Thomas N. Wight, PhD
Title:
Member and Director, Hope Heart Program
Email Address:
Phone Number:
206 341-1377
Background
Dr. Wight completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Maine and his graduate degree (PhD) at the University of New Hampshire. His post doctoral training was at the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington in Seattle. Following post doctoral training, he moved back to New England and joined the faculty in Cell Biology at the University of New Hampshire as an Assistant Professor. He rejoined the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington in 1979 and was promoted to Full Professor in 1988. In 2000, he joined The Hope Heart Institute in Seattle as Chair of Vascular Biology and remained an Affiliate Professor of Pathology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He has been named an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, served on National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association Study Sections, and served on several editorial boards. This past year he was elected Co-Chair of the Proteoglycan Gordon Conference. His research focuses on the role of proteoglycans in regulating cell phenotype and extracellular matrix assembly. He has published over 200 articles on proteoglycans and hyaluronan. He is currently Director of The Hope Heart Program at the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason.
Areas of Research
Projects in Dr. Wight’s Laboratory involve defining the role that proteoglycans play in vascular diseases including atherosclerosis and restenosis, diseases of the lung such as asthma and autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes. Special emphasis is placed on how these extracellular matrix molecules influence events associated with inflammation. Other projects involve developing the use of proteoglycan genes and products of those genes to bioengineer vascular tissue in order to maintain normal vasculature structure. Specific projects in this area include evaluating the mechanism(s) by which proteoglycans influence extracellular matrix assembly such as formation of elastic fibers. Projects related to this tissue engineering approach include developing “designer extracellular matrices” to be used in the treatment and engineering of tissues destroyed by trauma and/or disease.
Selected Publications
Evanko SP, Angello JC, Wight TN. Formation of hyaluronan- and versican-rich pericellular matrix is required for proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 19:1004-1013, 1999.
Wight TN, Merrilees MJ. Proteoglycans in atherosclerosis and restenosis: key roles for versican. Circ Res 94:1158-1167, 2004.
Huang R, Merrilees MJ, Braun K, Beaumont B, Lemire J, Clowes AW, Hinek A, Wight TN. Inhibition of versican synthesis by antisense alters smooth muscle cell phenotype and induces elastic fiber formation in vitro and in neointima after vascular injury. Circ Res 98:370-377, 2006.