Steven W. Wang, Ph.D. 1995, University of California, Davis UT-Houston Medical School Ophthalmology and Visual Science Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Contact Information

Research Interests: Retina; stem cells; retinal ganglion cells; neural differentiation; eye development; genetics; cell biology; mouse

The retina serves as the best model organ to study the differentiation of the central nervous system. A mature mammalian retina contains six neuronal and one glial cell type organized in defined patterns. Our primary interest is to understand, at the cellular and molecular levels, the events leading to the establishment of the mammalian retina.

Our primary focus is on the molecular regulation of retinal cell type formation. Formation of different retinal cell types is a result of interplay between cell-extrinsic and cell-intrinsic molecules. Our research projects are designed 1) to establish the links between cell-extrinsic and cell-intrinsic molecules, and 2) to understand how different cell-intrinsic factors regulate the formation of each retinal cell type.

Another focus of our laboratory is on the molecular regulation of retinal stem cell formation. In the mammalian retina, isolated stem cells are not able to give rise to the complete spectrum of retinal cell types, especially retinal ganglion cells. Our projects are designed to understand the molecular mechanism that regulates retinal stem cell formation with the goal of generating retinal stem cells that are capable of giving rise to retinal ganglion cells.

A tutorial in our laboratory would provide experience in 1) using mouse as a molecular genetic system for studying neuronal differentation; and 2) combining molecular biology, cell biology, and confocal microscopy to address questions in neuron differentiation.
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Ohtoshi A, Wang SW, Maeda H, Sazik SM, Frishman LJ, Klein WH, Behringer R (2004) Regulation of retinal cone bipolar cell differentiation and photopic vision by the CVC homeobox gene Vsx1. Current Biology (in press)

Wang SW, Mu X, Bowers SJ, Kim DS, Plas DJ, Crair MC, Gan L, Federoff HJ, Klein WH (2002) Brn3b/Brn3c double knockout mice reveal an unsuspected role for Brn3c in retinal ganglion cell axon outgrowth. Development 129:467-477.

Wang SW, Mu X, Bowers WJ, Klein WH (2002) Retinal ganglion cell differentiation in cultured mouse retinal explants. Methods 28:448-456.

Mu X, Zhao S, Pershad R, Hsieh ZF, Scarpa A, Wang SW, White RA, Beremond PD, T homas TL, Gan L, Klein WH (2001) Gene expression in the developing mouse retina by EST sequencing and microarray analysis. Nucleic Acids Research 29:4983-4993.

Wang SW, Kim BS, Ding K, Wang H, Sun D, Johnson RL, Klein WH (2001) Requirement for math5 in the development of retinal ganglion cells. Genes and Development 15:24-29.

Wng SW, Gan L, Martin SE, Klein WH (2000) Abnormal polarization and axon outgrowth in retinal ganglion cells lacking the POU-domain transcription factor brn-3b. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience 16:141-156.

GanL, Wang SW, Huang Z, Klein WH (1999) POU domain factor Brn-3b is essential for retinal ganglion cell differentiation and survival butnot for initial cell fate specification or migration. Developmental Biology 210:469-480.

Wang SW, Griffin FJ, Clark WH (1997) Cell-cell association directed spindle orientation in the early development of the marine shrimp Sicyonia ingentis. Development 124:773-780.

Program Affiliation:
Program in Neuroscience