying the modulation of choroidal thickness in response to positive or negative defocus in chicks.
I use pharmacological tools to manipulate accumulation of osmotically active molecules in the extracellular choroidal matrix, and also manipulate the resistance of outflow pathways from the anterior chamber to further unravel this mechanism. I also plan to study choroidal factors released by organ cultured choroids obtained from control vs myopic and hyperopic eyes.

Original research papers

Mathur P, Gupta, SK, Wegener AR, Breipohl W, Ahrend MH, Sharma YD, Gupta YK, Vajpayee RB. Comparison of various calpain inhibitors in reduction of light scattering, protein precipitation and nuclear cataract in-vitro. Current Eye Research, 2000; 21(6): 926-33.

Velpandian T, Mathur P, Sengupta S, Gupta S K. Preventive Effect of Chyavanprash against Steroid Induced Cataract in the Developing Chick Embryo. Phytotherapy Research. 1998; 12: 320-323.

Sengupta S, Velpandian T, Sapra P, Mathur P, Gupta S K. Comparative Analgesic Efficacy of Nimesulide and Diclofenac Gels after Topical Application on the Skin. Skin Pharmacology and Applied Skin Physiology 1998; 11:273-278.

Gupta S K, Velpandian T, Sengupta S, Mathur P, Sapra P. Influence of Piperine on Nimesulide Induced Antinociception. Phytotherapy Research. 1998; 12:266-269.

Gupta S K, Velpandian T, Mathur P, Sengupta S. Comparative Analgesic Activity of Nimesulide and Diclofenac by Intramuscular Route: Correlation with Pharmacokinetic Profile of Nimesulide. Pharmacology 1998; 56: 137-143.

Gupta S K, Joshi S, Tandon R, Mathur P. Topical Aspirin provides protection against galactose induced cataract in rats. Indian Journal of Ophthalmology 1997; 45(4): 221-225.

Reviews
Saxena R, Prakash J, Mathur P, Gupta SK. Pharmacotherapy of Glaucoma. Indian Journal of Pharmacology 2002; 34: 71-85

Abstracts (selected few)

Mathur P, Bhat SR, Wildsoet CF (2005). Acetazolamide prevents choroidal thickening in response to plus lens-induced defocus in chicks reared in constant light (ARVO abstract #1990).

Wildsoet CF, Mathur P, Wong GK (2004). Acetazolamide, a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor, interferes with compensation to lens-induced defocus in chicks. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (ARVO abstract#124).

P.Mathur, A.Wegener, W.Breipohl and S.K.Gupta Comparative evaluation of calpain inhibitors in preventing crystallin precipitation after endogenous calpain activation. Proceedings of the FASEB Summer research Conference on the Calpain System in Health and Disease 1999.

P.Mathur, T.Velpandian, S.K.Gupta, A.Wegener and W.Breipohl Evaluation of a new calpain inhibitor preventing crystallin precipitation after activation of endogenous calpain in soluble proteins from young rat lens. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (ARVO suppl), 1999; 40(4), S524.

P.Mathur, T.Velpandian, S.Sengupta, S.K.Gupta Effect of Chyavanprash, a traditional Indian Herbal formulation, against steroid induced cataract in the developing chick embryo XIIIth International Congress of Pharmacology, 1998.

Priya Mathur and Gupta S.K Prevention of cataract development by topical diclofenac. XIIth International Congress of Eye Research 63(1), 1996.

S.K.Gupta, Priya Mathur, R.Tandon, Y.K.Gupta, A.Len and S.Joshi Nutritional Antioxidants provide protection against cataract. XIIth International Congress of Eye Research 63(1), 1996

Caroline Blackie OD, PhD (Fall 2000 – Summer 2002)

Caroline’s interests lie in creating and testing computational models of visual development. These models serve as an efficient tool in aiding the understanding of human refractive error development in particular and emmetropization in general. She is specifically interested in potential differences in the accommodation profiles of various refractive categories e.g. progressing vs. non-progressing myopes and trace monocular differences in anisomyopes.

Publications & conference presentations

Blackie CA, Aizenman MS, Tsu AP, Wildsoet CF (2001). The relationship between pupil size, accommodation and cognitive demand measured under binocular viewing conditions. Optom Vis Sci 78 (Suppl): 157.

Wildsoet CF, Blackie CA, Xie CM, Payne WS (2001). Albino chickens – An appropriate refractive error model for human albinism? Optom Vis Sci 78 (Suppl): 89.

Blackie C, Ni W, Wildsoet CF (2002). Anisomyopia does not result in interocular differences in lens-induced blur sensitivity. Optom Visi Sci (Suppl), 26.

Sigrid Diether PhD (Spring 2001- Fall 2002)

Sigrid joined the lab after completing her PhD under the mentorship of Dr Frank Schaeffel in Tubingen, Germany. She used the chick as an animal model for myopia in that work and continued to work with chicks after joining the Wildsoet lab with support from the German Research Council. A long standing interest of hers that became the focus of her research in the Wildsoet lab was how young eyes determine the state of focus of their eyes. Decoding defocus is a necessary pre-requisite for emmetropization, the process by which young animals adjust their ocular growth to eliminate any focussing errors present at birth (hatching). After completing an 18 month long post-doctoral fellowship, Sigrid returned to Europe to join the myopia drug research team of the pharmaceutical giant, Norvartis in Switzerland.

Publications & Conference presentations

Diether S, Wildsoet CF (2005). Stimulus requirements for the decoding of myopic and hyperopic defocus under single and competing defocus conditions in the chicken. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci.46: 2242-52.

Diether S, Wildsoet CF (2002). Stimulus requirements for the decoding of myopic and hyperopic defocus in chickens. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (ARVO abstracts).

Diether S, Wildsoet CF (2003). Compensation for myopic defocus under competing defocus conditions has spatial frequency and accommodation prerequisites. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (ARVO abstract#1983)