Steve Planck, Ph.D.

Visual impairment or blindness often follows from over exuberant inflammatory or wound healing responses to a wide variety of insults on eyes. We are studying both intercellular and intracellular signaling mechanisms to learn more about the regulation of ocular inflammation (uveitis) in hopes of identifying novel therapeutic possibilities. We are embarking on a new line of research into the relationships between the gut microbiome and immune-mediated diseases of eyes and joints. Studies are done with disease models in experimental animals (including many lines of genetically altered mice and rats), tissues from human patients, and cultured cells. A wide variety of tools are employed in the laboratory including biochemical, biological, molecular genetic, immunologic, and microscopy techniques.