Education

Institution and Location	DEGREE (if applicable)	Year	Field of Study
National Taiwan University	B.S.	1966	Medical Technology
National Taiwan University	M.S.	1970	Biochemistry
University of Pennsylvania	Ph.D.	1974	Biochemistry
Rutgers Medical School CMDNJ	Postdoctoral	1976	Biochemistry

Biography

Winston Whei-Yang Kao is  a professor of ophthalmology in University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He is a professor of ophthalmology, along with other researchers in UC's ophthalmology department found that transplanting human umbilical mesenchymal stem cells into mouse models that lack the protein lumican restored the transparency of cloudy and thin corneas. Mesenchymal stem cells are "multi-potent" stem cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types.These findings are being presented Dec. 8 in San Diego at the 49th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology.

Research Interest

Roles of Mesenchyme-Epithelium Interactions on Morphogenesis during Eye Development, And Homeostasis And Wound Healing in Adult Corneas The central hypothesis of our ongoing research is that the mesenchyme-epithelium interactions via signal transduction of growth factors and their receptors play pivotal roles in eye morphogenesis during development and in ocular homeostasis and wound healing in adults. Morphogenesis of cornea, conjunctiva and eyelids during vertebrate eye development involves themigration and differentiation of mesenchymal cells of neural crest origin, and the differentiation of cells of the surface ectoderm. The bi-directional mesenchyme-epithelium interactions via growth factors are essential for morphogenesis during development and homeostasis in adults. Growth factors (e.g., TGF-&61538;s and FGF-7) play pivotal roles in modulating functions of mesenchymal cells of neural

crest origin and differentiation of ectoderm cells during ocular morphogenesis. Conditional gene ablation in cornea has been achieved by the use of Cre-LoxP system with keratocyte-specific keratocan promoter and modification Krt12 allele via knock-in strategy. Tetracycline inducible mouse lines have been used to overexpress reporter genes in corneas. Development of Gene Therapy Strategy for Treating Ocular Surface Diseases the success of a gene therapy strategy relies on the delivery of reporter gene constructs to target tissues and sustained expression levels of the reporter genes sufficient to revert the pathological processes. Easy access of ocular surface tissues presents itself as an ideal model to examine the efficacy of gene therapy. We recently used Gene Gun, a particle-mediated gene transfer technique, to characterize the promoter of cornea-specific keratin 12 gene. We have also adapted the techniques of expressing reporter genes by injecting plasmid DNA into cornel stroma. The techniques can be potentially used as a mean of gene transfer for ocular surface tissues, e.g., cornea, conjunctiva, eyelid. To examine the efficacy of growth factors, e.g., TGF-&61538;s, FGF-7, HGF, etc. in modulating cornea functions, keratin 12 and keratocan promoters will be used to prepare reporter genes of afore mentioned growth factors. Gene gun will be used to deliver the reporter gene to corneal epithelium and their effects on corneal wound healing will be examined. Isolation and Characterization of Limbal Stem Cells Effective gene therapy to treat ocular surface diseases is not yet available. Limbal transplantation is an option of treating many ocular surface diseases. It is known that stem cells of corneal epithelium reside in the basal cell layer of limbus. Thus, the success of limbal transplantation to treat ocular surface diseases may result fromthe restoration of stem cells in the diseased tissues. However, our skill of culturing limbal stem cells is limited. Thus, there is a need to isolate and characterize the epithelial cells that posses characteristics of limbal stem cells, which can be used as un-limited sources for the use as auto graft or allograft to treat patients of limbal deficiency.

