Kathy Svoboda, PhD

Biography

Education and Post-Graduate Training

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (1982-1985)
• Ph.D., Department of Anatomy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE (1982)
• M.S., Department of Human Genetics, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE (1979)
• B.S., University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE (1974)

Career History

• Regents Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University College of Dentistry (2009- present)
• Adjunct Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, UT Southwestern Medical Center (2001-present)
• Interim Associate Dean for Research (2022)
• Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (2021)
• Oral Biology Graduate Program Assistant Dean (2019-2021)
• Associate Department Head, Teaching (2018-2020)
• Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University College of Dentistry (2001-2009)
• Director, Oral Biology Graduate Program, (2016-2020)
• Vice Chair, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University College of Dentistry (2008-2009)
• Director, Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, School of Graduate Studies, Texas A&M HSC (2009-2015)
• Director for Research Development, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University College of Dentistry (2007-2009)
• Director of Cell and Molecular Biology Core Facilities, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University College of Dentistry (1999-2006)
• Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University College of Dentistry (1998-2001)
• Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Boston University School of Medicine (1996-1998)
• Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine (1994-1998)
• Co-director of the Confocal Facility, Boston University School of Medicine (1992-1998)
• Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine (1987-1994)
• Instructor in Anatomy and Cellular Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (1985-1986)

Honors and Awards

• Beta, Beta, Beta (1974)
• Regents Professor Award, Texas A&M Board of Regents (2009)
• Fellow Award of the American Association of Anatomists (2010) 
• Silver Fellow Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) (2010)
• American Association of Anatomists A.J. Ladman Exemplary Service Award (2014)
• Gold Fellow Award (ARVO) (2014)
• Institutional Service Excellence Award, Texas A&M College of Dentistry (2017)
• Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science
• William J. Gies Award in Biomaterials and Bioengineering Research from The IADR and AADOCR Associations.
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, from the University of Nebraska Medical Center Graduate Studies Council (2024)

Teaching Interests

Throughout her career she has taught medical, dental, and graduate students a variety of subjects including gross anatomy, histology, embryology, cell biology and specialty research techniques. Dr. Svoboda started teaching as a graduate student assistant from 1980 to 1981 and continued teaching gross anatomy from 1985 to 1997. In addition to teaching professional students’ gross anatomy, she has always been involved in teaching graduate students cell biology. She has been instrumental in developing and organizing three cell biology courses and was the course director for the first cell and molecular biology course taught to Dental students at the College of Dentistry. As a developmental biologist, Dr. Svoboda has also taught human embryology for over 35 years.

Research Interests

Dr. Kathy Svoboda has been interested in the role of the cytoskeleton in cell shape changes throughout her career.  She studied neuroepithelial cell shape changes during optic vesicle formation for her Ph.D. thesis topic, and then started investigating the corneal epithelial response to extracellular matrix as a long-term project. 

Dr. Svoboda has maintained a relatively small laboratory group with 2-3 students and 1-2 technicians. She has also welcomed temporary summer professional students (medical and dental) and high school or undergraduate students. Occasionally she has had postdoctoral fellows, but most mentoring has centered around instructing her graduate students. Dr. Svoboda encourages her graduate students to find projects that they can pursue with passion to become experts in the subject. This has led to students with many different projects that have cell-matrix interactions and signal transduction during tissue/cell differentiation as a core theme.

Dr. Svoboda has been responsible for millions of dollars obtained from federal and foundational sources for a variety of projects. She was continuously funded by NIH and other sources since her postdoctoral fellowship in 1983 until 2017. She has been the PI or co-PI on 25 grants.
She continues to be a co-investigator on current grants. Dr. Svoboda has also been highly successful in obtaining funds to improve the institutional infrastructure by purchasing major equipment. Dr. Svoboda has had grants for two confocal microscope systems, an ICP-mass spectrometer, a laser capture microscope, a quantitative PCR instrument, a decalcification microwave system and a bioanalyzer funded from NIH, NSF and the Baylor Oral Health Foundation. Dr. Svoboda has also served on the NIH and NSF study sections, providing her with insight into the necessary elements of successful grant applications. The record of her grants and publications are in Orchid: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0820-3067

Dr. Svoboda has also served the greater scientific community through service to national scientific associations. The American Association for Anatomy has been her home scientific organization. She met her postdoctoral mentor, Dr. Elizabeth Hay at the 1982 meeting and interviewed for her first job with Dr. Alan Peters in 1986. As an anatomy faculty member, she has been continually active in this association throughout her career by serving on many committees that led to being elected to the executive board in 1997 and then as co-program chair (1997-2003). She served as the Vice president from 1999-2001 and elected to President in 2003. The President elect, President and Past President terms are 2 years each, so she continued to serve the American Association for Anatomy until 2009. As co-program chair she worked to create an intimate environment for anatomical professionals while maintaining the advantages of being part of a large scientific meeting. Dr. Svoboda is also active in the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the American Society for Cell Biology. She is a fellow of three scientific societies: the American Association for Anatomy, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Recent Grants

• Regulation of EMT During Palate Development, March of Dimes Research Grant, 2006-2010
• Testing antioxidant compounds on gingival fibroblast cells, PerioSciences, 2008-2010
• Visualizing cell scaffold interactions in real-time, NIH P30 sub-award; 2010-2012
• Leica SP5 Tandem Scanning Confocal Microscope; 2010-2011
• Antioxidant effects on gingival fibroblast survival and wound healing; 2008-2012
• Animal models for antioxident therapy, Periosciences, 2010-2011
• Identification and function of Nudmp 1 in odontoblast differentiation, 2013-2017 (Consultant)
• Invited to be an external member of a Core Grant Advisory Committee for UTSWMC Ophthalmology Department Grant was funded in 2019.
• Mechanism of Eph/ephrin signaling in mammalian palatal fusion, 2014-2021 (Co-investigator)
• Polarization of dental pulp stem cells, 2020-2022 (Co-investigator)
• Core Grant for Vision Research at UTSW, 2019-2024 (Imaging Core Advisory Committee)
• Regulation of dental pulp stem cell polarization for tubular dentin regeneration. 2023-2027 (Co-Investigator)