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Calvin Carter, PhD

Contact Information:

Office: 2340F BSB
Phone:  467-1268
Faculty Profile


Brief discription of current research: 

Modern society is continuously surrounded by electromagnetic fields, including WiFi, Bluetooth, radiowaves and the naturally occurring fields of the Earth. It is known that animals possess evolutionarily encoded mechanisms to sense and respond to electromagnetic fields (e.g. bird migration). However, the effects of fields beyond spatial mapping remain unknown. Also unknown is 1) the mechanism by which fields impact biology and 2) whether humans possess the biological machinery to sense and respond to fields.

The overarching goal of my laboratory is to map the biological effects of electromagnetic fields. We aim to address how fields interact with biology, and how fields may be harnessed to remotely control cellular physiology. We address these questions using an interdisciplinary approach in biomedical engineering, electrochemistry, biochemistry, molecular genetics, and neuroscience.

We have successfully developed a fully noninvasive method to modulate cellular redox systems and mitochondrial bioenergetics and have demonstrated that this technology can be used to modulate blood sugar in type 2 diabetes. We are currently translating these findings by initiating clinical trials. Ultimately, we use electromagnetic fields to solve some of the biggest challenges in human health and national defense.

3 most influential diabetes/obesity/metabolism publications:

  • Carter C.S., Huang S.H., Searby C.C., Cassaidy B., Miller M.J., Grzesik W.J., Piorczynski T.B., Zhang Q., Bradberry K., Pak T.K., Walsh S.A., Dick D.W., Akurathi V., Acevedo M., Mapuskar K.A., Milne G.L., Hinton A., Guo, D.F., Hubert-Falls K.C., Wagner B.A., Carter W.A., Wang K., Norris A.W., Rahmouni K., Buettner G.R., Hansen J.M., Spitz D.R., Abel E.D., and Sheffield V.C.: Exposure to Static Magnetic and Electric Fields Treats Type 2 Diabetes. Cell Metabolism. 32(4):561-574.e7, 2020. PMCID: PMC7819711
  • Carter CS, Vogel TW, Zhang Q, Seo S, Swiderski RE, Moninger TO, Cassell MD, Thedens DR, Keppler-Noreuil KM, Nopoulos P, Nishimura DY, Searby CC, Bugge K, Sheffield VC.: Abnormal development of NG2+PDGFR-α+ neural progenitor cells leads to neonatal hydrocephalus in a ciliopathy mouse model. Nat Med, 18(12):1797-804, 2012. PMCID: PMC3684048
  • McReynolds MR, Termini CM, Hinton AO Jr, Taylor BL, Vue Z, Huang SC, Roby RS, Shuler H, Carter CS.: The art of virtual mentoring in the twenty-first century for STEM majors and beyond. Nat Biotechnol, 38(12):1477-1482, 2020. PMID: 33273732

Quote: 

“Diversity is the force, which drives the evolution of every species that has ever existed”