Rate My Professor Mark Parker

Mark D. Parker, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He received a BS in Biochemistry in 1995 and a PhD in Biochemistry in 2000 from the University of Bristol. Parker completed postdoctoral training as a Research Associate in Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale School of Medicine from 2003 to 2007. He then served as Instructor in Physiology and Biophysics at Case Western Reserve University from 2008 to 2013. Joining the University at Buffalo in 2013 as Assistant Professor in Physiology and Biophysics, he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019 and to Professor in 2025.

Parker's research investigates the SLC4 family of membrane proteins responsible for acid-base homeostasis through the transport of bicarbonate equivalents across cell membranes. His work focuses on transporters such as NBCe1-A, which reclaims bicarbonate from filtered blood plasma in kidney tubules; NBCe1-B, which promotes fluid removal from the corneal stroma and influences cardiac function; Cl-/HCO3- exchanger AE1, which facilitates oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange in red blood cells; and SLC4A11, which conducts protons to maintain corneal clarity. Dysregulation of these proteins contributes to diseases including renal tubular acidosis, corneal blindness, cancer, deafness, epilepsy, and hypertension. Employing techniques in molecular biology, cellular electrophysiology, and transgenic animal models, Parker's laboratory elucidates the molecular mechanisms of protein function and pathophysiology. Key publications include "The SLC4 family of bicarbonate (HCO3-) transporters" (Molecular Aspects of Medicine, 2013), "The divergence, actions, roles, and relatives of sodium-coupled bicarbonate transporters" (Physiological Reviews, 2013), "Kidney physiology and pathophysiology during heat stress and the modification by exercise, dehydration, heat acclimation and aging" (Temperature, 2021), "Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction in NBCe1-B/C-Knockout Mice" (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2024), and "A Depolarizing Leak in Sodium Bicarbonate Cotransporter NBCe1 Causes Brain Edema" (Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, 2026). His contributions have earned awards such as the New Investigator Award from the Cell and Molecular Physiology Section of the American Physiological Society (2017), the Carl W. Gottschalk Research Fellow of the ASN Foundation for Kidney Research (2015), the APS Recognition Award for Meritorious Research by a Young Investigator (2012), and American Journal of Physiology (Cell Physiology) Paper of the Year (2021). Parker has obtained grants from the National Eye Institute and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to study corneal endothelial acid-base transporters and NBCe1 roles in renal and cardiac physiology.