Scientific Activities:

Positions and Honors

1967‑1968	Teaching Assistant, Department of Medical Technology College of Medicine, National Taiwan University.
1968‑1970	Graduate Graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry College of Medicine, National Taiwan University.
	Investigated the effect of plant toxic proteins (such as abrin and ricin) on metabolism of normal and tumor cells.
1970‑1972	Research Assistant in the Department of Biochemistry School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
	Engaged in studies of the transport of sugar in mammalian cells and the methylation of ribosomal RNA in E. coli.
1972‑1974	Research       Research Fellow in CMDNJ‑ Rutgers Medical School, Department of Biochemistry, Piscataway, New Jersey. Established laboratory of tissue culture in the department.  Investigated the effects of ascorbic acid on the biosynthesis of procollagen by fibroblasts and on the activity of prolyl hydroxylase.
1976‑1979	Research Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
	In charge of the tissue culture laboratory in the department.  Investigated collagen biosynthesis in primary cultures of tendon fibroblasts, cartilage cells, and established cell lines of fibroblasts (L‑929).  Especially interested in regulation of secretion of procollagen and metabolism of prolyl 4-hydroxylase.  Developing new technique for quick easy radioimmune assay and general technique for cell cultures.
Sept. 1979 - June 1982	Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
	Purify and characterize prolyl hydroxylase from L‑929 cells, human tissues and other sources. Purify mammalian collagenase to investigate the process of wound healing in cornea and immune response in microbial infections in the cornea.  Purify and characterize procollagens and collagens and examine their synthesis in developing embryos and diseased tissues, and to investigate the mechanism of differentiation and gene expression in developing chick embryos.
June 1982-	Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology
August 1990	Director of Ophthalmic and Connective Tissue Research, Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio Member, All‑University Graduate Faculty at University of Cincinnati, 1989
	Develop ophthalmic research programs.  Major research interests are the regulation of collagen gene expression during embryonic development and pathogenesis of ocular and pulmonary tissues.
Sept. 2001	Professor of Ophthalmology Director of Ophthalmic and Connective Tissue Research, University of Cincinnati Member, All University Graduate Faculty at University of Cincinnati Mechanism of Corneal Epithelial Cell Differentiation Regulation of Extracellular Matrix Metabolism during Wound Healing
Sept. 2008-Present	Ben and Louis Tate Chair Professor, Ophthalmology Director, Crawley Vision Research Center Member, All University Graduate Faculty at University of Cincinnati

