Kenneth P. Mitton, Ph.D. FARVO
Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences
Control of Gene Expression Lab and the Pediatric Retinal Research Lab
Member: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Sigma Xi
Committee Member: ARVO Animal Research Committee
Fellow of ARVO (Silver)
Immediate past president OU-chapter of the AAUP
Dr. Mitton’s publications on ORCID
Details on most recent publications
Current Research Interests
Several areas are currently worked on within two lab spaces that I am involved in directing: The Control of Gene Expression Lab, which I started in 2001, and the Pediatric Retinal Research Lab, which the ERI activated in 2012 in association with the support of the Vision Research ROPARD foundation. Some of the areas we research currently are listed here.
- VEGF Mechanisms in the Retinal Vasculature: Funded by the NEI/NIH, to elucidate the molecular basis of the effects of different isoforms of VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) on the blood retinal barrier and specific effects on human vascular endothelial cells. Different isoforms of VEGF vary in their concentrations in conditions such as Diabetic Retinopathy, AMD, and ROP. We have found substantial differences in how isoforms activate retinal vascular endothelial cells.
- Biotechnology: bacterial protein production of recombinant human proteins for research on eye disease treatment. Future drug development with Retinal Solutions.
- Effects of Valproic acid on the degeneration of photoreceptors in mice that have mouse versions of retinitis pigmentosa.
- Development of High-throughput, low-cost targeted DNA-sequencing panels for rare inherited retinal diseases. We have just completed our Stage-1 development, a proof of concept for the technical process. In other words, to demonstrate that it actually works, and it does! We completing a successful test of what is called "amplicon panel" targeted sequencing using the Illumina DNA-sequencing platform. This method uses hundreds of PCR reactions to amplify all of the exons, intron/exon boundaries, and promoter regions of candidate genes whose DNA-sequences may be altered and cause many different inherited retinal pathologies. At our Stage-1 testing, we designed a panel for seven (7) genes including genes that are often involved in the following diseases: FEVR (Familial Exudative VitreoRetinopathy), Norrie Disease, and Retinoschisis.
Stage-2 of the project will now move to expand from 7 to over 40 candidate genes and to set up an amazing Illumina Sequencing system, the size of a desktop laser printer, in our Pediatric Retinal Research Laboratory. The practical goal is to establish sequencing of a patient's DNA for about $250-$300 per person and to share with others how to bring this access to small and medium sized medical practices. That is where most retinal patients are. The scientific goal is to dramatically increase our knowledge of specific gene changes and how they correlate to different disease characteristics, such as clinical appearance and rate of changes in the retina's structure and function. The human goal is to help more families to finally identify the molecular genetic cause of their inherited condition and to give their physicians and genetic counselors more information to manage and eventually treat their progressive blindness.
If you are a student at Oakland University, you can complete your independent research credit requirements in ERI laboratories. We also mentor Honors College thesis students, and more recently have added Medical School Capstone Research students, and Engineering Biology Capstone students. Austen Knapp, is our first completing OUWB Medical Student (M4) in the ERI, and has matched to start her Ophthalmology Residency at Cleveland Clinic. Currently, four OUWB capstone students work in my group.
If you are interested in learning how to do science in our laboratories, please use the form link for student applicants found in the main menu if you are on a large screen, or click here: Undergrad Research - Mitton Lab &PRRL
Research philosophy
As for many biomedical, basic-science research labs, my research flows and changes over time as we make new discoveries that lead us to new questions we form even as we uncover the answers to previous questions. That is the nature of basic science, and it is the way science investigation has always brought the most benefits to people and medicine in particular. While many organizations and countries have attempted to focus research support (funding) into specific diseases, it turns out that the overwhelming majority of high-impact medical discoveries have come from "serendipity". That is, great useful ideas and tools were discovered to treat diseases simply by exploring how things work.
For example, drugs for controlling high cholesterol were not discovered by deciding to start making drugs for treating high cholesterol. In the course of biochemists investigating how our cells make cholesterol in the first place, chemicals were used to block enzymes to help figure out how cholesterol was made. Some of these chemicals then were obviously the idea to become new drugs that could block cholesterol made in the body.
Latanoprost, one of the later generation of drugs developed in the 80's for reducing high intraocular pressure (IOP), was based on the discovery that prostaglandins made by some cells in the eye could increase the aqueous outflow in the eye, and reduce pressure. The basic science was elucidated in animal models. Again, a basic science discovery in the laboratory of physiologist Laszlo Bito at Columbia University, was adopted by a Pharma company as the way to make drugs that mimic natural prostaglandins to produced this new class of drugs. As a result, thousands of people around the world have another class of drugs to reduce their intraocular pressure and reduce their risk of vision loss from Glaucoma.
So, you never really know where benefits will arise for biomedicine. That is why many funding agencies, such as the NIH (USA) and the MRC (UK), understand the importance of funding physiologists and biochemists to explore how things work. In our case, how things work in the eye, and the retina of the eye.
Sincerely,
Ken Mitton
3/20/2018