Michael Robichaux, PhD

Assistant Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Classification:

Faculty

Assistant Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine

Classification:

Adjunct Faculty

• PhD, UT Southwestern, 2013
• BS, Nicholls State University, 2008

Haggerty KN, Eshelman SC, Sexton LA, Frimpong E, Rogers LM, Agosto MA, Robichaux M.A. Super-resolution mapping in rod photoreceptors identifies rhodopsin trafficking through the inner segment plasma membrane as an essential subcellular pathway. PLoS Biol. 2024 Jan 8;22(1):e3002467. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002467. PMID: 38190419; PMCID: PMC10773939.

Albrecht, N. E., Jiang, D., Akhanov, V., Hobson, R., Speer, C. M., Robichaux, M. A., & Samuel, M. A. (2022). Rapid 3D-STORM imaging of diverse molecular targets in tissue. Cell reports methods, 2(7), 100253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crmeth.2022.100253. PMID: 35880013; PMCID: PMC9308169

Robichaux M.A., Nguyen V., Chan F., Kailasam L., He F., Wilson J.H., Wensel T.G. (2022). Subcellular localization of mutant P23H rhodopsin in an RFP fusion knock-in mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa. Dis Model Mech. May 1;15(5):dmm049336. doi: 10.1242/dmm.049336. Epub 2022 May 6. PMID: 35275162; PMCID: PMC9092655.

Potter, V. L., Moye, A. R., Robichaux, M. A., & Wensel, T. G. (2021). Super-resolution microscopy reveals photoreceptor-specific subciliary location and function of ciliopathy-associated protein CEP290. JCI Insight, 6(20). PMID: 34520396; PMCID: PMC8564900

Wensel, T.G., Potter, V.L., Moye, A., Zhang, Z., & Robichaux, M.A. (2021). Structure and dynamics of photoreceptor sensory cilia. Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology, doi.org/10.1007/s00424-021-02564-9. PMID: 34050409

Robichaux, M.A., Potter, V.L., Zhang, Z., He, F., Liu, J., Schmid, M.F., Wensel, T.G. (2019). Defining the Layers of a Sensory Cilium with STORM and Cryo-Electron Nanoscopy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116, 23562–23572 (2019). PMID: 31690665

For a full publication list, please visit: Publication Link

The Robichaux lab aims to discover how vision begins in our eyes on a molecular level. We apply these new molecular discoveries toward understanding the pathology of eye diseases that cause blindness. Our goal is to utilize these discoveries to learn how these devastating eye diseases can be treated and how vision can be rescued.

The retina is the neural tissue at the back of the eye. Photoreceptors, rods and cones, are specialized neurons of the retina that express opsin G-protein coupled receptors that absorb photons and initiate visual signaling. Rhodopsin is the opsin protein in rod photoreceptor neurons, and it is densely packaged into the distinctive layers of stacked membrane discs in a region of rods known as the outer segment. Based on the continuous renewal of outer segment discs, a unidirectional flow of newly synthesized material must be continuously trafficking through the biosynthetic inner segment region of rods and into many unique ciliary structures in rod neurons. Among these unique structures is a 300 nm thin connecting cilium and a pair of centrioles that comprise the subcellular domain known as the basal body. We are interested in discovering the mechanisms that regulate the cellular trafficking of rhodopsin and other proteins within the inner segment and ciliary structures of rod photoreceptors.