Robert Owen, MD
Professor Emeritus
Medicine
School of Medicine

My clinical work includes gastroenterology, general internal medicine, intestinal infectious diseases, HIV infection and AIDS, travel medicine and medical effects of military occupational environmental exposures, especially in Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Vietnam (Agent Orange) and Ionizing Radiation exposed veterans. I am also a Compensation & Pension examiner for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Research Interests: My work has involved delineation of the structure and function of Peyer's patches and other mucosal lymphoid organs, using ultrastructure, immunohistology, morphometric analysis, and FACS analysis in immunocompetent and immunodeficient animal models. Clinical research interests include diarrhea and intestinal infections, identifying the role of opportunistic pathogens including Giardia, Cryptosporidia, Microsporidia and Mycobacterium avium.

• Bombesin prevents the atrophy of Peyer's patches and the dysfunction of M cells in rabbits receiving long-term parenteral nutrition.
  JPEN. Journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition 2007 Fujimura Y, Haruma K, Owen RL
• Ocular defense mechanisms with special reference to the demonstration and functional morphology of the conjunctiva-associated lymphoid tissue in Japanese monkeys.
  Archives of histology and cytology 2006 Kageyama M, Nakatsuka K, Yamaguchi T, Owen RL, Shimada T
• Basis for the age-related decline in intestinal mucosal immunity.
  Clinical & developmental immunology 2003 Schmucker DL, Owen RL, Outenreath R, Thoreux K
• Tacrolimus (FK506) and cyclosporine reduce the uptake and transport of particles into rabbit Peyer's patches.
  Transplantation 2002 Fujimura Y, Owen RL
• Aging impairs intestinal immunity.
  Mechanisms of ageing and development 2001 Schmucker DL, Thoreux K, Owen RL
• Intestinal lymphocyte number, migration and antibody secretion in young and old rats.
  Immunology 2000 Thoreux K, Owen RL, Schmucker DL
• Uptake and transport of intestinal macromolecules and microorganisms by M cells in Peyer's patches--a personal and historical perspective.
  Seminars in immunology 1999 Owen RL
• New perspectives on the pathogenesis of Cryptosporidium biliary disease.
  Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) 1998 Owen RL
• Small intestine pathogens in AIDS: conventional and opportunistic.
  Gastrointestinal endoscopy clinics of North America 1998 Koch J, Owen RL
• Premature trypsinogen activation during cerulein pancreatitis in rats occurs inside pancreatic acinar cells.
  Pancreas 1998 Lüthen R, Owen RL, Sarbia M, Grendell JH, Niederau C
• M cells as portals of entry for HIV.
  Pathobiology : journal of immunopathology, molecular and cellular biology 1998 Owen RL
• Mid-life crisis for M cells.
  Gut 1998 Owen RL
• Mucosal abnormalities in microsporidiosis.
  AIDS (London, England) 1997 Schmidt W, Schneider T, Heise W, Schulzke JD, Weinke T, Ignatius R, Owen RL, Zeitz M, Riecken EO, Ullrich R
• Polymerase chain reaction of stool: a powerful tool for specific diagnosis and epidemiologic investigation of enteric microsporidia infections.
  AIDS (London, England) 1997 Owen RL
• The immunopathology of M cells.
  Springer seminars in immunopathology 1997 Davis IC, Owen RL
• Impact of aging on gastrointestinal mucosal immunity.
  Digestive diseases and sciences 1996 Schmucker DL, Heyworth MF, Owen RL, Daniels CK
• M cells as portals of infection: clinical and pathophysiological aspects.
  Infectious agents and disease 1996 Fujimura Y, Owen RL
• Immunochemical localization of type I VIP receptor and NK-1-type substance P receptor in rat lung.
  The American journal of physiology 1995 Ichikawa S, Sreedharan SP, Owen RL, Goetzl EJ
• Immunohistochemical localization of peptidergic nerve fibers and neuropeptide receptors in Peyer's patches of the cat ileum.