Publications

1. Visiting Professor, Molecular Medicine, Harbor medical Center, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA March, 4 2003 Title:   Roles of growth factors on morphogenesis and homeostasis of ocular surface tissues in mouse.
2. Session chair and invited speaker of "Wound Healing Modulation in New Millennium" at the 5th Pan Pacific Connective Tissue Societies Symposium at Ube, Japan June 2-5, 2003 Title: Role of Lumican in Eye Wound Healing
3. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan June 10, 2003 Title: Molecular and cellular mechanisms of ocular surface morphogenesis: Roles of growth factors
4.  Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural University, College of Medicine, Kyoto Japan June 6, 2003 Title: Molecular and cellular mechanisms of ocular surface morphogenesis: Roles of growth factors
5. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, Industrial University, Kyushu, Japan June 8, 2003 Title: Molecular and cellular mechanisms of ocular surface morphogenesis: Roles of growth factors
6. Keynote speaker, Boston Cornea Conference, Boston, MA October 1-2, 2003 Title: Role of lumican in eye wound healing
7. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA January 19, 2004 Title: Molecular and cellular mechanisms of ocular surface morphogenesis during development and diseases
8. Visiting Professor, Environmental Health, College of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY March 11, 2004
9. Visiting Professor, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Shanghai, Second Medical School, Shanghai, China May 13, 2004 Title: Molecular and Cellular mechanisms of ocular surface morphogenesis during development and diseases: Lesson learned from knockout and transgenic mice
10. Session Moderator, International Congress of Eye Research August 30, 2004 Title: Molecular and cellular mechanisms of ocular surface tissue morphogenesis and diseases
11. Keynote speaker, The 4th International Conference on the Lacrimal Gland, Tear Film, Ocular Surface and Dry Eye Syndromes: Basic Science and Clinical Relevance, Puerto Rico, USA November 17 to 20, 2004 Title: Molecular and cellular mechanisms of ocular surface morphogenesis during development and diseases.
12. Invited speaker, World Cornea Congress, Washington, D.C. April 4, 2005 Title: Corneal physiology and pathology learned from genetically modified mice
13. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, UC Irvine, orange CA May 17, 2005 Title: Pros and cons in studies of ocular surface biology using genetically modified mice
14. Invited Speaker, West Coast Vision Research Conference, Laguna Beach, CA September 25-28, 2005 Title: Lumican, a matrikine, regulates multiple cell functions besides collagen fibrillogenesis
15. Keynote Speaker, 11th annual meeting of Kyoto Cornea Club, Kyoto, Japan December 1-4, 2005 Title: Ocular surface tissue morphogenesis in normal and diseases revealed by genetically modified mice
16. Visiting Professor, Pathology, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan December 8, 2005 Title: Pros and cons in studies of ocular surface biology using genetically modified mice
17.  Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan, December 9, 2005 Title: Roles of growth factors on corneal morphogenesis during development and wound healing
18. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan December 10, 2005  Title: Roles of growth factors on corneal morphogenesis during development and wound healing
19. Invited Speaker, 50th Anniversary of Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Medical Biotechnology, National Taiwan University February, 17, 18, 2006 Title: Mouse Models of Acquired Eye Diseases
20. Invited Speaker, Annual Symposium of Society of Regenerative medicine, Taiwan
21. February 18, 2006 Title: Mouse Models of Corneal Wound Healing: Role of TGF-β Signaling
22. Invited Speaker, Proteoglycan Gordon Research Conference, Andover, NH July 9-14, 2006 Title: Corneal keratan sulfate proteoglycans (KSPG): Lumican and Keratocan
23. Visiting Professor, Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA September 19, 2006 Title: Cell Lineages of Normal And Diseased Corneas
24. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, UC Irvine, Orange, CA September 27, 2006 title: Cell Lineages of Periocular Mesenchymal Cells of Neural Crest Origin
25. Session Moderator and Invited Speaker, Seventeenth International Congress of Eye Research, Buenos Aires, Argentina November 2, 2006 Title: Bone marrow derived cells can give rise to stromal keratocytes during corneal wound healing
26. Invited Speaker, annual meeting of AAO-ARVO, Denver, Colorado December 8, 2006 Title: Mechanisms of Corneal Wound Healing Revealed by Genetically Modified Mice
27. Visiting Professor, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore February 13, 2007 Title: Transgenic and knockout mice: Principle and Application
28. Visiting Professor, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore February 27, 2007 Title: Insights into Corneal Wound Healing Revealed Using Genetically Modified Mice
