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Dr Peter Koulen

Dr Peter Koulen

Editor-in-Chief: Professor Peter Koulen

Peter Koulen, PhD, is a Professor of Ophthalmology and Basic Medical Science and also the Felix and Carmen Sabates Missouri Endowed Chair in Vision Research at University of Missouri- Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine, since January 2009. Dr. Koulen serves as Director of Basic Research at the UMKC's Vision Research Center. His research includes optical imaging, electrophysiology and biochemistry to elucidate mechanisms underlying basic physiology and pathophysiological processes at the molecular, cell and system levels. Dr. Koulen had served previously as a professor of Pharmacology and Neuroscience and director of the North Texas Eye Research Institute at the University of North Texas.

Dr. Koulen was trained at the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany and at the Johannes Gutenberg - University, Mainz, Germany. He was awarded his PhD in Biology with an emphasis on zoology in 1997 followed by post-doctoral fellowships at Yale University School of Medicine and the Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole, MA.

The goal of his research is the development of pharmacological and molecular biological treatments for disorders of the visual, renal and central nervous system such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and cognitive decline during aging and Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, ischemia, polycystic kidney disease, and neurological disorders based on novel insights into the underlying physiology and pathophysiology. Dr. Koulen also serves as a reviewer for national and international as well as private and governmental funding agencies. Several national and international funding agencies and foundations including the USA’s National Science Foundation and the USA’s National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the Alzheimer's Association draw on his scientific expertise to determine the future course of their research portfolios. His research program received funding from national and international agencies including the National Eye Institute, The National Institute on Aging, the National Center for Research Resources, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Cancer Institute, the Alzheimer’s Association, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia, and the National Kidney Foundation among others.

He is a regular presenter at scientific meetings, author of over 80 peer reviewed articles in physiology and biomedicine and is an editorial board member for five scientific journals. He received numerous awards including a New Investigator Research Grant from the Alzheimer’s Association, an American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Memorial Travel Award, a scholarship from the Society of Biological Psychiatry, an ARVO Travel fellowship grant from ARVO and the National Eye Institute, a Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia, a Research Fellowship from the National Kidney Foundation, the Erik B. Fries Endowed & Lucy B. Lemann Fellowship from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, Massachusetts, a Fellowship in Neurosciences at the MBL from The Grass Foundation, a fellowship from the Max-Planck-Society, a fellowship and a scholarship from the BASF Aktiengesellschaft and German National Merit Scholarship Foundation, and an ERASMUS scholarship from the European Community among others.

Listen to the interview with Dr. Koulen here (recorded October 2009).