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Dr Steven F. Abcouwer

Dr Steven F. Abcouwer

Associate Editor: Steven F. Abcouwer

Dr. Abcouwer is currently a Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Michigan Medicine Kellogg Eye Center. He trained as a chemical engineer at the University of Missouri-Columbia, specializing in biochemical engineering during PhD training at the University of Houston. He gravitated toward biomedical research as he conducted postdoctoral training at Monsanto Heath Sciences, studying therapeutic approaches to inhibit tumor invasion and metastasis. As a junior faculty member at Harvard Medical School Department of Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital he cloned a novel human glutaminase gene and identified the regulatory elements in the rat glutamine synthetase gene. Then, as a faculty member at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology he discovered the role of activating transcription factor 4 in regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene expression. While at Penn State University College of Medicine, Departments of Surgery, Ophthalmology and Physiology he studied neuronal death mechanisms and conducted preclinical testing of therapeutics in rodent models of diabetic retinopathy. He joined the University of Michigan in 2010. He is currently Co-Principal Investigator of two National Eye Institute-funded R01 research grants exploring pathological mechanisms of diabetic retinopathy, is Co-Principal Investigator for a National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases-funded R24 grant examining metabolic changes in diabetic complications-prone tissues caused by diabetes, is Principal Investigator for several research contracts with pharmaceutical companies and is the Director of the Molecular Biology Module of the National Eye Institute-funded Kellogg Eye Center Vision Research Core Facility. Dr. Abcouwer has sat on numoersour national and international grant review committes and is currently is a regular member of the National Institutes of Heath Diseases and Pathophysiology of the Visual System Study Section. He serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals. His current research interests include neurodegeneration and vascular dysfunction in diabetic retinopathy, the role of inflammation in retinal vascular dysfunction, and mechanisms controling retinal vascular develoment.