29. Invited Speaker, Asian-ARVO, Singapore March 2, 2007 Title: Use of Bone Marrow Cells to Treat Corneal Diseases of Genetic Defects in Mouse
30. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan June 4, 2007 Title: Neural Crest Derived Periocular Mesenchymal Cell Lineages in Ocular Surface Tissues
31. Keynote Speaker, The 5th International Conference on the Lacrimal Gland, Tear Film, Ocular Surface and Dry Eye Syndromes: Basic Science and Clinical Relevance, Taormina, Italy September 5-8, 2007 Title: Bone Marrow Cells Can Differentiate and Assume Keratocyte Characteristics of Keratocan Expression in Mouse Corneas
32. Invited Speaker,  XII Biannual Pacific-Ocular Regenerative Biology Conference, Laguna Beach, CA September 17,18, 2007 Title: Corneal Development and Wound Healing
33. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma October 4, 2007 Title: Functions of corneal  keratan sulfate proteoglycans beyond extracellular matrix
34.  Invited Speaker, ARVO Proteoglycan Symposium, 2008 ARVO annual meeting, fort Lauderdale. FL May 3, 2008 Title: Roles of SLRP in ocular surface tissues morphogenesis during development and diseases: keratocan, lumican and biglycan
35. Session Organizer and Invited Speaker, 18th International Congress of Eye Research, Beijing, China September 24-29, 2008 Title: Gene Delivery To Cornea
36. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen China September 22, 2008 Title: TGF-β signaling pathways on morphogenesis and repair of cornea    
37. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, China October 21, 2008 Title: TGF-β signaling pathways on morphogenesis and repair of cornea       
38. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN November 3, 2008 Title: Expression of keratin 12: Corneal type epithelium differentiation
39. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, UC Irvine, Orange CA
40. January 15, 2009Title: Corneal Morphogenesis during Development And Wound Healing
41. Visiting Professor, Molecular Medicine, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan March 3, 2009 Title: What One Can Learn from Genetically Modified Mice: Corneal Morphogenesis during Development and Wound Healing, and Stem Cell Therapy
42. Visiting Professor, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, College of Medicine,  National Cheng-Kung University March 5, 2009 Title: What One Can Learn from Genetically Modified Mice: Corneal Morphogenesis during Development and Wound Healing, and Stem Cell Therapy
43. Keynote Speaker, 113th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society, Tokyo, Japan April 16-19, 2009 Title: Corneal Morphogenesis during Development and Stem Cell Therapy
44. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan April 23, 2009 Title: Corneal Morphogenesis during Development and Wound Healing, and Stem Cell Therapy
45. Invited Speaker, ARVO-Pfizer Symposium, Fort Lauderdale, FL May 1, 2009 Title: Mouse lines exhibiting ocular surface anomaly by Tet-On strategy
46. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology,  University of Louisville, Louisville, KY June 6, 2009 Title: Corneal Morphogenesis during Development and Wound Healing, and Stem Cell Therapy    
47. Invited Speaker, 2009 ARVO International Society for Ocular Cell Biology (ARVO/ISOCB) Conference September 9-12 Title: Cell Lineage Analysis of Ocular Surface Tissues
48. Invited Speaker, 26th Biennial Cornea Conference, Boston, MA October 9-10, 2009 Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases with Umbilical Mesenchymal Stem Cells
49.  Visiting Professor, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, College of Medicine, National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan November 8, 2009Title: Corneal  Keratan Sulfate Proteoglycans Are Matrikines: ECM components, Regulators of Homoeostasis & Inflammation
50. Invited Speaker, Annual workshop of AEARU (The Association of East Asian Research Universities), Taipei, Taiwan November 11-13, 2009 Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases with Umbilical Mesenchymal Stem Cells
51. Invited Speaker, International Symposium "Trilogy of Cornea Science: Past, Present and future", Yamaguchi, Japan March 19-21, 2010 Title: Corneal Morphogenesis during Development And Disease
52. Session Chair & Invited Speaker,   6th International Conference on the Tear Film & Ocular Surface: Basic Science and Clinical Relevance, Florence, Italy September 22 to 25, 2010 Title: Mesenchyme/epithelium interaction in eyelid and Meibomian gland morphogenesis
53. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, college of Medicine, University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany September 26-27, 2010 Title: Transplantation of umbilical mesenchymal stem cells maintains corneal epithelial progenitors in a mouse model of limbal deficiency
54. Visiting Professor, Center of Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan November 29, 2010 Title: Cell therapy of corneal diseases with umbilical mesenchymal stem cells
