Professor, Department Cellular Biology and Anatomy
Research Lab: R&E Building CB2901
Phone: 706-721-9541; 706-723-0098
envelope-o icon mwatsky@augusta.edu
Xiaowen Lu, PhD, Assistant Research Scientist
Zhong Chen, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Research interests of the lab include corneal wound healing, intercellular junctions,
ion channel function, cell signaling, and bioengineering of an artificial cornea. We
also have a long term interest in bioactive lipids. Stemming from our corneal wound
healing work, research projects in the lab have broadened to include translational
projects aimed at understanding initiation of fibrotic diseases throughout the body,
including scleroderma (SSc) and pulmonary fibrosis, as well as research involving
osteoporosis and markers of bone metabolism. The current primary focus of the laboratory
is gaining an understanding of how vitamin D interacts with the cornea.
BS, Biology; Emory University, Atlanta Georgia
PhD, Physiology; Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Wisconsin. Advisor: Henry F. Edelhauser, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow; Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Mayo Foundation, Rochester
Minnesota. Supervisor: James L. Rae, PhD
University of Tennessee Science Alliance Faculty Award, 2001
Marta Marx Eradication of Scleroderma Award, National Scleroderma Foundation, 2005
ARVO Silver Fellow, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, 2010
Dr. Watsky is the advisor and founder of the Augusta University Karate Club.
U.S.Patent #6,645,715: Artificial Cornea. Inventors: Griffith M, Watsky M,