M. C. Cornwall, PhD

Emeritus Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

The work in our laboratory is focused on understanding the response of the vertebrate eye to and recovery from the effects of bright light. Our principal approach is to make electrophysiological measurements of rod and cone photoreceptors of cold-blooded vertebrate animals, and to correlate these physiological responses to microspectrophotomeric measurements of the visual pigments as well as microfluorometric measurements of the concentration of vitamin A and Ca2+ contained within the cells. The reduction of all–trans retinal to Vitamin A is one of the principal initial steps that must occur following exposure to bright light to allow recovery of sensitivity (dark adaptation). Experiments have also shown that Ca2+ is a principal messenger substance during bright (bleaching) adaptation.

Publications

  • Published 9/26/2025

    Fain GL, Cornwall MC. The physiology of dark adaptation: Progress and future directions. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2025 Nov; 109:101407. PMID: 41015274.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/14/2023

    Adhikari RD, Kossoff AM, Cornwall MC, Makino CL. Bicarbonate boosts flash response amplitude to augment absolute sensitivity and extend dynamic range in murine retinal rods. Front Mol Neurosci. 2023; 16:1125006. PMID: 37122625.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 10/15/2020

    Luo DG, Silverman D, Frederiksen R, Adhikari R, Cao LH, Oatis JE, Kono M, Cornwall MC, Yau KW. Apo-Opsin and Its Dark Constitutive Activity across Retinal Cone Subtypes. Curr Biol. 2020 12 21; 30(24):4921-4931.e5. PMID: 33065015.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/20/2019

    Lokappa SB, Cornwall MC, Chen J. Isoelectric Focusing to Quantify Rhodopsin Phosphorylation in Mouse Retina. Bio Protoc. 2019 Jul 20; 9(14):e3300. PMID: 33654813.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/22/2019

    Yue WWS, Silverman D, Ren X, Frederiksen R, Sakai K, Yamashita T, Shichida Y, Cornwall MC, Chen J, Yau KW. Elementary response triggered by transducin in retinal rods. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 03 12; 116(11):5144-5153. PMID: 30796193.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 83 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Graduate Medical Sciences Educator and Mentor (Primary Mentor of Graduate Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Websites

Education

  • University of Utah, PhD
  • University of Utah, BS

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