55. Session Chair and invited Speaker 3rd Annual World Congress Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cells December 5-7, 2010 Title: Cell therapy of corneal diseases with umbilical mesenchymal stem cells
56. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Jiao-Tong University, Shanghai, China December 8, 2010 Title:  Cell therapy of corneal diseases with umbilical mesenchymal stem cells
57. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China December 10, 2010 Title:  Cell therapy of corneal diseases with umbilical mesenchymal stem cells
58. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea December 13, 2010 Title: Cell therapy of corneal diseases with umbilical mesenchymal stem cells
59. Visiting Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA April 8, 2011 Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases with Umbilical Mesenchymal Stem Cell
60. Visiting Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, UC Irvine, Irvine, CA Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases with Umbilical Mesenchymal Stem Cells April 11, 2011
61. Organizer and Moderator, Overview presentation at ARVO symposium "Cell Fate Decision: Turning Points in Development and Diseases" May 2, 2011
62. Invited Speaker US-China Networking at ARVO Title: What can one learn from genetically modified mouse lines in pathogenesis and  treatment of human ocular surface diseases?
63. Invited Speaker at ARVO symposium "Versatile Functions of the Small Leucine Rich Repeat Proteoglycan Family: Implication in Corneal IOnflammation, Infection, and tissue Bioengineering" Title: LRR Proteins in EMT and TGF-β Signaling: Implications in the Cornea May, 3, 2011
64. Visiting Professor, School of Optometry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases Oct. 12, 2011 
65. Invited Speaker, Symposium of Corneal Cell Biology at Wakayama Medical University Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases Oct. 29-30, 2011.
66. Visiting Professor Ophthalmology, Osaka University Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases  Oct. 27, 2011
67. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Title: Cell therapy of Corneal Diseases Nov. 10, 2011
68. Invited speaker, Symposium of Annual Meeting of Taiwan Ophthalmology Society Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases Nov. 26-27, 2011
69. Invited Speaker, University of California Title: Matricellular Functions of Lumican on Maintenance of Corneal Homeostasis Feb. 28, 2012
70. Visiting Professor, Xiamen University Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases Oct. 24, 2012
71. Visiting Professor, Zhong Shan University Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal DiseasesOct. 24, 2012
72. Visiting Professor, Southern medical University University Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases Oct. 25, 2012
73. Visiting Professor, Zhong Shan University Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases Oct. 27, 2012
74. Invited speaker Midwest symposium on Regenerative medicine Title: Transplantation of Umbilical Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Treating Congenital and Acquired Corneal Disease Nov. 16, 2012
75. Visiting Professor, Ophthalmology, Chinese University of Hongkong Title:  1). What One Can Learn from Genetically Modified Mouse Line  2). Matricellular Functions of Lumican on Maintenance of Corneal Homeostasis 3). Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases  4). Cell Lineage And Markers of Ocular Surface Feb. 2013
76. Invited Speaker at annual conference of Japanese Cornea Society Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases Feb. 2013
77. Visiting Professor of Ophthalmology Kyoto Prefectural University Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases Feb. 2013
78. Speaker American Society for Exosome and Microvesicles Title:  Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases Sept. 2013
79. Keynote Speaker at Biennial Wakayama Symposium of Ocular Surface  Title: Biology Matricellular Functions of Lumican on Maintenance of Corneal Homeostasis Nov. 2013
80. Speaker at annual meeting of ASEMV (American society of Exosome and Micro vesicles),  Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases, September 2013 in Orlando, Fl.
81. Visiting Professor, Rice University, Houston TX, Mar. 2014 Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases with Mesenchymal Stem Cells May
82. Visiting Professor University of Washington, Ophthalmology Title: Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases with Mesenchymal Stem Cells July
83. Speaker in Biennial International Society of Eye Research Interruption of Wnt/β-catenin Signaling Axis in Keratocytes Causes Precocious Corneal Epithelium Stratification via BMP4, San Francisco, July
84. Visiting Professor, Xiamen University Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases with Mesenchymal Stem Cells November
85. Visiting Professor, Chang Gung University Ophthalmology Cell Therapy of Corneal Diseases with Mesenchymal Stem Cells November
86. Visiting Professor, Chang Gung Hospital, Medicine Strategy of Treating Congenital and Acquired Cornea Diseases: Implication for Other Diseases November