  Regulatory peptides 1994 Ichikawa S, Sreedharan SP, Goetzl EJ, Owen RL
• Human microsporidial infections.
  Clinical microbiology reviews 1994 Weber R, Bryan RT, Schwartz DA, Owen RL
• Enterocytozoon bieneusi infection in an immunocompetent patient who had acute diarrhea and who was not infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.
  Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 1994 Sandfort J, Hannemann A, Gelderblom H, Stark K, Owen RL, Ruf B
• Microsporidia cause human disease: evidence by subtraction.
  AIDS (London, England) 1994 Owen RL
• M cells--entryways of opportunity for enteropathogens.
  The Journal of experimental medicine 1994 Owen RL
• AIDS and the gut.
  Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology 1994 Chui DW, Owen RL
• Absence of EGF receptors and of EGF uptake in Peyer's patch dome epithelium.
  Advances in experimental medicine and biology 1994 Kato T, Owen RL
• Correlation of extracellular matrix components with the cytoarchitecture of mouse Peyer's patches.
  Cell and tissue research 1992 Ohtsuka A, Piazza AJ, Ermak TH, Owen RL
• Improved light-microscopical detection of microsporidia spores in stool and duodenal aspirates. The Enteric Opportunistic Infections Working Group.
  The New England journal of medicine 1992 Weber R, Bryan RT, Owen RL, Wilcox CM, Gorelkin L, Visvesvara GS
• Microsporidia: opportunistic pathogens in patients with AIDS.
  Progress in clinical parasitology 1991 Bryan RT, Cali A, Owen RL, Spencer HC
• Ultrastructural and cytoarchitectural features of lymphoreticular organs in the colon and rectum of adult BALB/c mice.
  The American journal of anatomy 1991 Owen RL, Piazza AJ, Ermak TH
• Intracellular development of Enterocytozoon, a unique microsporidian found in the intestine of AIDS patients.
  The Journal of protozoology 1990 Cali A, Owen RL
• Intestinal barriers to bacteria and their toxins.
  Annual review of medicine 1990 Walker RI, Owen RL
• Structural specializations for antigen uptake and processing in the digestive tract.
  Springer seminars in immunopathology 1990 Owen RL, Ermak TH
• M cells and granular mononuclear cells in Peyer's patch domes of mice depleted of their lymphocytes by total lymphoid irradiation.
  The American journal of pathology 1989 Ermak TH, Steger HJ, Strober S, Owen RL
• Absence of secretory component expression by epithelial cells overlying rabbit gut-associated lymphoid tissue.
  Gastroenterology 1988 Pappo J, Owen RL
• Depletion and repopulation of lymphocytes in Peyer's patches of mice after total lymphoid irradiation.
  Laboratory investigation; a journal of technical methods and pathology 1988 Ermak TH, Steger HJ, Owen RL, Strober S
• Differential adherence of epithelium overlying gut-associated lymphoid tissue. An ultrastructural study.
  Laboratory investigation; a journal of technical methods and pathology 1988 Pappo J, Steger HJ, Owen RL
• Modulation of lymphocyte subsets in Peyer's patches of mice treated with monoclonal antibody against helper T-cells.
  The journal of histochemistry and cytochemistry : official journal of the Histochemistry Society 1988 Ermak TH, Steger HJ, Owen RL, Heyworth MF
• Bacterial characteristics and follicle surface structure: their roles in Peyer's patch uptake and transport of Vibrio cholerae.
  Advances in experimental medicine and biology 1988 Owen RL, Cray WC, Ermak TH, Pierce NF
• Phenotype and distribution of T lymphocytes in Peyer's patches of athymic mice.
  Histochemistry 1987 Ermak TH, Owen RL
• Epithelial cell specialization within human Peyer's patches: an ultrastructural study of intestinal lymphoid follicles.
  Gastroenterology 1974 Owen RL, Jones AL
• Rectal and pharyngeal gonorrhea in homosexual men.
  JAMA 1972 Owen RL, Hill JL