
Joseph C. Corbo, MD, PhD
Professor, Pathology & Immunology
Contact
- Email: jcorbo@wustl.edu
- Phone: 314-362-6254
Division: Neuropathology
Research Interests: The development, diseases, and evolution of photoreceptors
Titles
Professor, Genetics
Professor, Ophthamology and Visual Sciences
Education
PhD, Biology: U.C. San Diego, La Jolla, CA (1997)
Medical Degree: U.C. San Diego, La Jolla, CA (1999)
Resident in Anatomic Pathology: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA (2001)
Clinical Fellow in Neuropathology: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA (2003)
Research Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Genetics: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (2005)
Boards
Neuropathology: Board Certified
Anatomic Pathology: Board Certified
Recognition
Japan Society for Promotion of Science, short-term fellowship (Kyoto, Japan), 1997
Medical Scientist Training Program, U. C. San Diego, 1992 – 1999
Regents Scholarship, University of California, 1991
Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust Fellowship, 1992 – 1996
Firestone Medal for Outstanding Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Stanford University, 1990
Award for Academic Excellence in the Freshman Year, Stanford University, 1987
Related Links
Research Interests
We are poised on the threshold of a new era in medicine in which whole-genome sequencing will be a clinical reality. One of our lab’s major goals is to leverage this revolution in sequencing technology to predict and prevent disease. Up to now, our approach has been to elucidate the architecture of the transcriptional networks of the retina, with a particular focus on photoreceptors. We utilize this knowledge to build new technologies for mapping genotype onto phenotype and to devise cellular reprogramming strategies and optogenetic approaches to treat retinal disease. These translational strategies for retinal disease are complemented by other studies in the lab that focus on the basic biology of photoreceptors. Our research is strongly interdisciplinary and collaborative, with current projects that lie at the intersection of photoreceptor biology with chemistry and physics. By combining both basic and translational approaches, our lab aims to achieve a systems-level understanding of the development, diseases, function, evolution, and diversity of photoreceptors, and to extend this approach to other organ systems.
Selected Publications
Mechanisms of photoreceptor protection upon targeting the Nrl–Nr2e3 pathway
Publication
Active learning of enhancers and silencers in the developing neural retina
Publication
Samd7 represses short-wavelength cone genes to preserve long-wavelength cone and rod photoreceptor identity
Publication
A molecular mechanism for bright color variation in parrots
Publication
Assistant
