Phone: (404) 321-6111 x 7342 (Office) | (404) 321-6111 x 6136 (Lab)
Fax: (404) 728-4837
Email: machelle.pardue@med.va.gov

Background and Biography:
Dr. Pardue is a Research Career Scientist at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Pardue received her bachelor's of science in zoology from the University of Wyoming and her doctorate in vision science and biology at the University of Waterloo. Her post-doctorate training in visual electrophysiology was completed with Dr. Neal Peachey at Loyola School of Medicine and Hines VA Hospital in Chicago. While in Chicago, Dr. Pardue transitioned to being an independently funded investigator and then moved to her current positions in Atlanta. Her research has been supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, NIH, and private companies. She has served on several grant review panels and frequently reviews manuscripts for numerous journals.

Dr. Pardue's main research interest is the pathophysiology of retinal disease and developing treatment and therapies to preserve or restore vision. Her research is focused on three main areas: retinal degenerations, diabetic retinopathy and myopia. Her laboratory has been continuously funded to examine the neuroprotective effects of electrical stimulation on the degenerating retina using electrophysiological, histological, and molecular techniques. This work has shown preservation of photoreceptor structure and function with subretinal electrical stimulation. Her current focus is the cellular and molecular mechanisms of this neuroprotective response which includes the selective upregulation of specific growth factors.

Refractive development matches the optical power of the eye with the length of the eye, thereby positioning the visual image on the retina. A mismatch in these two factors results in refractive errors, most commonly myopia. By combining her training in physiological optics with her knowledge of the retina, Dr. Pardue is investigating how retinal defocus is detected by the retina and translated into a signaling pathway that drives refractive development. The influence of specific retinal cells and pathways can be isolated using transgenic mouse models to determine refractive development under normal and abnormal visual conditions.

Diabetic retinopathy, one of leading causes of vision loss, is currently only detected in late stages of the disease. Dr. Pardue's research on diabetic retinopathy is focused on finding non-invasive predictive markers of this disease. Her laboratory is combining information from electrophysiological, imaging, immunohistochemical, and molecular techniques to build a complete understanding of the pathophysiology of neuronal and vascular changes with diabetic retinopathy. These studies focus on following diabetic animal models longitudinally to reveal changes that predict vision loss. With this knowledge, predictive, non-invasive imaging and electrophysiology changes will be further examined and translated to clinical studies. The goal is to detect diabetic retinopathy before vision loss occurs, thus providing an opportunity for increased glycemic control and/or other pharmacological treatments.

Publications:

Ciavatta VT, Kim M, Wong P, Nickerson JM, Shuler RK, McLean GY, Pardue MT (2009). Subretinal implantation of a microphotodiode array induces retinal expression of Fgf2 in RCS rats. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, .

Duong, TQ, Pardue MT, Thule PM, Olson DE, Cheng H, Nair G, Li Y, Kim M, Zhang X, Shen Q (2008). Layer-specific anatomical, physiological and functional MRI of the retina. NMR in Biomedicine, 21, 978-996.

Pardue MT, Faulkner AE, Fernandes A, Yin H, Schaeffel F, Williams RW, Pozdeyev N, Iuvone PM (2008). High susceptibility to experimental myopia in a mouse model with a retinal ON pathway defect. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 49, 706-712.

Phillips MJ, Walker TA, Choi HY, Faulkner AE, Kim MK, Sidney SS, Boyd AP, Nickerson JM, Boatright JH, Pardue MT (2008). Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid Preservation of Photoreceptor Structure and Function in the rd10 Mouse through Postnatal Day 30. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, 49, 2148-55.

Faulkner AE, Kim MK, Iuvone PM, Pardue MT (2007). Head-mounted goggles for murine form deprivation myopia. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 161, 96-100.

Boatright JH, Moring AG, McElroy C, Phillips MJ, Do VT, Chang B, Hawes NL, Boyd AP, Sidney SS, Stewart RE, Minear SC, Chaudhury R, Ciavatta VT, Rodrigues CMP, Steer CJ, Nickerson JM, Pardue MT (2006). Molecular Vision. Tool from ancient pharmacopoeia prevents vision loss, 12, 1706-1714.

Cheng H, Nair G, Walker TA, Kim MK, Pardue MT, Thule PM, Olson DE, Duong TQ (2006). Layer-specific structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging of normal and degenerated retinas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 103, 17525-30.

Pardue MT, Phillips MJ, Yin H, Fernandes A, Cheng Y, Chow AY, Ball SL (2005). Possible sources of neuroprotection following subretinal silicon chip implantation in RCS rats. Journal of Neural Engineering, 2, S39-47.

Pardue MT, Phillips MJ, Yin H, Sippy BD, Webb-wood S, Chow AY, Ball SL (2005). Neuroprotective effect of subretinal implants in the RCS rat. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 46, 674-682.

Pardue MT, Stubbs EB, Jr, Perlman JI, Narfstrom K, Chow AY, Peachey NS (2001). Immunohistochemical studies of the retina following long-term implantation with subretinal microphotodiode arrays. Experimental Eye Research, 73, 333-343.

Pardue MT, McCall MA, LaVail MM, Gregg RG, Peachey NS (1998). A naturally occurring mouse model of X-linked congenital stationary night blindness. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 39, 2443-2449.