Jayakrishna Ambati, M.D.  Principal Investigator

Jayakrishna Ambati is Professor of Physiology and Professor & Vice-Chair of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky. He holds the Dr. E. Vernon Smith & Eloise C. Smith Endowed Chair in Macular Degeneration Research. His scientific aspirations are to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of AMD, determine the triggers of the angiogenic switch that converts this disease from an atrophic to a neovascular phenotype, and to develop novel therapeutics to prevent and treat this blinding condition. He won a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research and was elected to The American Society for Clinical Investigation. He also serves on the Editorial Board of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences. His wife Kameshwari and he derive greatest joy from playing with their daughters Meenakshi and Vidya.

Mark Kleinman, M.D. Post-doctoral Fellow

Dr. Kleinman is a senior post-doctoral fellow after joining the lab in 2006. He came from New York University where he completed both his M.D. and a surgery internship. Mark originally hails from Durham, NC but grew up primarily in Milwaukee, WI before attending The Taft School in Watertown, CT and Emory University in Atlanta, GA. It was at Emory that he forged his interests in vascular biology as a research assistant in the Greuntzig Lab for Invasive Cardiology, the birthplace of coronary angioplasty. During his medical education, he continued with his research with studies in microvascular biology and tissue engineering under the direction of Geoff Gurtner, M.D., a plastic-surgeon scientist now at Stanford University. Dr. Kleinman’s research at NYU significantly contributed to the field of stem/progenitor cell biology and anomalous vascular growth, in particular with proliferating infantile hemangioma, for which he was awarded the Weston Research Grant. His research interests are focused on defining the molecular interface of angiogenic mediators and the biologic spectrum of immune-related inflammation. He will be continuing on in the Department as a resident beginning in July 2008. Mark thoroughly enjoys spending time with his wife, Blythe, son, Matai, and daughter, Meilin Grey. His luxuries include exploration of the culinary arts, composing, arranging, playing, and listening to music of diverse genres, and traveling.

Kiyoshi Yamada, M.D. Post-doctoral Fellow

Dr. Yamada is from Nagoya, Japan located on the big island of Honshu. He graduated from Kitasato University School of Medicine in 1994 and completed a residency in the Department of Ophthalmology, Nagoya City University Medical School, Aichi, Japan in 1997. Previous to joining the laboratory, Dr. Yamada worked as a general ophthalmologist with an emphasis in retinopathies and glaucoma. He began his research fellowship at UK in September 2006.  Kiyoshi has made significant contributions to the investigation of the anti-angiogenic class effect of siRNA.  He is an expert in the laser-injury model of choroidal neovascularization and vascular volumetrics using advanced techniques in confocal microscopy. He is married and has a 3 year old son, Keoki.  In April 2008, he will be returning to his clinical work and will be dearly missed.

Wongil Cho, Ph.D. Post-doctoral Fellow

Dr. Cho was born and raised in Jeon Ju, South Korea, a small city in the southwest part of the nation. As an undergraduate, he studied Clinical Laboratory Science at Health Science College of Yonsei University. Thereafter, Wongil worked at Inha General Hospital at Sungnam, Korea for 2 and half years as a laboratory technician. In 1997, with strong motivation for pursuing an academic career, he entered graduate studies in medical college of Hanyang University in Seoul with a double major in Human Gross Anatomy and Cell Biology. Meanwhile, Dr. Cho worked as an instructor of Human Gross Anatomy, Histology and Neuroanatomy and as a Neuroscience researcher. After being awarded his Ph. D., Wongil came to US and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UNC Chapel Hill in the Cell and Developmental Biology Department from 2003 to 2005. He then moved to University of Kentucky and worked in Spinal Cord and Brain Research Center for 2 years before transferring to Dr. Ambati’s lab in September 2007. Dr. Cho’s current research interests are the effects of immune receptor activation on AMD pathogenesis and ocular angiogenesis. Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Junghee, son, James and daughter, Hannah and playing tennis with friends.

Romulo Albuquerque, D.D.S. MD/PhD Student

Upon completing a DDS from the University of Pernambuco-Brazil in 2000, Dr. Albuquerque joined the residency and Masters Degree Program in the Orofacial Pain Center at the University of Kentucky. After completing his residency, he aspired to become a physician-scientist and gained acceptance to the UK MD/PhD program. Romulo’s previous research experiences are in the field of orofacial pain epidemiology and functional neuroimaging studies. During the three years of training, he was directly involved in the development and execution of several research projects in collaboration with faculty and other residents which yielded several publications in the field. He joined the Ambati Lab in 2005 and significantly contributed to studies on the role of complement mediated VEGF expression. In 2006, Dr. Albuquerque was awarded a RPB Medical Student Fellowship to study the role of soluble VEGFR-1 in corneal avascularity. Currently, he is working on his dissertation in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences/Physiology, under the mentorship of Dr. Ambati. Romulo’s new research efforts have focused on the discovery and characterization of alternative novel endogenous soluble factors that modulate the growth of blood and lymphatic vessel with a particular interest in specific inhibitors of lymphangiogenesis. The absence of lymphatic vessels in the cornea affords its immunological privilege, which is critical for the success of corneal transplantation. Romulo enjoys his time away from the lab with his lovely wife, Lisandra usually cycling, running, or exploring the Bluegrass countryside.

Judit Baffi, M.D./Ph.D. 3^rd Yr Ophthalmology Resident

Dr. Baffi earned a MD/PhD from Semmelweis University Medical School, Budapest, Hungary. She did postdoctoral studies as a Fogarty International Fellow in clinical neuroscience in the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, and in ocular immunology and gene therapy in the National Eye Institute in the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. Her research focuses on dissecting molecular mechanisms in age related macular degeneration.

Kristen Woodman, M.S. Manager/Research Associate

Kristen grew up in Byesville, Ohio, a small town in the eastern state, and went on to Walsh University in 1998 where she received a B.S. in Biology with a Chemistry minor. From there, she went on to graduate school at UK in 2002 and was awarded a MS in Medical Sciences, with a concentration in microbiology/immunology. Kristen is recently married to her husband, Mike, who is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Microbiology. She joined Dr. Ambati’s lab in September and is responsible for placing/tracking orders and dealing with the business aspects of the lab. She also assists with cell culture work, genotyping, and institutional protocols. While away from work, Kristen spends most of her time raising a Golden Retriever puppy and taking care of a very jealous and high maintenance 3 year old cat. Otherwise, she loves to read, run/work out, bake and travel. Kristen plans to pursue a Public Health degree in the future.

Robin King, B.S. Manager/Scientist II

Robin handles several aspects of the daily operations of the laboratory including management of our transgenic mouse colony, the largest at University of Kentucky. She is also skilled in immunohistochemistry and other antibody based molecular techniques.

Michael Newcomb, B.S. 4^th Yr Medical Student

Li Xu, B.S. Research Technician

Gary Pattison, B.S. Mouse Colony/Breeding Specialist