Faculty

Victor L. Sylvia, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Biochemistry - Cell Biology
Email: sylvia@uthscsa.edu

Originating in La Grange, Texas, I received my B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas (in 1979, 1981 and 1985 respectively). Then I did 2 years of postdoctoral in College Station in a USDA laboratory. In 1987, I moved to Austin, where I served another 2 year postdoc in the Microbiology Department of the University of Texas at Austin. In 1989, I moved to San Antonio and joined the Cellular & Structural Biology Department at UTHSCSA as an Instructor. In 1992, I joined Dr. Barbara Boyan's laboratory in Orthopaedics and have received promotions to Assistant Professor and Associate Professor. Currently, I am conducting basic research on titanium biomaterials and wound healing. I have been co-investigator on NIH RO1 grants, and principal investigator on grants from the Komen Foundation and from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Our research activities include examination of angiogenic factor expression in giant cell tumor stromal cell cultures and matrix metalloproteinase expression by soft tissue sarcomas pre- and post-irradiation. We are also investigating mechanisms to improve chronic wound healing using a diabetic mouse model and skin fibroblast cultures, specifically focusing on regulation of matrix metalloproteinases by nitric oxide. In the Center for Clinical Bioengineering of the Orthopaedic Research Department we are assessing growth and development of chondrocytes and osteoblasts on various biomaterials by measuring changes in cell viability, cytokine production, proliferation, differentiation and mineralization. Research interests within this line of inquiry are: 1) examining early interactions of osteoblasts with various titanium implant surfaces to improve the speed and quality of osseointegration, 2) studying changes in osteoblastic gene expression profiles, and 3) optimization of biodegradable scaffold microarchitecture and chemical composition to achieve best osteoinduction.

 

Publications:

Sylvia VL, Del Toro F, Hardin RR, Dean DD, Boyan BD, Schwartz Z: Characterization of PGE₂ receptors (EP) and their role as mediators of 1a,25-(OH)₂D₃ effects on growth zone chondrocytes, J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 78:261-274, 2001.

 

Sylvia VL, Gay I, Hardin R, Dean DD, Boyan BD, and Schwartz Z: Rat Costochondral Chondrocytes Produce 17ß-Estradiol and Regulate its Production by Vitamin D₃ Metabolites. Bone 30: 57-62, 2002.

 

Boyan BD, Schwartz Z, Lohmann CH, Sylvia VL, Cochran DL, Dean DD, Puzas JE: Pretreatment of bone with osteoclasts affects phenotypic expression of osteoblast-like cells. J Orthop Res 21:638-647, 2003.

 

Gay I, Schwartz Z, Sylvia VL, Boyan BD: Lysophospholipid regulates release and activation of latent TGF-_1 from chondrocyte extracellular matrix. Biochim Biophys Acta, 1684:18-28, 2004.

 

Schwartz Z, Graham EJ, Wang L, Lossdorfer S, Gay I, Johnson-Pais TL, Carnes DL, Sylvia VL and Boyan BD: Phospholipase A2 Activating Protein (PLAA) is Required for 1_,25(OH)₂D₃ Signaling in Growth Plate Chondrocytes. J Cell Physiol 203:54-70, 2005.