Thomas N. Wight, PhD
Background Information
Dr. Wight completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Maine and his PhD in Zoology at the University of New Hampshire. Following his post-doctoral training in the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington in Seattle, 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 2004, he joined the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason to begin a Program in Matrix Biology. Dr. Wight 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. Dr. Wight is a founding member of the International Society of Hyaluronan Sciences and he served as Chair of the Proteoglycan Gordon Conference in 2008. His research focuses on the role of proteoglycans in regulating cell phenotype and extracellular matrix assembly in immunity and inflammation. He has published over 350 articles on proteoglycans and hyaluronan. He is currently Director of the Matrix Biology Program at the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason and an Affiliate Professor of Pathology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Area of Research
Dr. Wight’s research focuses on the role of hyaluronan (HA), versican and other proteoglycans in the regulation of cell phenotype and extracellular matrix assembly in a variety of diseases including atherosclerosis, cancer and more recently asthma and autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. A current focus of his research is to explore mechanisms of how the extracellular matrix and its components, such as hyaluronan and versican, regulate immune cell phenotype and inflammation.
Featured Publications
Kang I, Chang MY, Wight TN, Frevert CW. Proteoglycans as immunomodulators of the innate immune response to lung infection. J Histochem Cytochem.66:241-259, 2018.
Wight TN. A role for proteoglycans in vascular disease. Matrix Biol. 71-72:396-420, 2018.
Reeves SR, Kang I, Chan CK, Barrow KA, Kolstad TK, White MP, Ziegler SF, Wight TN, Debley JS. Asthmatic bronchial epithelial cells promote the establishment of a hyaluronan-enriched, leukocyte-adhesive extracellular matrix by lung fibroblasts. Respir Res. 19(1):146, 2018.
Kenagy RD, Kikuchi S, Evanko SP, Ruiter MS, Piola M, Longchamp A, Pesce M, Soncini M, Deglise S, Fiore GB, Haefliger JA, Schmidt TA, Majesky MW, Sobel M, Wight TN. Versican is differentially regulated in the adventitial and medial layers of human vein grafts. PLoS One. 13(9):e0204045, 2018.
Wight TN, Frevert CW, Debley JS, Reeves SR, Parks WC, Ziegler SF. Interplay of extracellular matrix and leukocytes in lung inflammation. Cell Immunol. 312:1-14, 2017.
Gaucherand L, Falk BA, Evanko SP, Workman G, Chan CK, Wight TN. Crosstalk between T lymphocytes and lung fibroblasts: Generation of a hyaluronan-enriched extracellular matrix adhesive for monocytes. J Cell Biochem. 118:2118-2130, 2017.
Wight TN. Provisional matrix: A role for versican and hyaluronan. Matrix Biol. 60-61:38-56, 2017.
Kang I, Harten IA, Chang MY, Braun KR, Sheih A, Nivison MP, Johnson PY, Workman G, Kaber G, Evanko SP, Chan CK, Merrilees MJ, Ziegler SF, Kinsella MG, Frevert CW, Wight TN. Versican deficiency significantly reduces lung inflammatory response induced by poly I:C stimulation. J Biol Chem. 292(1):51-63, 2017.
Kuipers HF, Rieck M, Gurevich I, Butte MJ, Negrin RS, Wight TN, Steinman L, Bollyky PL. Hyaluronan synthesis is necessary for autoreactive T cell trafficking, activation, and Th1 polarization. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 113:1339-44, 2016.
Merrilees MJ, Zuo N, Evanko SP, Day AJ, Wight TN. G1 domain of versican regulates hyaluronan organization and the phenotype of cultured human dermal fibroblasts. J Histochem Cytochem. 64:353-363, 2016.
List of Published Work
To view a full list of published work, please visit the National Center for Biotechnology Information library of medicine at pubmed.gov.
