Medical College of Georgia

  CB&A Home

Sylvia B. Smith, Ph.D. sbsmith@mail.mcg.edu Carl Sanders Research & Education Building Research Laboratory contact information: Location: CB 2820 phone:  706-721-7392; fax: 706-721-6839 Administrative contact information: Location: CB2340         phone: 706-721-5115 fax: 706-721-5140

·        Professor of Cellular Biology and Anatomy; Professor of Ophthalmology, Professor of Graduate Studies

·      Co-Director Vision Discovery Institute

CURRICULUM VITAE (Abbreviated)
Research Interests
Education & Post-doctoral fellowships
Honors & Awards
Grant Support
Invited Speaker

Research Interests

The research in my lab focuses on normal functioning of the mammalian retina and on the consequences on retinal health when those functions go awry, particularly in diabetes. We are using several retinal cell types in our studies, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and ganglion cells and Muller cells. In the RPE, we have focused our studies on transport of folate, a vitamin needed for synthesis of DNA and RNA. We have data showing that the activity of a transporter of reduced forms of folate (reduced folate transporter) is reduced when exposed to excess levels of homocysteine. This data is relevant to diabetes because homocysteine is an excitatory amino acid whose level accumulates in diabetes. Thus the functioning of this transporter may be compromised in diabetic retinopathy. We are also studying other transporters in the RPE including transporters for taurine, cystine and glutamate. Another cell type affected in diabetes is the retinal ganglion cell, whose axons form the optic nerve. In human patients with diabetic retinopathy, ganglion cells have been shown to die via an apoptotic (programmed cell death) mechanism. We have models for this phenomenon, both in cell culture and in a mouse model of diabetes. Using our cell culture model, we have shown that the cells die by apoptosis when exposed to excess levels of glutamate and homocysteine. The mechanism of this cell death appears to be mediated via NMDA receptor-triggered excitotoxicity, thus we reasoned that compounds that could block this NMDA receptor-mediated cell death might prove neuroprotective. We have been exploring the use of agonists of sigma receptor type 1. Preliminary studies in the cultured cells suggest that the sigma receptor1 agonist, (+)-pentazocine can prevent much of the ganglion cell death in vitro. In addition, we have used this compound in diabetic mice and have promising data that the cell death is delayed in this model and retinal architecture preserved. We are actively pursuing this line of research. In addition, we are investigating possible mechanisms by which excitatory amino acids, glutamate and homocysteine accumulate in the diabetic retina. Finally, we study the Müller cell, which plays a key role in maintaining the health of ganglion cells and hence we are interested in its transport functions as well.

Education
1977 B.S., Auburn University, Auburn, AL
1979 M.A. University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
1987 Ph.D. University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL

Post-doctoral training
1987 - 1989 IRTA Fellow, National Institutes of Health, Natl. Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD Laboratory of Retinal Cell and Molecular Biology; Section Chief: Paul J. O'Brien, Ph.D.

1989 - 1991 Staff Fellow, National Institutes of Health, Natl. Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD Laboratory of Retinal Cell and Molecular Biology Section Chief: Paul J. O'Brien, Ph.D.

Honors and Awards

Mahesh Distinguished Research Award for significant, sustained contributions to research, sustained external funding as an NIH-funded principal investigator and for outstanding mentoring and leadership qualities, Medical College of Georgia Research Institute

Member, National Institutes of Health, Biology Diseases Posterior Eye Study Section

Member, Advisory Council, American Health Assistance Foundation, Macular Degeneration Research  

Distinguished Faculty Award for Basic Science Research 

Distinguished Research Award, School of Graduate Studies

H. Talmage Dobbs Lectureship in Ophthalmology  (2001, 2007)

Outstanding Teaching Award for Medical Gross Anatomy

Outstanding Young Faculty Award in Basic Science 

Intramural Research Training Award Fellowship, National Eye Institute         

Phi Kappa Phi    

Grant Support as Principal Investigator

Active

2007 - 2012

National Institutes of Health  NIH- R01 2R01 EY012830 “Analysis of neural retina transport function” Annual Direct Costs: $225,000

2004 – 2008

National Institutes of Health  NIH- R01 EY014560 “Diabetic retinopathy:  σR1 as a novel therapeutic target” Annual Direct Costs: $225,000

 Invited Presentations

Publications can be accessed via: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi and searching Smith, S.B.

© Medical College of Georgia
All rights reserved

Cellular Biology and Anatomy
School of Medicine  |  School of Graduate Studies
Please email comments, suggestions or questions to:
Nan Eaton, neaton@mcg.edu