Kevin (Kyung) Park, Ph.D.

Dr. Park joined UT Southwestern in 2023. He graduated from the University of Western Australia where he received a Ph.D. in anatomy and human biology and a B.Sc. in biochemistry and microbiology. Before joining UT Southwestern, Dr. Park was a professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. From 2007 to 2010, he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Neurology at Harvard University/Children’s Hospital Boston. 

Since 2008, Dr. Park’s research has been supported by federal and foundation grants, including his current R01 on 3D Visualization and Investigation of Retinal Axon Regeneration. His past research awards include three R01 and three R21 grants, as well as awards from the Department of Defense, the Pew Biomedical Trust (Pew Scholar Award), and the Karl Kirchgessner Foundation, among others. Dr. Park has authored or co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and a book chapter “Regeneration of Retinal Ganglion Cell Axons” in The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference (2020). He is a member of several professional organizations, including the Association for Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics and ARVO.

Dr. Park’s research focuses on the visual system and how the projection neurons in the retina, the retinal ganglion cell axons, find their targets and form synapses in the brain. His lab on North Campus will continue investigating two areas: 1) cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the death of neurons and lack of regeneration in the central nervous system after injury and in degenerative diseases like glaucoma and 2) mechanisms by which neurons form proper connections with each other.

Undergraduate

Uni of Western Australia (the) (2007), Anatomy

Graduate School

Uni of Western Australia (the) (2007)

• Neural regeneration, axon guidance, neuroprotection, glaucoma, visual system development, visual system circuit

Featured Publications

Single-nucleus RNA sequencing of developing superior colliculus identifies neuronal diversity and candidate mediators of circuit assembly.

Choi JS, Ayupe AC, Beckedorff F, Catanuto P, McCartan R, Levay K, Park KK, Cell Rep 2023 Aug 42 9 113037

Identification of long noncoding RNAs in injury-resilient and injury-susceptible mouse retinal ganglion cells.

Ayupe AC, Beckedorff F, Levay K, Yon B, Salgueiro Y, Shiekhattar R, Park KK, BMC Genomics 2021 Oct 22 1 741

Thrombospondin-1 Mediates Axon Regeneration in Retinal Ganglion Cells.

Bray ER, Yungher BJ, Levay K, Ribeiro M, Dvoryanchikov G, Ayupe AC, Thakor K, Marks V, Randolph M, Danzi MC, Schmidt TM, Chaudhari N, Lemmon VP, Hattar S, Park KK, Neuron 2019 Aug 103 4 642-657.e7

Promoting axon regeneration in the adult CNS by modulation of the PTEN/mTOR pathway.

Park KK, Liu K, Hu Y, Smith PD, Wang C, Cai B, Xu B, Connolly L, Kramvis I, Sahin M, He Z, Science 2008 Nov 322 5903 963-6

Optic nerve diseases and regeneration: How far are we from the promised land?

Cen LP, Park KK, So KF, Clin Exp Ophthalmol 2023 Aug 51 6 627-641

GSDMD deficiency ameliorates hyperoxia-induced BPD and ROP in neonatal mice.

Sonny S, Yuan H, Chen S, Duncan MR, Chen P, Benny M, Young K, Park KK, Schmidt AF, Wu S, Sci Rep 2023 Jan 13 1 143

Awakening dormant neurons long after spinal cord injury.

Tapia ML, Park KK, PLoS Biol 2022 Sep 20 9 e3001830

Retinal ganglion cell expression of cytokine enhances occupancy of NG2 cell-derived astrocytes at the nerve injury site: Implication for axon regeneration.

Ribeiro M, Ayupe AC, Beckedorff FC, Levay K, Rodriguez S, Tsoulfas P, Lee JK, Nascimento-Dos-Santos G, Park KK, Exp Neurol 2022 Sep 355 114147

Proteomics and systems biology in optic nerve regeneration.

Meehan SD, Abdelrahman L, Arcuri J, Park KK, Samarah M, Bhattacharya SK, Adv Protein Chem Struct Biol 2021 127 249-270

Multi-Omic Analyses of Growth Cones at Different Developmental Stages Provides Insight into Pathways in Adult Neuroregeneration.

Chauhan MZ, Arcuri J, Park KK, Zafar MK, Fatmi R, Hackam AS, Yin Y, Benowitz L, Goldberg JL, Samarah M, Bhattacharya SK, iScience 2020 Feb 23 2 100836

 Featured Books

Regeneration of Retinal Ganglion Cell Axons. In The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference, 2nd Ed.

Park, Kevin K. (2020).

• Federation of American Societies for Experiemental Biology
  BioArt category (2014)
• Association of Korean Neuroscientists
  Junior Faculty Award (2013)
• E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation Research Award
  (2012)
• Pew Biomedical Scholar
  (2012)
• Karl Kirchgessner Foundation Research Award
  (2011)
• Stanley J. Glaser Foundation Research Award
  (2011)
• Woodside Energy Excellence in Ph.D. Award
  (2005)

• ARVO
• Association of Korean Neuroscientists
• Society for Neuroscience