Joel B. Miesfeld, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences; Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy
Locations
- Eye Institute
- 925 N. 87th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53226
Contact Information
Education
BS, Biology, University of WI-Madison
Biography
After receiving my undergraduate degree, I worked as a vitamin chemist and small animal study technician before I realized I wanted to ask and pursue my own scientific curiosities, leading to my application and acceptance to the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Neuroscience Doctoral Program.
As a PhD candidate I joined the lab of Dr. Brian Link where I investigated the Hippo signaling pathway during neural retina and retinal pigmented epithelium development in zebrafish. The culmination of my graduate school career was winning the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Most Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award.
My next stop was a post doctoral research position at the University of California, Davis under the mentorship and Drs. Tom Glaser and Nadean Brown. Here I studied cis regulation of the retinal ganglion cell (RGC) competence/survival factor ATOH7, as part of studies into how the optic nerve, which is damaged in glaucoma, develops and is maintained. During my time at UC Davis I was awarded the Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA F32) and Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) through the National Eye Institute. Following my postdoctoral career I joined the Medical College of Wisconsin as an Assistant Professor with a primary appointment in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and secondary appointment in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy in July 2021.
Honors and Awards
Friends of the Medical College of Wisconsin Most Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2015
24th Annual Medical College of Wisconsin Research Day Poster Award, 2014
Kayoko Ishizuka International Travel Award, 2014
GRS Visual Systems Development Student/Postdoc Travel Award, 2014
Medical College of Wisconsin Student Travel Award, 2014
GRC Visual Systems Development Student/Postdoc Travel Award, 2012
Medical College of Wisconsin Student Travel Award, 2012
Society for Developmental Biology Student/Postdoc Travel Award, 2011
University of WI-Madison Undergraduate Symposium Presenter, 2007
Educational Outreach project featured in Wisconsin Week Newspaper, 2007
Research Interests
The Miesfeld lab is interested in understanding the gene regulatory networks associated with development and disease of the neural retina, with a focus on retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the pathogenic target in glaucoma. Through comparisons of natural retinal development with genetic perturbations of genes and cis regulatory elements of interest, we elucidate the mechanisms leading to congenital and adult-onset retinal diseases. We are currently investigating:
- The transcription factors, co-activators, co-repressors, and chromatin modifiers contributing to the neural retina/RGC gene regulatory network.
- The cis regulatory contribution of the Atoh7 shadow and primary enhancers to Atoh7 transcription during retinal neurogenesis.
- The contribution of RGC number as a risk factor for glaucoma.
Publications
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The rax homeobox gene is mutated in the eyeless axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum.
(Davis ES, Voss G, Miesfeld JB, Zarate-Sanchez J, Voss SR, Glaser T.) Dev Dyn. 2021 Jun;250(6):807-821 PMID: 32864847 PMCID: PMC8907009 08/31/2020
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(Miesfeld JB, Ghiasvand NM, Marsh-Armstrong B, Marsh-Armstrong N, Miller EB, Zhang P, Manna SK, Zawadzki RJ, Brown NL, Glaser T.) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Sep 01;117(35):21690-21700 PMID: 32817515 PMCID: PMC7474671 08/21/2020
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(Clark BS, Miesfeld JB, Flinn MA, Collery RF, Link BA.) Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020;8:608112 PMID: 33634099 PMCID: PMC7900515 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85101223534 02/27/2021
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Eye organogenesis: A hierarchical view of ocular development.
(Miesfeld JB, Brown NL.) Curr Top Dev Biol. 2019;132:351-393 PMID: 30797514 02/25/2019
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Yap regulates glucose utilization and sustains nucleotide synthesis to enable organ growth.
(Cox AG, Tsomides A, Yimlamai D, Hwang KL, Miesfeld J, Galli GG, Fowl BH, Fort M, Ma KY, Sullivan MR, Hosios AM, Snay E, Yuan M, Brown KK, Lien EC, Chhangawala S, Steinhauser ML, Asara JM, Houvras Y, Link B, Vander Heiden MG, Camargo FD, Goessling W.) EMBO J. 2018 Nov 15;37(22) PMID: 30348863 PMCID: PMC6236334 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85055253100 10/24/2018
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Rbpj direct regulation of Atoh7 transcription in the embryonic mouse retina.
(Miesfeld JB, Moon MS, Riesenberg AN, Contreras AN, Kovall RA, Brown NL.) Sci Rep. 2018 Jul 05;8(1):10195 PMID: 29977079 PMCID: PMC6033939 07/07/2018
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Feedback between tissue packing and neurogenesis in the zebrafish neural tube.
(Hiscock TW, Miesfeld JB, Mosaliganti KR, Link BA, Megason SG.) Development. 2018 May 04;145(9) PMID: 29678815 PMCID: PMC5992593 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85046850961 04/22/2018
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(Miesfeld JB, Glaser T, Brown NL.) Gene Expr Patterns. 2018 Jan;27:114-121 PMID: 29225067 PMCID: PMC5835195 12/12/2017
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Yap and Taz regulate retinal pigment epithelial cell fate.
(Miesfeld JB, Gestri G, Clark BS, Flinn MA, Poole RJ, Bader JR, Besharse JC, Wilson SW, Link BA.) Development. 2015 Sep 01;142(17):3021-32 PMID: 26209646 PMCID: PMC4582179 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84940754780 07/26/2015
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YAP is essential for tissue tension to ensure vertebrate 3D body shape.
(Porazinski S, Wang H, Asaoka Y, Behrndt M, Miyamoto T, Morita H, Hata S, Sasaki T, Krens SFG, Osada Y, Asaka S, Momoi A, Linton S, Miesfeld JB, Link BA, Senga T, Shimizu N, Nagase H, Matsuura S, Bagby S, Kondoh H, Nishina H, Heisenberg CP, Furutani-Seiki M.) Nature. 2015 May 14;521(7551):217-221 PMID: 25778702 PMCID: PMC4720436 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84929315796 03/18/2015
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(Miesfeld JB, Link BA.) Mech Dev. 2014 Aug;133:177-88 PMID: 24560909 PMCID: PMC4138299 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84908158843 02/25/2014
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(Clark BS, Cui S, Miesfeld JB, Klezovitch O, Vasioukhin V, Link BA.) Development. 2012 May;139(9):1599-610 PMID: 22492354 PMCID: PMC3317966 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84859297815 04/12/2012