Dimitrios Karamichos
University of North Texas Health Science Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
The cornea is the clear front window of the eye and provides nearly two-thirds of its focusing power. Damage to it is a major cause of blindness worldwide.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Pharmacology
Biomedical Engineering
- Topics
cornea
keratoconus
riboflavin
- Grants
- 5 known grants, through Mar 2029
What they work on
- Test whether abnormal levels of the pituitary hormones FSH and LH, and of their upstream regulator GnRH, unbalance sex hormones and alter the cornea to drive keratoconus, using cell, donor-tissue and animal models.
- Define how the GnRH receptor in keratoconus stromal cells (cells of the cornea's middle layer) responds to luteinizing hormone and to sex hormones such as DHEA, estrone and estriol.
- Test how reliably the 3D-printed, riboflavin-loaded, UV-absorbing contact lens CUVAC can be made and stored, by measuring the properties critical to its function across print batches.
- Measure how well CUVAC lenses of different thicknesses support collagen cross-linking in rabbit eyes removed for testing, and assess the lenses' safety in cell cultures and living animals.
- Map the signaling chain through which prolactin-induced protein (PIP) blocks corneal scarring, including its effects on the scar-promoting growth factor TGF-β, cell metabolism and mitochondria.
- Develop PIP-based eye drops and test whether they allow scar-free corneal wound healing after injury in minipigs, alongside cell and donor-tissue models.
- Discover synthetic flavonoids (sFNs) built from quercetin analogs that beat natural flavonoids at preventing or reversing corneal fibrosis, through repeated cycles of design, chemical synthesis and testing.
- Test whether activating or overexpressing PPARα, a regulator of fat metabolism, protects diabetic corneas from nerve loss and metabolic damage, and whether deleting PPARα makes the damage worse, in animal and 3D cell models.
- Determine whether PPARα promotes corneal nerve growth by increasing nerve-supporting factors carried in extracellular vesicles, the tiny packages released by corneal epithelial and stromal cells.
- Examine whether PPARα protects primary human corneal cells under diabetic stress by preserving mitochondrial function and regulating autophagy, mitophagy and cGAS-STING signaling.
More about the research
Much of that blindness is permanent because injured corneas heal with scar tissue, a process called fibrosis. The main treatment for scarring and advanced disease is a corneal transplant, which is limited by donor shortages and carries risks such as infection and rejection. These projects look for less invasive ways to understand, protect and repair the cornea. They cover three conditions: keratoconus (KC), a disease in which the cornea thins and bulges into a cone shape; scarring after corneal injury; and diabetic keratopathy, corneal damage caused by diabetes. The approaches range from hormone biology and cell metabolism to drug discovery and 3D-printed eye devices.
Why it matters
Corneal scarring and keratoconus can lead to vision loss, and today they are often treated with corneal transplants, which face donor shortages, rejection and infection. This work could provide eye-drop treatments for scarring after injury, based on PIP or synthetic flavonoids. It could also let keratoconus patients with thin corneas, who are now ineligible, receive cross-linking safely, and could point to hormone-based tools for diagnosing keratoconus. For the many people with diabetes who develop corneal defects, it may identify PPARα as a new treatment target.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Evaluation of personalized contact lens for corneal collagen cross-linking therapy in keratoconus
NIH · Apr 2026 – Mar 2029
A Novel Pathogenic Pathway for Diabetic Keratopathy
NIH · Sep 2018 – Dec 2027
The Impact of Prolactin Induced Protein in Corneal Wound Healing and Fibrosis
NIH · Sep 2023 – Feb 2027
Closest labs
David Myung
Stanford University, CA·Biomedical Engineering
Test whether the stiffness, composition and crosslinking chemistry of collagen gels affect the survival of corneal mesenchymal stromal cells (c-MSCs) and their release of healing factors.
Gregory Borschel
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, IN·Medicine & Clinical Research
Determine how much corneal Schwann cells, the support cells that accompany nerve fibers, control limbal stem cell activity, using an animal model of neurotrophic keratopathy, selective cell ablation and tracking of corneal cell populations.
Yan Li
Oregon Health & Science University, OR·Biomedical Engineering
Develop ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography capable of imaging the aqueous humor at the front of the eye and the vitreous gel behind it.
The school
University of North Texas Health Science Center: 4 labs on PI Pages, $110M a year on research, 16 research doctorates a year.
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