The overall goal of my research program is to understand how wound healing is regulated at a molecular level, and to use this knowledge to develop new therapeutic approaches to reduce excessive scarring in acute wounds or promote healing in chronic wounds. My colleagues and I are employing oligonucleotide-based strategies involving gene transfer by plasmid or viral vectors to modify the molecular environment of wounds. For example, to reduce scarring after excimer laser treatment of the cornea, we constructed a recombinant adenoassociated virus (rAAV) vector expressing a hammerhead ribozyme that selectively destroys the mRNA for the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-b) receptor which is the dominant factor responsible for scar formation.

Rabbit corneal epithelium transfected with a reporter gene.




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