e-mail- atkatche@med.wayne.edu

Education and Training:
M.S., Biochemistry & Molecular biology, Medical-Biological Department, Pirogov Russian State Medical University, Moscow, Russia, 1988
M.D., General medicine, Medical-Biological Department, Pirogov Russian State Medical University, Moscow, Russia, 1988
Ph.D., Molecular biology, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 1992

Professional and Faculty Appointments:
1988, Research Assistant, Institute of Biophysics, Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
1992 – 1995, Research Fellow, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
1995 – 1996, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
1996 – 1998, Visiting Research Fellow, Unite 300, Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM), Montpellier, France
1998 – 2000, Research Fellow/ Instructor, Div. of Rheumatology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
2000 – 2003, Research Fellow, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2003 – 2006, Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
2003 – 2006, Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC (Joint Appointment)
2006 – present, Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
2006 – present, Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI (Joint Appointment)

Honor and Awards:
1988, Ph.D. Fellowship from USSR Academy of Sciences
1989, Selected among 70 top graduate students of the USSR in the contest run by Oxford University
1996, Fellowship from Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) , France
2001, Selected as Dana/Mahoney Research Fellow by the Harvard Neuroscience Institute
2002, Selected as Dana/Mahoney Research Fellow by the Harvard Neuroscience Institute

Major Research Interests:
Genetic control of embryonic and postnatal eye development. Role of visual input and genetic networks in postnatal eye development and eye plasticity. Role of stem/progenitor cells in postnatal eye plasticity.

Current Research:
Recent advances in the human genome project and significant progress in sequencing of other model organism genomes opened up new venues of investigation in modern biology. It is now clear that normal embryonic development and postnatal plasticity of various organ systems are controlled by complex spatial and temporal interactions between hundreds of genes forming genetic networks. Our laboratory is using microarrays, advanced genetics and molecular biology approaches to study genetic networks involved in normal eye development and postnatal eye plasticity.
Human infants are born hyperopic with a fully-formed anterior portion of the eye that undergoes very little change over the following years. Conversely, the posterior portion of the eye significantly increases in size until it achieves its final size at the end of the second decade of life. This postnatal ocular development is a tightly coordinated process where by visual input regulates the size of the vitreous chamber of the eye in a process called “emmetropization”. Degradation of the visual input (cataract, opacity of the optic media etc.) during the period of early postnatal eye development (so-called critical period of postnatal development) leads to the abnormal elongation of the vitreous chamber of the eye and development of myopia. Defocus-induced myopia in primates and several other model organisms is remarkably similar to the intermediate myopia in humans. We have recently demonstrated that visual input can actively modulate a postnatal eye growth through modulation of proliferation of retinal stem/progenitor cells residing at the retinal periphery (so-called ciliary marginal zone) and identified components of the retinal genetic network involved in this process as well as several genes which may be linked to human myopia.
In order to study these genes and genetic networks in more detail, we are currently working towards development and characterization of the mouse model of postnatal eye plasticity. Mouse model will enable us to study the biology of identified genes in vivo and probe how induced changes in identified genetic networks influence eye development and plasticity. The long-term goals of this project are: to understand the molecular and cellular events that regulate the size of the posterior chamber of the eye during postnatal development, and how degradation of the visual input leads to myopia.
The second focus of our research is identification and characterization of genes and genetic networks involved in normal embryonic eye development. We use cDNA subtractions and microarays to dissect genetic networks involved in the control of early eye development in the mouse embryo.

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